Our research
Our work focuses on the challenges around digital inclusion, digital poverty and marginalised groups.
This research cluster draws extensively on the expertise of two of Loughborough’s primary and longest established Research Centres - the Centre for Research in Social Policy and the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture.
Our Stakeholder Advisory Group includes Harriet Andrews (The Politics Project); Lizzie Carr (Planet Patrol); Liam Dargan (NEC Digital Studio); Marilia Duque (Ashoka); Alice Sinclair (Affinity Health at Work) and Saman Taherimoud (The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network).
Postgraduate researchers and our partners will be joining a wide range of exciting intellectual networks and events - benefitting from some of the latest cutting-edge research on vibrant and inclusive communities at the University.
Examples of our recent research
Our transdisciplinary research addresses a range of challenges - developing knowledge and understanding of digital communities and in/exclusion.
- Loot boxes - exploring how they cause financial and emotional harm to children
- Litter Data - using apps in citizen science
- Minimum Digital Living Standard - reducing digital exclusion in UK households with children
- Cited evidence from Dr Emilene Zitkus-De-Andrade recently contributed to two parliamentary reports on Digital disengagement and impacts on exclusion and The Rights of Older People (Women and Equalities Committee)
- The Rise of the Platform Music Industries – forthcoming book co-authored by Dr Allan Watson
- CreaTech Report (Royal Anniversary Trust / DCMS) – “How the fusion of emerging technologies and the Creative Industries can transform the UK’s approach to skills, innovation and business” - co-authored by Dr Allan Watson
- The trustworthiness of peers and public discourse: exploring how people navigate numerical dis/misinformation on personal messaging platforms – published in Information, Communication and Society co-authored by Dr Brendan Lawson
- Arriving and Thriving in Loughborough – a research project led by Dr Sophie Cranston
- The Gamification of Citizenship – paper by Professor Sarah Mills