Ian Collingwood - Managing Director
BA Management Science & Marketing
Ian’s managerial experience is best described as “eclectic” having worked across a wide variety of creative industries including music, events, film, education, marketing and web strategy. Across all these industries he has placed the customer's experience at the heart of the business' success, which explains why it was a natural step to take on the role of MD at Amberlight. He is extremely resourceful, with a wealth of industry knowledge and experience, making him a valuable source of original thinking for both clients and employees.
He combines strong opinions with an extremely open mind and his innovative, entrepreneurial and courageous flair means that new grounds and opportunities are constantly being explored. His motivation and drive enables the Amberlight’s diverse team to pull together and strive toward a shared goal.
Filip Healy - Principal
MSc HCI, BA Psychology
A long standing member of the Amberlight team, Filip is a strong advocate of real-world contextual research methods which he uses to help clients fully understand the needs and abilities of end-users and to identify opportunities for innovation.
Filip's natural perfectionism make him a formidable force in driving Amberlight's consultancy work towards ever-greater innovation and excellence. His complete commitment to producing excellent work assures our clients that they are getting the very best each and every time they engage Amberlight, whilst his professional rigour makes him a popular mentor for junior staff.
Anna Herzberg - Operations Manager
BA English Lit., Grad. Con. Dip. Psychology
The skills Anna has acquired throughout her 9 years of research and project management experience make her an integral part to the seamless running of Amberlight’s day to day business. Her responsibilities include resource planning and overseeing major internal processes. Anna’s wit and patience also make her a pleasure to work with for both her colleagues and clients alike.
Outside the company, Anna has a keen interest in psychology, for which she’s just earned an Honours degree and is a connoisseur of fine whisky, preferably single malt...
Beata Hughes – Participant Recruitment and Office Manager
BA (Hons) English & Theology
Beata (pronounced bee-at-ah) is the hub of Amberlight, the glue that holds us together. She informs us that her name has no English translation but we’re convinced it’s Polish for Wonder-Woman, because we wonder how she does it all. From office management duties to participant recruitment, it’s hard to imagine how we’d cope without her.
She’s an active person who loves outdoor pursuits. When she’s not camping or hiking, she’s tracking down and picking porcini mushrooms in forests while avoiding ticks, as well as ballroom dancing, Polish folk dancing, or simply going to the gym.
Born and bred in Leicester, she obtained her degree from the University of Birmingham before heading to Japan to teach English for a year, and then backpacking around Australia and South East Asia. She eventually came to London with her fiancée, who she later married in a ceremony in Poland with lots of vodka.
As well as scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef with “lots of fish and sea cucumbers”, one of her greatest achievements is climbing Mount Fuji at night to see the sunrise in the morning, although it’s a shame it was raining.
She’s efficient, friendly, easy-going, enjoys a laugh… and her vodka. In short, she’s the best.
Saravjit Rihal - Senior Consultant
PhD, MSc HCI, B.Sc. (Hons) Computer Science
Whether teaching undergraduates in Texas as part of his PhD, developing EDS’s traffic control system or running a prototyping team based in India (while still in the UK), Saravjit’s calm, confident manner conceals a burning passion for all things Human Factors - this is what makes him one of Amberlight’s leading consultants.
His work interests cover internationalism, localisation and ethnography, as well as a special understanding of mobile devices. He is also the office’s unbeaten Nintendo Wii tennis champion. Outside of work, Saravjit is an enthusiastic photographer, enjoys travelling and claims to be Nottingham Forest’s number 1 fan, but he has promised never to speak about it in public, and we hope that his other talents will allow our clients to overlook this rather glaring lack of good judgement.
Sanjeet Bhachu - Senior Consultant
MPhil, BSc (Hons) Psychology & Computer Science
An experienced consultant with a strong background in usability, Sanjeet consistently delivers excellence to his clients. By developing strong relationships and applying his finely tuned understanding of users, he has helped create high-quality user experiences across a number of different technology platforms.
Before joining Amberlight, Sanjeet used his entrepreneurial instincts to set up a Web development consultancy in Scotland, working with various businesses to establish their Web presence. His experience and highly professional approach makes him a popular team member and a desired resource to his clients: BBC Worldwide, AOL, Channel 4 and 02.
Justin Tanimura - Consultant
MA Design Futures, BSc (Hons) Psychology
Having lived in several countries while growing up, Justin gives new meaning to the term cultural awareness. Combining a background in psychology and digital interactive technologies he can be described as an open-minded visionary who quietly oozes intelligence and a deep understanding of his fields of expertise.
He is a leading consultant on mobile devices and gaming platforms. Outside Amberlight, Justin enjoys unwinding on the basketball court or the snowboarding slopes.
Damien Livingston - Consultant
MSc Ergonomics and human factors, B.Sc.(Hons) Psychology
Damien brings together design, psychology and Human-Computer Interaction, which he utilises to really understand end users and how to design solutions that best meet their needs. Damien’s experience as a graphic designer for JC Decaux before joining Amberlight adds a creative element to his consultancy and user interface design work.
His easy going attitude and highly professional and diligent work ethic make him extremely popular with his clients (and his senior consultants :-). Damien likes to experience every angle of user centred design in terms of methods and doesn’t like limiting himself to just a few specialist areas. His professional interests lie in expanding his knowledge of different research methodologies, which he uses to always tailor his approach to the specific needs of each project.
Angeliki Chrysafidi - Consultant
MSc HCI, BSc Psychology
The word ‘esoteric’ comes from the Greek esoterikos, meaning ‘within’ and is defined by the dictionary as ‘knowledge which is specialized or advanced in nature, available only to a narrow circle of highly educated people.’
In which case, this is the perfect way to describe Angeliki, who brings a number of truly diverse interests to her work with Amberlight, whether it be her master’s thesis studying expressive gestures to control computers, her psychology degree from Panteion University in Athens, her love of contemporary dance or her impressive command of English, German and Italian (as well as Greek of course).
Ryan Barkataki - Research Analyst
MSc Human Computer Interaction & Ergonomics, BSc Design and Computing
Ryan is a great example of the new breed of creative technologists who have grown up in a world where computers and digital interfaces are ubiquitous - making the historic division between artistic creativity and cutting-edge technology so blurred as to be meaningless.
He graduated with honours from Goldsmith’s College’s ground-breaking Design & Computing BSc course and followed this up with an MSc in Human Computer Interactions at UCL, where built a fully-functioning gesture recognition interface for his dorm-room television, and studied the effects of different personality types on user interfaces.
As well has his work for Amberlight, he works as a freelance session drummer and percussionist for various ultra-hip bands and well-known artists on the Domino and Virgin Records labels.
