The engine room exists to accelerate positive social change by supporting activists and initiatives to increase their impact using technology and data. Depending on the needs of a project, they provide access to technical resources, strategic guidance, information about comparable projects, applied research and project mentorship. The engine room build relationships over time to help their partners make their advocacy as effective as possible. Sometimes this involves only conversations, but when there is a strong fit they hunt down the resources and expertise to help partner projects take off. The engine room also develop and implement research projects designed to answer questions about when and how technology supports effective advocacy.

Alix is the executive director and co-founder of the engine room. She has a background in supporting and researching the use of data and technology for social change. Her research and academic work focused on how new media plays a role in facilitating opposition politics in repressive contexts. Before co-founding the engine room, Alix worked at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies developing projects and supporting technology planning. She has worked with groups like Tactical Tech and Mobile Active providing organisational support, training, and facilitation on: data literacy, information management, information activism, mobile phone security and organisational security. Alix holds an M.A. in Media Studies from the University of Oslo and a B.A. from Colorado College. She also sits on the board of directors of HURIDOCS and the Amnesty International Advisory Council on Technology and Human Rights.