Executive Director of Open North

Dr. Merlin Chatwin is the Executive Director of Open North. Over the last decade, Merlin Chatwin’s professional and academic pursuits have focused on supporting governments to more effectively identify and address the needs of residents. He spent four years working directly with local governments in Ghana, founding a Canadian start-up that supported valuation-led taxation reform in different regions of the country. He worked alongside local and national government officials to build contextually appropriate, sustainable processes. Returning to Canada to complete a PhD at Western University, Merlin worked within the public sector and adjacent civic focused organizations supporting all levels of government. In 2018, Merlin was awarded the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship in recognition of his research in urban policy and local governance globally.

Merlin’s extensive domestic and international experience focusing on public consultation, policy development and local government reform led him to Open North. As the Executive Director, Merlin is steering the Montreal-based organization onto an international stage, with a fully remote workplace operating on a 4-day workweek. 

As an avid researcher and a life-long learner at the intersection of academia and practical implementation, Merlin has turned many of his professional experiences into journal articles, practitioner reports, training and blog posts. Merlin has publications in political science, geography and public policy journals. He has contributed chapters to UNDP and UN-Habitat’s global reports on urbanization and sustainable development. 

Merlin recently began a postdoctoral position at Ontario Tech University, where his research takes a decolonial perspective to critically examine how AI technologies are disseminated from the West to the global majority.

Merlin is a frequent lecturer and presenter across Canada on smart cities and data governance and provides training on monitoring and evaluation for digital strategy.