About us

Leadership

The OSA Network is led by Maeve Walsh and Professor Lorna Woods and aims to keep all those with an interest in the successful implementation of the Online Safety Act engaged and connected as the regulator, Ofcom, designs and consults on the detail of the regime. We are also supported by a trusted Advisory Board. Learn more about our experienced team of subject matter experts.

Maeve Walsh

OSA Network Director

Maeve Walsh is an experienced policymaker and government relations expert who has worked in the UK Government and not-for-profit sector and was previously an Associate with Carnegie UK.

During a 17-year career in Whitehall, she held senior roles in central Departments including Cabinet Office, No10, the Department of Health and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, where she led the team responsible for delivering the UK Digital Strategy. Since then, she has worked as a policy and advocacy consultant and advisor to a variety of organizations on digital and data policy.

As an Associate with Carnegie UK between 2018-2023, she worked with Professor Lorna Woods and William Perrin on their online harm reduction project, helping to directly influence the design and development of the Online Safety Bill, convening a large network of civil society campaigners and advocates, advising Parliamentarians on all sides of the House, and securing a number of significant concessions from the Government, including on fraud, scam ads and protections for women and girls.

She is a Trustee at the Connection at St-Martins-in-the-Field, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and has served as a parent governor at her children’s primary school.

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Lorna Woods

Professor of Internet Law, Essex University

Lorna Woods is a professor in the Law School at Essex University and a member of the Human Rights Centre there. She received an OBE for her influential work at Carnegie UK that underpinned the UK government’s Online Safety Act.

Formerly a practising solicitor in a technology, media and telecommunications practice, she advised on contractual and regulatory aspects of the then nascent electronic communications and information technology industries (including data protection). While recent work has focused on the regulation of social media, her expertise covers a broader field, including ‘Social Media Jurisprudence - The European Court of Human Rights’, ‘Executive Accountability and National Security’ and ‘Competition Law and Telecommunications’. She is currently editing a commentary on the Digital Services Act.

In addition to academic research, she has been invited to give oral evidence to the UK Parliament on a number of issues, for example the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications inquiry into internet regulation, the Home Affairs Committee on post-Brexit Law Enforcement cooperation (data protection issues), APPG on the Rule of Law ‘The Data Protection Bill: What Do Rule of Law Principles Mean for AI and Data Processing?’, the Science and Technology Select Committee in respect of its enquiry into Big Data.

Professor Woods is a member of the ESRC peer review college, a senior associate research fellow at the Information Law and Policy Centre, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London and a fellow of the Royal Society for Arts. She is a member of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) National User Group and she was also a member of the IMPRESS Code Committee (2015-2020).

The OSA Network was created to coordinate and support ongoing civil society engagement with policymakers, Parliamentarians and regulators during the Online Safety Act implementation phase.

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