The UNESCO Chair in ICT4D was a group of researchers and practitioners committed to excellence in the use of ICTs for development. It was created in 2007 through an agreement between UNESCO and Royal Holloway, University of London, and builds on the earlier work of the ICT4D Collective created in 2004. The founding Chairholder was Tim Unwin and in 2022 it was one of only 27 UNESCO Chairs in the UK. Between 2009 and 2016, much of the work of the Chair coincided with that of the multidisciplinary Research Centre on ICT4D at Royal Holloway, University of London (led by Dorothea Kleine between 2011 and 2016). In 2022 members of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D were drawn from the Schools and Departments of Computer Science, Geography, Information Security, Law and Management at Royal Holloway, University of London, with affiliated members also belonging to the Chair from across the world. Annual Reports from the Chair are available here. In 2023 the new senior management team at Royal Holloway, Univeristy of London decided not to renew its agreement with UNESCO, and so members of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D reinvigorated the ICT4D Collective and continued their work focusing on the use of digital tech by the world’s poorest and most marginalsied peoples.
The Chair’s primary focus was on the highest quality multi-disciplinary research, and particularly on developing the skills and expertise of postgraduates at doctoral and Master’s level. The group also used its research to influence high level policy through its membership of, and partnerships with, international organisations, the UK government, companies and civil society organisations.
Members of the Chair were committed to collegiality, openness, transparency and collectivity in the interests of the poorest and most marginalised, and welcomed all those who share dthese principles. They strongly believed in the importance of multi-disciplinarity for high quality research and teaching in ICT4D, and enjoyed teaching in each other’s departments as well as joint supervision of research students across departments.
The Chair created the ICT4D group on Facebook in 2007, which remains the largest social media group concerned with ICT4D and had 5,658 members in May 2023.
In 2012, the group was named 10th top Global Think Tank in Science and Technology in the University of Pennsylvania’s influential Go To Think Tanks Index Report and has remained in the top 15 ever since, being 7th in the 2015 Index, 10th in the 2016 Index , and 15th in the 2020 Index.
ICT4D Collective 