The roles will be instrumental in developing the work of the Institute, which is driving forward an ambitious £100m programme involving 27 partners and researchers from across the University. The appointments are the first of a number of new posts to be introduced during the next three years in Engineering and Social Sciences.
The appointments are:
- Rebecca Coleman, Professor of Digital Futures in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS) at the University of Bristol. Rebecca is currently a Reader in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London and Co-Director of their Methods Lab. Her specialisms are in the everyday life of digital media, with specific interests in how presents and futures are made and experienced. Her research works across theory, method and the empirical.
- Sanja Milivojevic, Associate Professor in Digital Futures in the School of Policy Studies. Sanja joins from the University of Oxford where she is a Research Fellow in Criminology at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia and Associate Director of Border Criminologies at Oxford University. Sanja’s research interests are borders and mobility, security technologies and surveillance, gender and victimisation, and international criminal justice and human rights.
- Jessica Ogden, Lecturer in Digital Futures in SPAIS. Jessica was previously a Senior Research Associate and ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow in SPAIS. She specialises in the politics of data/archives, with a focus on the ways that digital culture, media and knowledge are constructed and represented online, as well as the broad implications these have for contemporary and future digital scholarship.
Our new academics will work with a wide range of Bristol Digital Futures Institute partners on a diverse portfolio of initiatives.
Current collaborations include our work with community partners to co-create new opportunities through open digital innovation platforms such as deployable network infrastructures for immersive cultural and educational experiences driven by communities.
We are also working closely with LV=GI, a major personal lines insurance provider, to democratise machine learning and explore methods for wider engagement when creating and monitoring machine learning decision-making.
Bristol Digital Futures Institute Co-Director Professor Susan Halford said:
“These new roles, working across faculties and with our partners, will significantly boost our digital futures expertise. I’m delighted that we have attracted such exceptional individuals to work with us.
“They are the first in a stream of new roles which will enable researchers to work across areas such as engineering, law, education, arts and sociology to help us create more sustainable and inclusive digital futures.”
Bristol Digital Futures Institute Co-Director Professor Dimitra Simeonidou said :
“I am excited to welcome such established academic colleagues in the BDFI community. They will help to create the necessary critical mass to realise the Institute’s research vision and they will be instrumental in driving the BDFI’s ambition to pioneer new ways to innovate in the digital space for a prosperous and fair society.”
ENDS