Principal Investigators

Associate Prof. Arul Chib, Director of SiRC and SIRCA, studies mobile phone healthcare (mHealth) systems, investigating the key factors influencing the adoption of technology for positive health outcomes, and has engaged in the design and development of healthcare technology systems spanning online and mobile platforms. He has over 100 research publications and conference presentations. Dr. Chib won the 2011 Prosper.NET-Scopus Award for the use of ICTs for sustainable development, accompanied by a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He has been awarded fellowships at Ludwig Maxmilians University and University of Southern California. He serves on the editorial boards of Human Communication Research, Communication Yearbook, and Mobile Media and Communication, and is Senior Editor of The Electronic journal for Information Systems in Developing Countries. Dr. Chib’s research in as many as nine countries has been profiled in the media ranging from the United Nations Chronicle to the Singaporean press. He has lectured at numerous global events and presented the keynote speech at the Media Health Communication Conference 2012 in Munich. He was the General Conference Chair for ICTD2015, and a member of the organizing committees of the IFIP 8.6 2013 and ICTD 2012. Greater details may be found here.

Caitlin Bentley is in the final stages of completing her PhD at the ICT4D Research Centre at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her thesis explored the role of technology in mediating relationships between bilateral donors and civil society organisations (CSO). She is particularly interested in how technology can improve learning and accountability, specifically through opening up participation, collaboration and knowledge sharing processes. In 2012, Caitlin was awarded a fellowship with the UK’s Software Sustainability Institute as well as a Slawson Award for fieldwork from the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). Caitlin will be assisting SiRC in managing the research activities of SIRCA III, and will also be contributing to theory building and empirical research within the programme.

Project: Open and/or Apolitical? A critical re‐examination of Open Information Systems

Janaki Srinivasan (PhD, UC Berkeley School of Information) is an Assistant Professor at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB). She studies the political economy of information and ICT-focused development initiatives. Janaki is currently working on the role of intermediaries in ICT-based transactions among agricultural actors in India, and the role of information determinism in ICT-based initiatives.

Bidisha Chaudhuri (PhD, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Germany) is an Assistant Professor at the International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore (IIIT-B), India. She is the author of the book “E-Governance in India: Interlocking Politics, Technology and Culture” (2014, London & New York: Routledge).  Her research interests include e-governance, public policy reform, ICT for development, gender and development, and South Asian politics.

Project: Resources, Learning and Inclusion in Open Development

Marion Walton’s (University of Cape Town) research explores the connections between media studies and the study of software, digital media, social networks and games. She has a particular interest in mobile media and developing new research methodologies for the study of interactive media, and user experiences of social and participatory media. Her PhD studies included a period of study at the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media at the Institute of Education, University of London. Her research in Human Computer Interaction suggests approaches to studying software as a new form of media, and confronts the issues of power and regulation of meaning that arise for users of software, particularly those in marginalized contexts.

Project: Elements of Trust in an Open Model: Exploring the Role and Place of Trust in Open Education and Urban Services in the Global South

Rich Ling (PhD, University of Colorado in 1984) is the Shaw Foundation Professor of Media Technology, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has focused his work on the social consequences of mobile communication. He was a professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, where he has served in Department management and he works at Telenor near Oslo, Norway. Ling has been the Pohs visiting professor of communication studies (2005) at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he has an adjunct position. He is the author of the book Taken for grantedness (2012 MIT Press) that was recently the subject of a complementary review in the journal Science.

Project:  A Critical Capability Approach to Open Development

Yingqin Zheng is Senior Lecturer at the School of Management, Royal Holloway University of London. She obtained her doctorate from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Scholar. Her research interests include the implications of information and communication technologies in the transformation of organizations and societies. Her work in ICTD explores the contributions of conceptual approaches such as Sen’s capability approach. Empirically she has investigated topics related to health information systems, distributed innovation, social inclusion, social media and collection action. She currently serves as Senior Editor for Information Technology and People and Associate Editor for the Information Systems Journal.

Project: Open development – A focus on organizational norms and power redistribution

Anita Gurumurthy is a founding member and executive director of IT for Change, an India-based NGO that works at the intersection of development and digital technologies. The organisational vision on social justice in the network society draws upon Southern critiques of mainstream development, and its key strategy is to create and work through trust-based coalitions and horizontal alliances. Through her work at IT for Change, Anita has attempted to promote conversations between theory and practice. In addition to research responsibilities at IT for Change, Anita also leads the work of the organisation’s field resource centre that works with grassroots communities on ‘technology for social change’ models. Equity and community-ownership, focusing particularly on socially marginalised women, are the cornerstones of such model building.

Project: Public Engagement in Open Development: A Knowledge Stewardship Approach

Katherine Reilly is an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University, Canada. Reilly’s research is in the area of international and development communication with a particular focus on Latin America. Before starting doctoral studies, she worked as a freelance researcher on ICT4D in Latin America with various organizations including the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Social Sciences Research Council (SSRC), the Foundation for Networks and Development of the Dominican Republic (FUNREDES), among others. Much of this work considered the ways in which Latin American civil society was taking up new digital communications technologies, and how this impacted their engagement with democratization and transnational political processes.

Project: How do farmers’ digital literacy levels, socioeconomic status, literacy, gender and land ownership status, influence their ability to benefit from open data?

Chiranthi Rajapakse is a Senior Researcher at LIRNEasia (http://lirneasia.net), currently working on a project investigating the use of ICTs in agriculture and supply chain development in Sri Lanka. In the past she has been involved in LIRNEasia research looking at the use of mobile phones among micro entrepreneurs in Myanmar, and how gender affects mobile phone usage. She has also worked as a feature writer in the print media and holds double degrees; Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of London (International Programmes) and a degree in Dentistry from the University of Peradeniya.

Piyumi Gamage’s research interests are use of ICT in agriculture & supply chain development, sustainability and climate change related studies. She holds double degrees; Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Specialised in Agricultural Economics and Extension) from the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka and Graduateship in Chemistry at the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon. She is a member of Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA-USA), Sri Lanka Economic Association, affiliate member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing UK and an associate member of the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon. Piyumi is currently completing her Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics at the Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture (PGIA), University of Peradeniya.

Project: Can citizens’ ability to access, participate and collaborate in urban services make the urban governance system more trustworthy?

Satyarupa Shekhar Swain heads the Government Outreach and Advisory group which works to overcome challenges to access to basic services posed by a lack of data and information, while improving transparency and accountability. Satyarupa works with the city government and other public agencies in the city to bring a more data-driven approach to governance and leads the Chennai Data Portal project, which collaborates with government departments to create and use data for decision making. Prior to joining CAG, Satyarupa worked at Transparent Chennai and the Centre for Development Finance at IFMR, Democracy Connect, the Indian School of Business and the World Social Forum 2004. She holds a Masters degree in Law and Economics from the University of Rotterdam, where she was an Erasmus Mundus scholar. She also has a Masters in Economics from the University of Hyderabad.

Project: Using the critical capability approach to empirically analyse the design and implementation of the open government initiative on education sector in Tanzania

Goodiel Moshi is a lecturer at the University of Dodoma, Tanzania. He earned his BSc in Information and Communication Technologies Management at the Mzumbe University. He obtained his Masters and PhD on ICT regulation, policies and utilization from the Waseda University in Japan. His research focuses on ICT policies and utilization in networked societies, particularly in developing countries. His current research interests include ICT infrastructure and utilization, open data and mobile money in Tanzania and Africa at large.

Project: Digitisation as ‘openness’? Mapping electronic governance and shifting politics of land in West Bengal, India

Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, the Centre for Internet and Society, has research interests spanning history and politics of informatics in India, new media and technology studies and data infrastructures and economies. He is also keenly interested in computational techniques in arts, humanities, and social research, and emerging methodological questions. At the Centre for Internet and Society, Sumandro leads the Researchers at Work (RAW) programme, which hosts inter-disciplinary initiatives in academic, applied, and creative research. He also works closely with the policy research teams working on openness policies (open data, open access, free software, etc.), big data and privacy, and digital economy and e-governance.

Project: Understanding the structures and mechanisms that foster stewardship in open development

Jean-Paul Van Belle is a professor of information technology and director at the Centre for Information Technology and National Development in Africa at the University of Cape Town. He was head of the department of Information Technology at the University of Cape Town from 2008 to 2011. Van Belle has written over 120 published peer reviewed articles in the fields of service-oriented architecture, unified communications within businesses, open source software, mobile computing, and information and communication technologies for development.

Project: Exploring the role of “learning as development” in open information systems – a case study from West Bengal, India

Purnabha Dasgupta is currently the action research coordinator for the non-profit Development Research Communication and Services Centre (DRCSC) working on sustainable agricultural development, livelihoods, climate change adaptation etc.. Prior to this, he has worked 3 years in Department of Science and Technology, Government of India Project on Sustainable Livelihood Development through scientific management of natural resources. He submitted his PhD thesis to Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University on sustainability assessment of integrated farming systems.