Determining and understanding digital exclusion

About the Project

Although digital technologies bring benefits to many people, there are some groups, such as older people, people without jobs, or people with disabilities, who potentially face greater barriers to digital inclusion. As daily living switches to digital technologies and the internet, such groups face increased risk of social isolation, security vulnerabilities and exclusion from work or commerce.

There are two strands of focus which the researcher could follow:

• Determining the scale, causes or impacts of digital exclusion.
• Determining options to either remove the digital divide or to counter its negative impacts.

Depending on the path of interest, the research could engage a variety of quantitative and qualitative analysis such as examining national datasets, conducting focus groups, undertaking interviews, or determining and evaluating digital exclusion models.

• Director of Studies: Dr Andrew Tomlinson, Worcester Business School, University of Worcester
• Supervisors: Dr Chris Bowers, Worcester Business School, University of Worcester
• Research Group: Digital Innovation & Intelligent Systems Research Group

Application Process

To begin the application process please go to https://www.worc.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/applying-for-a-phd/.

The Interview

All successful applicants will be offered an interview with the proposed Supervisory Team. You will be contacted by a member of the Doctoral School Team to find a suitable date. Interviews can be conducted in person or over Microsoft Teams.