About Us
Let’s build safer, fairer systems together.
herEthical AI is a responsible AI company developing trauma-informed tools to detect subtle language harms. These include victim-blaming, coercive control, and romance fraud. Our mission is to support justice, fairness, and human dignity through explainable and auditable AI systems.
We work with charities, regulators and mission-driven organisations to turn unstructured text, such as case notes, communications or legal records, into usable insight. Our platform enables natural language search, bias detection, and evidence generation across sensitive and complex domains.
Our team combines expertise in policing, psychology, and machine learning. We have contributed to national reform programmes including Operation Soteria Bluestone and are trusted by both frontline and research organisations.
All of our tools are secure, privacy-first and developed in collaboration with survivors and practitioners.
Our Story
herEthical AI was born from a shared commitment to improving how systems respond to survivors of gender-based violence.
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Dr Hazel Sayer and Dr Ruth Spence first worked together on Operation Soteria Bluestone, a national programme to reform police responses to sexual violence. They later joined forces with Dr Tamara Polajnar on the OPSCA STAR project, which produced a practical guide to the ethical use of algorithms and AI in policing, alongside Prof Miranda Horvath and Dr Kari Davies.
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As the project neared its end, we met Anthony Joslin, who was retiring from Devon and Cornwall Police after leading innovation and reform portfolios. United by a shared vision, Ruth, Hazel, Tony and Tamara founded herEthical AI.
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Shortly after incorporation, Tamara invited Namrata Tanwani to join the team, having previously mentored her through the Sussex DISCUS programme. Namrata now leads our information design and AI implementation.
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We are supported by the ongoing guidance of Irena Polajnar, in the role of Senior Advisor. We’re also grateful for the expert contributions of Onyekachi Joy Agwu.
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Together, we are building AI systems that make harm visible, protect dignity, and enable fairer outcomes across justice, support, and civic systems.
Meet The Team
Dr. Tamara Polajnar
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Dr Ruth Spence
Founder & Chief Research Officer
Namrata Tanwani
Employee #1 & AI Scientist
Dr Hazel Sayer
Founder & Chief Communication Officer
Tony Joslin
Founder & Chief Innovation officer
Irena Polajnar
Senior Advisor & Chief of Staff
Our Credentials
Our team of founders and employees comes from a variety of backgrounds, providing a diversity of views and approaches.
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Dr Tamara Polajnar is a computer scientist with over 20 years of experience in AI subfields of Natural Language Processing and Machine learning. Currently volunteering as the editor of ML in Policing.
Dr Hazel Sayer is a qualitative research expert with superb interviewing, research, and analysis skills and a background in assisting police with understanding VAWG including through Operation Soteria Bluestone.
Dr Ruth Spence is a research psychologist and an experienced researcher in trauma, based at Middlesex University, with previous experience on Operation Soteria Bluestone and as the PI in charge of production of RUDI, practical guide for ethical development of ML in Policing.
Anthony Joslin is a retired Inspector from Devon and Cornwall Police with over 30 years of practical policing experience and a passion for guiding police forces through rapid changes in innovation.
Namrata Tanwani is a talented multifaceted computer scientist with a specialisation in Data Science and AI who is leading the development of our platform.
Irena Polajnar is a Systems Design engineer with over 25 years of technical leadership experience across various industries. She specialises in product development, organisational optimisation, and building and scaling effective teams.