Massimo Ragnedda (PhD) (massimo.ragnedda@northumbria.ac.uk) is an Associate Professor in Media and Communication at Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK where he conducts research on the digital divide and social media. He is the co-chair of the Digital Divide Working Group (IAMCR), the co-convenor of NINSO (Northumbria Internet and Society Research Group) and a Digital Poverty Alliance Ambassador. He has authored and edited thirteen books with his publications appearing in numerous peer-reviewed journals, and book chapters in English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Russian texts. His books include: Enhancing Digital Equity. Connecting the digital underclass (Palgrave, 2020); Digital Capital. A Bourdieusian approach to Digital Divide (with Maria Laura Ruiu) Emerald 2020; Digital Inclusion. An International Comparative Analysis (co-edited with Bruce Mutsvairo), Lexington Books 2018; Theorizing the Digital Divide (co-edited with G Muschert), Routledge (2017); The third Digital Divide: a Weberian approach to Digital Inequalities (2017), Routledge; The Digital Divide: The Internet and Social Inequality in International Perspective (co-edited with G Muschert) (2013), Routledge.

Senior Lecturer. Registered Social Worker. Journal Editor

1) Senior Policy Advisor for human rights and international affairs for the City of Gwangju since 2015 2) Professor Emeritus of Chonnam National University: I taught linguistics for 31 years. I served the university as the Language Center Director for four years and as the Dean of the International Affairs for four and half years. 3) Director for Gwangju International Center (GIC) since 1999 to serve the local international community with its 20 staff. The GIC began organizing the World Human Rights Cities Forum (WHRCF) since 2014.

As a member of the policy and engagement team, Alex leads programs related to thought leadership and strategic research to discover new ideas and integrate learnings into the Foundation’s projects and partnerships. He also works with a cross-Foundation team on the development of a Data Futures initiative. His work seeks to make cycles of advantage and disadvantage visible in new ways and to amplify the Foundation’s and our partners’ ideas of how to overcome complex barriers and enable greater opportunities. Before joining the Foundation, Alex’s career evolved around the intersection of research and policy, building partnerships between government departments, United Nations agencies, private sector companies and interdisciplinary data initiatives. More recently, he worked with the Bangladesh government, UNICEF and the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at the University of Oxford on new approaches to the institutional design of rural drinking water services. An interdisciplinary scholar, Alex holds a master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University and DPhil in Geography from the University of Oxford.