Kieren Pitts holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Bristol. Prior to this Kieren completed a Masters of Research and BSc in Biological Sciences at the University of Exeter. Throughout his Masters and PhD, Kieren developed a keen interest in how IT can support research. After his PhD Kieren joined the Institute for Learning and Research Technology at the University of Bristol and, subsequently, this became Research IT. The Research IT team at the University of Bristol supports research projects by developing bespoke software required for research. The team support researchers with technical components of funding applications and, if the application is successful, developing the technical solution. Kieren currently provides software development expertise on a wide range of research projects across many different disciplines including Public Health, Arts & Humanities, Geographical Sciences, Epidemiology and Psychology.

Kieren’s role on DOWN2EARTH is as the software developer within the App Development Team.