Leela Damodaran is Professor Emerita of Digital Inclusion and Participation at Loughborough Business School. As an independent policy advisor specialising in the behavioural aspects of the use of digital technologies; strategies for social and digital inclusion; planning of change and transition; citizen engagement and participation, she works in the public, business and academic sectors.
Leela has participated and led on a wide range of programmes and projects variously in research, consulting, policy and advisory roles. Her extensive portfolio of research over many years has received funding variously from UK and European research funding bodies and UK government departments eg Ofcom, DHSS, DCMS, DTI and GO-Science; and business organisations eg Shell Global Solutions, Pilkington Glass and British Telecom.
Her current focus upon tackling digital exclusion and bridging the digital divide is underpinned by the body of knowledge generated by the major and unique pioneering collaborative research project (CRP) ‘Sustaining IT use by older people to promote autonomy and independence’ ('Sus-IT'). (The Sus-IT project with Leela as Principal Investigator and Wendy Olphert as co-investigator was part of the RCUK-funded flagship ‘New Dynamics of Ageing’ programme). The Sus-IT project investigated one of the most significant threats to digital inclusion in society – namely the risk of older and disabled ICT users becoming unable to sustain ICT usage in the face of a range of age-related factors. The project findings continue to inform evidence reviews, policy and guidance documents and so on.
In 2010 Leela was the first woman and social scientist invited to give the prestigious Mountbatten Memorial Lecture at the Institute of Engineering and Technology: 'Flying through Cyberspace: can we all have wings?' – this promoted awareness of human factors issues and of wider social aspects of technology use to an extensive international audience.
Leela’s extensive portfolio of work continues to be characterised by engagement with a number of policymakers and other stakeholders to inform policy, practice and design in a range of roles. For example, Leela serves on the NHS 'Digital Health Inequalities Steering Group' advising on the ‘Framework for NHS’ and on the British Computer Society specialist group on 'Closing the Digital Divide'. She was commissioned by the Department of Media, Culture and Sport to develop a 'What works Toolkit' to provide guidance to people in various roles working to reduce the digital divide.
Although working at national level, Leela maintains significant grass-roots engagement with community groups who work to support digitally excluded/disadvantaged end users (especially older people). In particular, she has a long-standing and active association with the Sus-IT Drop-In and Computer Club of the Long Eaton 50+Forum, Derbyshire.
Current roles
- Member of EPSRC Digital Health Steering Board
- Co-applicant in bid to NIHR (for production of a toolkit to address technostress in older people who use social care services)
- Member and advisor of Long Eaton 50+ Forum
- Advisor of Ashbourne Pavilion Community Initiative
- Member of NHS 'Digital Health Inequalities Steering Group'
- Member of Leicestershire Equalities Challenge Group
- Founder member of 'Closing the Digital Divide' British Computer Society specialist group
Previous roles
- Member of Ofcom Strategic Advisory Board
- Member of Digital Inclusion Stakeholder Group of the Government Digital Strategy team
- Member of Department for Work and Pensions Age Action Alliance Digital Inclusion Group
- Frameworks for achieving and sustaining digital participation for all
- Impact of digitalisation on resilience and vulnerability of older people
- E-society and the 'Digital Divide: Citizen engagement strategies
- Behavioural aspects and human use of digital technologies
- Planning of change and transition
Damodaran, L. (2021 ) 'Barriers and ‘What Works’ Solutions to Digital Participation for all'. Wavelength.
Damodaran, L., Burrows H. (2017) 'Digital Skills Across the Lifetime – Exisiting Provisions and Future Challenges'. London Foresight, Government Office for Science.
Damodaran, L., Craig, M., Gilbertson, T., W. & Sandhu, J. (2015) 'Digital Incusion – The Vision, the Challenges and the Way Forward'. International Journal on Advances in Internet Technology, 8 (3&4), pp78-92.
Damodaran, L., Olphert, C.W., Sandhu, J. (2014) 'Falling off the Bandwagon? Exploring the Challenges to Sustained Digital Engagement for Older People'. Gerontology 60 (2), pp. 163-173.
Olphert, C.W., Damodaran, L. (2013) 'Digital Disengagement and Older People: the Fourth Digital Divide?' Gerontology 59 (6), pp.564-570.