Data Frictions: Inclusion and Data Skills for Arts, Humanities and Culture

Date: Thursday May 14, 2026

Location: University of the Arts London (HH203) 272 High Holborn, London WC1V 7EY

Time: 2pm - 5pm + networking until 6pm

Cost: Free but registration is required

Contact: [email protected]

You are warmly invited to the launch of the ‘Data Frictions and Inclusive Skills’ report! The report details the findings of the DAReS project, a year-long initiative focused on embedding digital skills in the arts and humanities by:

1) challenging digital skills provision as reiterating systemic biases, and

2) co-designing an inclusive approach to data skills with under-represented and marginalized groups.

The launch includes a public presentation of the project’s key findings, followed by a roundtable discussion on inclusive data futures with co-designers and leading experts working with data’s greatest challenges and opportunities.

2pm - 3pm Welcome and Report Launch

• Data Frictions and Inclusive Data Skills, Dr Zoetanya Sujon

• “I do not think that word means what you think it means”: Why we learn digital and data skills as arts and humanities researchers, Dr Bea Wohl

• Wikimedia UK and Inclusive Collaboration, Dr Richard Nevell

3pm - 3.15pm Break

3.15pm - 4.55pm Roundtable on Inclusive Data Futures

• Dr Pheonix Parry, Reader in Games and Creative Technologies, Creative Computing Institute, University of the Arts London

• Dr Nessa Keddo, Senior Lecturer in Media, Diversity and Technology, King’s College London

• Dr Lexi Webster, Associate Professor of Digital Culture, University of Southampton

4.55pm - 5pm Closing

5pm - 6pm Networking

The ‘Transforming the Gap: Inclusive Digital Arts and Humanities Research’ (DAReS) Project was made possible due funding awarded by the AHRC (reference number AH/X007510/1), under the ‘Embed digital skills’ funding call, and is part of the iDAH Digital Skills Training Network. The DAReS investigative team includes Zoetanya Sujon (London College of Communications, UAL), Anna Troisi (Creative Computing Institute, UAL), Maitrayee Basu (University of Leeds), Nessa Keddo (King’s College London, Gauti Sigthorsson (University of Roehampton), and Bea Wohl (Creative Computing Institute, UAL). The project was coordinated by Natasha Mays and Anna Glarin and IT management provided by Parth Desai and Iza Najkowska. Wikimedia UK and CRAC/Vitae were DAReS project partners.

DAReS / UAL is also one of the for the UKRI funded interdisciplinary DISKAH network, in collaboration with the University of Brighton, Durham University, and Exeter University. DISKAH works in partnership with the: Advanced Research Computing Centre – UCL, N8 Centre of Excellence in Computationally Intensive Research (N8 CIR), King’s Digital Lab – KCL, and Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities – EU (DARIAH-EU).

Dr Zoetanya Sujon is a Reader in Communications and Social Technologies at the University of the Arts London (UAL); the UK's Key Regional Leader of the TikTok Research Cultures Network; Programme Chair for the International Conference on Social Media and Society; and author of many journal articles and ‘The Social Media Age’ (2021). Zoetanya was the Principal Investigator for the DAReS project and is a Project Co-Lead for the Digital Skills in Arts and Humanities (DISKAH) Network.

Dr Bea Wohl is a research fellow and the DAReS post-doctoral research fellow, at the Creative Computing Institute, University of the Arts London. Wohl's research focuses on digital innovation, inclusion and computing education, having specifically studied the delivery of the 2014 English computing curriculum. Their research interests are the intersection of the digital economy, media theory, digital citizenship and digital literacy.

Dr Richard Nevell, Programme Manager at Wikimedia UK, is responsible for numerous partnerships with higher education and cultural institutions. He has been an active contributor to the open knowledge movement since 2006, first as a volunteer and then as a member of staff at WMUK. Beyond the world of Wikimedia and open knowledge he completed a PhD in Archaeology at the University of Exeter in 2017.

Dr Phoenix Perry is a Reader in Games and Creative Technologies, specializing in developing accessible machine learning tools, values-driven creative coding organizations, and games that explore our collective interconnectedness. As a Reader in Games and Creative Technologies at the University of the Arts London, she combines embodied gaming, inclusive design, and advanced machine learning in interactive systems. Perry holds a PhD in Computing from Goldsmiths, where her research focused on disability-led game design. Perry is the founder of the Code Liberation Foundation and is the Principal Investigator for the Federated Data Commons for Creative Communities.

Dr Nessa Keddo, is a Senior Lecturer, Programme Director for MA Global Media Industries and is the Department’s EDI Lead. Nessa’s research explores the intersection of diversity practices and technological deployment in the media industries. More recently with the onset of automated praxis through generative AI, her work explores the affordances and challenges of digitised and platform labour, particularly for marginalised practitioners and independent creators. Throughout her career, Nessa has pioneered EDI strategies and technological change management within HE and industry as a Research Director and Consultant, contributing to industry reports and thought leadership.

Dr Lexi Webster is an Associate Professor of Digital Culture and Deputy Director of Digital Humanities at the University of Southampton. She is also the Co-Director for the Southampton Institute for Arts and Humanities (SIAH). Lexi pursues a critical agenda for deconstructing social inequities, envisioning futures for human flourishing, and considering feasible ways of co-creating those futures. Her latest work has critiqued the mediatisation of transgender politics and recognition, critically dismantled the cisnormativity of technopolitics, and examined the relationship between queer joy and social media.

Image credit: Rudoy, I. (2022) Red and Blue Lines, Unsplash

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