OFA Symposium 2025: Open Technology Impact in Uncertain Times

Nicholas (Nick‘) Gates is a Senior Policy Advisor at OpenForum Europe (OFE), where he works on research and advocacy related to open source software and other open technologies. Nick leads the organisation’s research efforts, including the OpenForum Academy (OFA) Symposium, its annual research conference. He also leads OFE’s advocacy work on the NGI Commons and European Open Source Academy initiatives, which are focused on digital commons and public recognition of open source in Europe.

Nick’s expertise is in open source in the public sector, open source for social good, and the funding and sustainability of the open source ecosystem. His background is in digital government policy and research, particularly on open source but also public financial management, and digital service delivery. He enjoys supporting development partners, governments, and international organisations to deliver on their agendas through applied policymaking and research.

Before joining OFE, Nick helped launch ODI Global’s Digital Public Finance Hub, a new learning initiative around the digital transformation of public finance, as a consultant at Public Digital. He began his career working on research, policy, and advocacy at the Digital Impact Alliance — conducting research on topics including national digital transformation processes, open source in government, and digital transformation policy — and was a Fellow at the Portulans Institute.

Nick holds an undergraduate dual degree from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in Political Science and History, and graduated with an MSc in Global Development from the University of Copenhagen in 2018.

Ijeoma Onwuka is an experienced Community Manager with over 3 years of building thriving communities for tech startups and non-profits. She currently leads programs at Scandium Systems Limited, creating engaging spaces for developers, technical writers, and tech enthusiasts.

Passionate about open source, she actively contributes to projects like OpenSSF, DevRel Foundation, CHAOSS, and UNICEF, focusing on the intersection of technology and community.

Jennifer is an independent legal consultant and PhD Candidate (International Law x Computer Science) at the University of Cambridge as a World Ramsay Scholar. She researches global governance of open-source software. An experienced Australian public international lawyer, she has advised on a broad range of matters at the intersection of technology, human rights and policy, including for public and private sectors. She has worked as Senior Legal Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, for leading international law firms and served on the International Law Association’s Global Board. Jennifer holds a LLM and BA/LLB (Hons.).

Senior Researcher at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Lund University.

I'm interested in researching social aspects of modern technology collaboration in the context of open source software communities and participation. My research goals are to promote diversity and inclusion in open source software and other software development communities, facilitate welcoming and equitable online collaboration, and understand how personal identity impacts software use and development.

Jonathan Starr stands at the intersection of open source and open science. As the program manager of He drives work on The Map of Open Source Science and facilitates multiple long-duration “Innovation Sprints”, tackling shared ecosystem-level challenges. As co-lead of SciOS and the Institute of Open Science Practices, Jonathan designs and facilitates multiple global annual events and workshops connecting technologists with researchers to develop numerous deep tech infrastructures enabling open-by-design in research. Additionally, he consults on various projects designing novel publishing, identifier, community, and incentive mechanisms for the scientific process. Burlington based.