Researchers

Prof. Rob Kitchin is the principal investigator of ERC-funded project (2022-27) is ‘Data Stories: Telling Stories About and With Planning and Property Data’ at the Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute. Through initiatives such as the All-Island Research Observatory, the Dublin Dashboard and the Digital Repository of Ireland he has undertaken data projects with a wide variety of state, civil society and business organisations over the past 25 years. He is the (co)author or (co)editor of 39 academic books, (co)author of over 250 articles and book chapters, and is a recipient of the Royal Irish Academy’s Gold Medal for the Social Sciences.

Carla holds a PhD in urban and regional planning from the University of Michigan (USA). Since her arrival in Dublin in 2019, she has completed three grants through the Irish Research Council, one as a collaborator and two as principal investigator (COALESCE: Ireland in the Metropolitan Century; New Foundations: Housing in the Tech City; and Enterprise Partnership Scheme with the Southern Regional Assembly: Achieving Regional Equality). Prior to pursuing her doctoral degree, Carla worked as a policy analyst for two non-profit think tanks in Washington D.C. (Brookings Institution and the Coalition for Smarter Growth) and as a land rights activist for Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center in Mexico.

Oliver is Creative Technologist on the Data Stories project. This role supports the technical aspects of research-creation by leading the development of interactive data stories which utilise spatial data and creative media like gaming technologies, mixed realities and data physicalisation. These technologies are use to communicate issues related to land use and development, planning, housing, vacancy, and urban infrastructure. Previously, Oliver supported technical development and championed open data for Ireland in his role as data and training coordinator on the Building City Dashboards project at the National Centre of Geocomputation (NCG) in Maynooth University. Oliver has also worked as research fellow at the UCL Energy Institute, research assistant for the AEC Production Control Room project at the UCL Connected Environments Lab, and as a researcher with the Intel Collaborative Research Institute (ICRI) for Urban IoT at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.

Juliette Davret is a Ph.D. in Geography. She obtained her degree in March 2023 at Nantes University. She is currently postdoctoral researcher at Maynooth University within the ERC funded Data Stories project. Her research examines the social, political and cultural impact of data and digital technologies on planning and governance. Her work is at the intersection of a variety of fields, including Critical Data Studies, digital geography and Science and Technology Studies. She received the INTERSECT Visiting Fellowship in 2024 at the University of Copenhagen and the MSHBx Young Visiting Scholar Grant in 2025 at the University of Bordeaux-Montaigne. In 2026, she was awarded a MSCA European Fellowship for her project DATACULTURE, hosted by the University of Copenhagen.

Sam Mutter is a political geographer whose research focuses on the politics of data, housing/planning, urban transport infrastructure and logistics. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher on the Data Stories project at Maynooth University. He holds a PhD in Politics from Birkbeck, University of London, and was previously ESRC postdoctoral fellow at Aberystwyth University. He has published in academic journals including Progress in Human Geography, Big Data & Society, cultural geographies and Mobilities, and is the author of a book on the political history of chocolate.

Dr Danielle Hynes is an engaged social researcher working across media and cultural studies, and urban studies. Having previously worked focusing critical attention on housing, property and planning data on the ERC funded Data Stories project at Maynooth University, Danielle is currently a postdoctoral researcher on the ARC Linkage Australian Rental Vulnerability Index project at the University of Sydney. Danielle is interested in questions of realising social justice in cities, the present and future of non-market housing, and how ubiquitous datafication is impacting urban life.

Leah is undertaking a postdoctoral position conducting case study research on Northern Ireland. This research seeks to complement work that Data Stories have already undertaken on the Irish property and planning system by providing comparative insights. Leah recently completed her PhD in Urban Planning at University College London (UCL). She has extensive experience working with housing data and is well-placed to conduct detailed data audits and assess data quality.