Churchill Fellowship
In 2026 I was awarded a Churchill Fellowship, a national award that supports UK citizens to travel the world in search of ideas worth bringing home.
My project tackles a simple but overlooked problem: people with a vision impairment are too often forced to choose between their assistance dog and emerging technology, when the real benefit comes from using both together.
A dog placed today will work with their person until around the mid-2030s, and the technology around that partnership will change beyond recognition in that time.
Where I'm going, and why
USA
Where people are already combining guide dogs with assistive technology in everyday life. I want to hear directly from them about what works and what fails.
Australia
Where trainers, mobility specialists and technology experts troubleshoot these partnerships in real time, including the moments when the app says go and the dog says no.
Japan
Working remotely with colleagues there to understand what their experience can teach us, and what they would do differently.
What this means
In the short term I will be co-creating something practical with people who have a vision impairment, solving an immediate challenge for guide dog organisations and then extending it across the wider assistance-dog sector. The findings will be published openly in my Fellowship report.
The bigger question is the one my consultancy exists to answer. The best solutions combine trusted relationships with the power of technology, and if we can make that work with one of our oldest partnerships, a person and their dog, then maybe we can apply those lessons far more widely.
Fellowship Dispatches
Field notes from the project, starting ahead of my travel later this year.
