Birmingham's boldest women

Pauline Roche is an award-winning Irishwoman, producer, journalist, broker and networker, currently working for Northfield Community Partnership. In her varied portfolio, she increases the digital and data literacy of individuals and small organisations in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors, including by producing/co-presenting the weekly Dr Tech Show on YouTube, publishing a monthly e-bulletin, Digital WM News and co-organising national Open Data Camp events. Pauline received an honorary doctorate in Business Administration from Arden University in June 2018

In order to foster openness and collaboration, she chaired both the West Midlands Open Data Forum and regional charitable funders group WM Funders Network until recently; believing in the use of technology for social good. She co-founded and ran both the Net Squared Midlands: tech for social good meetup series and the UK unconference for voluntary sector infrastructure organisations VCSSCamp. For her professional development and the development of other women in tech, she is a member of the global community for Women in Tech, Adas List.

Pauline is pleased and proud to be considered one of Brum's Boldest Women, in her adopted city where two of her proudest achievements were as Coordinator of Birmingham Irish Women's Group meeting ex-President of Ireland Mary Robinson when she first visited Birmingham, and being one of the original team of Irish people who led the revival of the now-annual Birmingham St Patrick's Day Parade and went on to develop the one-day event into a week-long celebration, St Patrick's Festival, including editing a book about an oral history of St Patrick's Day celebrations in Birmingham.