How Cernavia works
Cernavia is an independent practice built around finite, artefact-based commissions.
It works alongside evaluation, legal, and ethics functions when you need decision-grade writing on AI, education, neurodivergence, and public-interest systems.
Two lanes at a glance
Evidence & Learning
Decision-ready synthesis
When to use it
You are sitting on a large body of material such as reports, studies, interviews, and dashboards, but no single coherent brief that leadership can actually work from.
Main artefacts
- Evidence & Options Briefs (8–15 pages)
- Learning Syntheses & Programme Insight Reports (15–30 pages)
Typical commissioning moments
- Closing, pivoting, or scaling a programme or alliance
- Preparing a board or strategy discussion
- Refreshing a grant-making or portfolio strategy
Judgement & Governance
Risk & responsibility
When to use it
You suspect verification load, shadow risks, or governance gaps are building beneath current dashboards and checklists.
Main artefacts
- Verification-Load Diagnostics
- Shadow-Risk Briefs
- Governance Maturity & Judgement Notes
Typical commissioning moments
- Funding or regulating AI-enabled tools in sensitive contexts
- Responding to board or audit committee concerns
- Designing or revisiting AI governance frameworks
If you are unsure which lane fits, it is common to start with an Evidence & Options Brief and later commission a governance artefact once specific risks and gaps become clearer.
How commissions run
Commissioning pattern
Across both lanes, the commissioning pattern is similar:
- Scoped and time-bound, with a short written scoping note defining the decision or governance moment, inputs, outputs, and timeframes.
- Desk-based and asynchronous, with one or two structured feedback cycles.
- Written to travel, so boards, portfolio teams, and practitioners can all read the work clearly.
- Confidential by default, with institutional documents, interviews, and internal data handled carefully and not reused without explicit consent.
Who commissions this work
Typical commissioners include:
- Heads of Learning & Impact or Evidence & Insight in foundations and alliances
- Programme or portfolio directors closing, pivoting, or scaling initiatives
- Governance, risk, digital, or ethics leads in education, neurodivergence, social, or child-rights portfolios
- Evaluation and research firms needing senior synthesis capacity at the reporting stage
If you carry responsibility for decisions where AI, education or social systems, and human responsibility intersect, this work is designed for you.
Next step
You do not need a perfect brief to begin
If the immediate problem is too many reports and not enough clarity, the work usually starts in Evidence & Learning. If the pressure point is risk, responsibility, verification load, or something that feels off but is still difficult to name, go straight to Judgement & Governance.
If you are already carrying a live decision, a short note on the context, timing, and what you are trying to decide is enough to begin.