We’re excited to introduce a new member of our team, Nima Karshenas. A recent graduate of Imperial College London, Nima brings expertise in engineering and AI – his research has explored how emerging technologies have the potential to improve people’s lives, and how our interactions with AI could even make us happier. He explains a little more about his background for our latest blog.

I’m delighted to have joined the DG Cities team as a graduate consultant. Since graduating this summer with an MEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, I have been searching for a role that gave me the opportunity to apply my skills and expertise to projects that were striving for a positive social impact, shaping communities towards a more inclusive and sustainable future – this is a quality that is reflected in all the work being conducted at DG Cities.

This is not, in fact, my first engagement with DG Cities: in 2021, I was involved in a two-month collaboration on a digital connectivity initiative in Greenwich as part of my third-year group project. This experience was both enjoyable and insightful, allowing me to explore the integration of emerging technologies and prototype an app for the council to enhance its own connections with residents.

During my four years at Imperial and my year in industry at PlayStation, I took a particular focus on Artificial Intelligence, Statistics, and Signal Processing, with my final year Masters project, for example, looking at developing AI techniques to help improve our collective understanding of happiness. I am coming into this role with fresh and dense technical knowledge, and am eager to use it to contribute to the plethora of ongoing work at DG Cities. 

In my first week, I have already been diving into several different projects, and have welcomed the freedom and responsibility I have been given to offer my insights into the work. I love that the range of projects that I am involved in is broad; this gives me exposure to the multiple facets of technology research, deployment and use within Greenwich, and in cities more generally. This not only allows for a more interesting and diverse workload, but will ultimately allow me to approach new problems from a balanced, holistic viewpoint.

With time, I look forward to getting to know the projects and the team better, and to contribute towards shaping a brighter future for our communities and city. In short, I am thrilled to be part of this journey, and eagerly embrace the opportunities ahead.