Their current work is especially with refugees, people with disabilities and women in patriarchal societies, arguably some of the most marginalised people in society. By helping them to use technologies, the Chair is hoping to improve their life experiences and empower people for change.

The ICT4D Collective was set up by the current Chairholder, Tim Unwin, in 2004. They’re a group of people committed to undertaking the highest possible quality of research in the field of ICT4D and making the results of this available freely to the global community. They aim to do this primarily in the interests of poor people and marginalised communities, wherever they may be found.

The chair is avowedly interdisciplinary, including people working in computer science, geography, information security, and management. Over time it has attracted affiliated members from across the world. In the early years they concentrated especially on postgraduate training, but now the Chair work focuses much more on large policy-oriented research. In 2007, they created a global community of academics and practitioners in ICT4D on Facebook, and 13 years later this now has more than 5400 members.

Since then, the Chair’s research and practice have evolved to meet the changing needs of people across the world interested in how digital technologies can not only increase economic growth but also reduce inequalities.

Currently in 2020, Tim and his team are involved in four main initiatives:
• The UKRI GCRF MIDEQ project, which works with migrants in 12 countries and focuses especially on developing technologies that might help them reduce inequalities.
• The TEQtogether initiative, developed initially by colleagues in the Chair to change men’s attitudes and behaviours towards women and technology.
• Crafting a report funded by DFID and the World Bank on how governments can best use digital technologies to restructure their education systems following the immediate crisis caused by COVID-19
• Working with Jigsaw Consult to provide advice to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on the future of its capacity development and training activities.

As a human geographer, Tim’s research into the application of ICT to international development has its roots in the research he undertook with Indian colleagues in rural Jharkhand (then South Bihar) in the mid-1970s, which shaped his emphasis on working “with” colleagues in the economically poorer countries of the world, rather than “for” or “on” them. In the early 2000s, he led the UK’s Imfundo initiative, creating partnerships to use ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) effectively for education in Africa, and upon returning to Royal Holloway, University of London, he was inspired to set up the ICT4D initiative in order to build momentum and enact positive change.

Further to his academic research, Tim was Secretary General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation from 2011-2015 and served on the UK Department for International Development’s Digital Advisory Panel. He is currently Chair of the UN University Institute in Macau’s International Advisory Board.