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Vanessa Waters

Senior Service Designer
A person with long wavy blonde hair is shown from the shoulders up, wearing a striped blue and green sweater. The background features a black‑and‑white checkerboard pattern.

Profile

Vanessa is an award-winning Service Designer and creative engagement enthusiast. Glaswegian by birth, she has called Paris home, made Rio de Janeiro her studio space, and Beijing her place of study – experiences that have shaped her worldview and approach. Energised by people to challenge, opportunities to seize, and voices to amplify, she is driven by contributing to a better world.

For over a decade, Vanessa has collaborated across sectors including government, finance, tech, healthcare, education, advertising, and non-profits, designing experiences that turn complex challenges into real-world impact.

Blog post

Three people stand side by side at an indoor event, each wearing a lanyard and holding branded tote bags. Posters reading “Creative Thinking Festival” are displayed on the wall behind them, and the group is standing on a wooden floor against a light‑coloured background.
Inside a collaboration between education, industry and healthcare

What happens when education, industry, and creativity come together in practice? In this blog, Vanessa Waters explores Opencast’s work with Daydream Believers and NHS Scotland, and how this collaboration is creating learning experiences that feel connected to the real world. Through the Caring Innovators NHS Challenge, young people navigate meaningful healthcare challenges, developing ideas and solutions that reach beyond the classroom. Alongside pupils, teachers are part of the journey too, building the confidence and tools to guide exploration that matters. At the heart of the work is Opencast’s first community partnership with Daydream Believers, bringing education and industry closer together to make learning more immersive, relevant and grounded — where the future of work meets the realities of today, and imagination finds a practical path into action.

People & Culture

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Social Impact & Sustainability

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Healthcare

A person with long wavy blonde hair is shown from the shoulders up, wearing a striped blue and green sweater. The background features a black‑and‑white checkerboard pattern.

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Blog post

A person in a colourful patterned outfit speaks while holding a phone, standing near a display board and wearing an event lanyard.
From numbers to narrative: turning data into stories that drive better decisions

Whether you’re a data practitioner or someone who works alongside data, you’ll know how daunting it can be to make sense of it – or help others do the same – but you rely on the numbers to shape the insights you need to make decisions that matter. This blog explains how storytelling techniques and service design bridge the gap between technical complexity and real-world understanding, all while shattering silos and shaping shared success.

Data & AI

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UCD

A person with long wavy blonde hair is shown from the shoulders up, wearing a striped blue and green sweater. The background features a black‑and‑white checkerboard pattern.

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Blog post

Three people stand side by side at an indoor event, each wearing a lanyard and holding branded tote bags. Posters reading “Creative Thinking Festival” are displayed on the wall behind them, and the group is standing on a wooden floor against a light‑coloured background.
Inside a collaboration between education, industry and healthcare

What happens when education, industry, and creativity come together in practice? In this blog, Vanessa Waters explores Opencast’s work with Daydream Believers and NHS Scotland, and how this collaboration is creating learning experiences that feel connected to the real world. Through the Caring Innovators NHS Challenge, young people navigate meaningful healthcare challenges, developing ideas and solutions that reach beyond the classroom. Alongside pupils, teachers are part of the journey too, building the confidence and tools to guide exploration that matters. At the heart of the work is Opencast’s first community partnership with Daydream Believers, bringing education and industry closer together to make learning more immersive, relevant and grounded — where the future of work meets the realities of today, and imagination finds a practical path into action.

People & Culture

|

Social Impact & Sustainability

|

Healthcare

A person with long wavy blonde hair is shown from the shoulders up, wearing a striped blue and green sweater. The background features a black‑and‑white checkerboard pattern.

Read more

Blog post

A person in a colourful patterned outfit speaks while holding a phone, standing near a display board and wearing an event lanyard.
From numbers to narrative: turning data into stories that drive better decisions

Whether you’re a data practitioner or someone who works alongside data, you’ll know how daunting it can be to make sense of it – or help others do the same – but you rely on the numbers to shape the insights you need to make decisions that matter. This blog explains how storytelling techniques and service design bridge the gap between technical complexity and real-world understanding, all while shattering silos and shaping shared success.

Data & AI

|

UCD

A person with long wavy blonde hair is shown from the shoulders up, wearing a striped blue and green sweater. The background features a black‑and‑white checkerboard pattern.

Read more

© Opencast 2026

Registered in England and Wales

© Opencast 2026

Registered in England and Wales

© Opencast 2026

Registered in England and Wales