Our team
This Minimum Digital Living Standard project is a collaboration, involving researchers and professionals from the organisations below. The team members have a range of expertise in the field of researching and tackling digital inequalities, understanding living standards and and the ways in which technology (devices and broadband) can assist families in their everyday lives.
– Professor Simeon Yates
Professor Simeon Yates
Digital Media and Society Institute, University of Liverpool
Simeon is a Professor of Digital Culture and the Director of the Digital Media and Society Institute. He has researched the social, political, and cultural impacts of digital media since 1990, mainly focusing on projects addressing issues of digital inclusion and exclusion since 2004.
Dr Emma Stone
Good Things Foundation
Emma is the Director of Evidence and Engagement, leading a team of specialist experts skilled in service design, user research, evaluation, data insights, marketing, communications, external affairs, and advocacy.
Katherine Hill
Centre for Research in Social Policy, Loughborough University
Katherine joined CRSP in 2001. Her interests include qualitative research in welfare policy, disadvantaged groups, and low-income individuals, focusing on the perspectives of the people involved. This research has encompassed DWP policy evaluations of NDDP and LHA, as well as qualitative studies on ageing that examine the needs and experiences of older adults.
Dr Chloe Blackwell
Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP)
Chloe is a full-time research associate in CRSP. She has a degree in Sociology and an MA in Social Research. As a PhD student in CRSP, she contributed to the research centre’s Minimum Income Standard (MIS) research. Upon completing my PhD thesis at the beginning of 2022, Chloe joined CRSP as a full-time research associate.
Professor Abigail Davis
Centre for Research in Social Policy, Loughborough University
Abigail Davis is a Professor at the Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP), where she has conducted research on poverty, social exclusion, lifestyles, and living standards since 2000. Abigail specialises in Budget Standards research and is the lead researcher applying and developing CRSP’s innovative Minimum Income Standard (MIS) methodology. She has worked on the programme since its inception in 2006.
Professor Alex Singleton
University of Liverpool
Alex Singleton is a Professor of Geographic Information Science at the University of Liverpool, where he was appointed as a Lecturer in 2010. Previously, he held research positions at University College London, where he was awarded a PhD in 2007. He completed a BSc in Geography at the University of Manchester, graduating with a First-class Honours degree in 2003.
Professor Matt Padley
Centre for Research in Social Policy, Loughborough University
Matt Padley is a Professor in the Centre for Research in Social Policy and Co-director of Research for Social and Policy Studies. Matt’s research centres on living standards, poverty and social exclusion in the UK and abroad, focusing on public conceptions and understanding of living standards, and how these can be used within public policy.
Dr Gianfranco Polizzi
University of Birmingham
Dr. Gianfranco Polizzi is an Assistant Professor in Digital Media and Communications. He was previously a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Liverpool. He is currently working on projects related to key aspects of digital literacy, helped develop the Minimum Digital Living Standard project, and is working on several related projects.
Dr Jeanette D’Arcy
Digital Media and Society Institute, University of Liverpool
Dr. Jeanette D’Arcy is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Communication and Media. She is currently supporting the development of a Minimum Digital Living Standard project and several related projects focused on digital technology reuse, digital literacies, and digital social research methods.
Rebecca Harris
Digital Media and Society Institute, University of Liverpool
Rebecca Harris is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Communication and Media. She is currently supporting the development of a Minimum Digital Living Standard project and several related projects focused on digital technology reuse, digital literacies, and the use of AI.
Dr Elinor Carmi
City University
Dr. Elinor Carmi is a Lecturer in Media and Communication at the Sociology Department at City University, London, UK. Dr. Carmi is a digital rights advocate, feminist, researcher and journalist who has been working, writing and teaching on data politics, data literacies, feminist approaches to media and data, sound studies and internet governance.
Professor Supriya Garikipati
University College Dublin
Dr Supriya Garikipati is Professor in Sustainable Development and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development at University College Dublin. She holds a doctorate in Development Economics from the University of Cambridge, where she was awarded the prestigious Nehru-Cambridge and British Chevening Scholarships.
Paul Sheppard
Critical Research
Paul joined Critical Research in 2017. He has over 20 years of research experience in both quantitative and qualitative techniques, having worked across several areas including retail, finance, and telecoms. Most recently, Paul has specialised in communications and media research through his work on the Ofcom account.
Jocelle Lovell
Cwmpas
Jocelle is a driven, innovative, and passionate leader whose career has focused on improving social inclusion and addressing inequalities in Wales’ most disadvantaged communities. She possesses both operational experience working with disadvantaged and often socially excluded individuals, as well as strategic management experience collaborating with senior figures across the Welsh Government and the private sector.
Professor Hamish Laing
Digital Inclusion Alliance Wales and Swansea University
Appointed to a personal chair in the School of Management in 2018, Hamish has established a program focused on Value-Based Healthcare, which led to his appointment in 2021 as Director of the Value-Based Health and Care (VBHC) Academy, part of the Welsh Government Intensive Learning Academy Programme. Hamish is passionate about the importance of digital inclusion and ensuring that people are not left behind by the digital revolution, particularly in healthcare.
Professor Bridgette Wessels
University of Glasgow
Bridgette is a Professor of Social Inequality with expertise in Digital Society research. Her areas of research include social exclusion and digital divides, financial exclusion and the e-economy, social media and political inequality, health inequalities and telehealth, welfare services and (digital) identity, local journalism and inclusion, and e-policing and ethnicity and communities.
Jennifer Challinor
Jennifer is a Research Associate working on the Scottish MDLS. Jennifer is an experienced senior manager and director, working within the non-profit and social enterprise sectors (in the UK), within a wide range of sectors, including community mental health, early years and older adult housing, to economic regeneration and innovation.