RULE NUMBER ONE

INCLUSIVITY

Associate Professor at Durham University Business School and part of the Directorate for the Advanced Research Computing (@ARC_DU) group at the University of Durham.

My research examines tech inequalities through digital identity,  professional tech culture, 'women in tech' and interventions in technology.
Picture
Photo by @jasonleung
My work investigates how identity is being transformed by rapid advances in technologies as AI, social media, robotics, biomedicine and robotics change the social and human condition.

I advocate, strongly, for inclusivity in tech and to shift away from the label 'women in tech', to enable a step change in culture, policy and careers.

One current area of research focuses on digital identity through self-tracking and mHealth--particularly those involving automation, data-mining and AI--and the impact on behaviour and body change.

I also like Apple Macs and own a Mac Classic.

THE CULTURE OF WOMEN IN TECH. AN UNSUITABLE JOB FOR A WOMAN
Available now from Emerald Publishing

Publisher category entry here - Emerald Points
Published 2020
Available from Emerald Publishing here or on Amazon.com
2020. $42, 232pp. Hardcover, Paperback and e-book
This book offers a critical analysis of the contemporary and global tech culture and exposes the gender bias of masculine tech ideology and stereotypes. 

Is the place of ‘women in tech’ immovable from masculine leadership practices? And what are the cultural, social, personal and economic consequences of gender as a point of difference in the context of work in the tech sector? 

Over a decade of data collection and analysis, this book examines the rise of entrepreneurial work and leadership, the contemporary urban setting of global tech work, and specifically women’s place in tech clusters. The book engages with attempts by women to establish and then sustain their professional status and long-term careers, despite predatory social media trolling and inappropriate sexualised behaviour. Based on a series of commentaries from research undertaken by the author about workers located within ‘tech cities’ in the UK, USA and East Asia regions, the work exposes the serious problem of women’s position in the industry. While this study continues to be critical of the conceits of masculine tech ideology, prejudices and stereotypes, the work contributes to recent calls to help find solutions and ways forward.