My research focuses on the role digital technologies can play in empowering people and transform communities, understanding the social and cultural dynamics of technological appropriation, and re-invention. To do so I privilege creative participatory methods. At the moment, I am working on two strands of research:
- The challenges to access education for refugees in the Global South, and the role technologies and the arts can play in overcoming these challenges;
- How digital technologies, and new forms of digital storytelling, can be used to understand and reflect on local heritage (including nature and culture) in the light of contemporary mobilities.
Active Research Projects:
2020-2022: Leader of Local Heritage and Sustainability: promote reflection and sharing within and across communities, an international research network to explore how rural and urban communities can strengthen their resilience, promote their sustainability, and protect their local heritage through the use of creative and digital tools, in particular in Malaysia, Mozambique, and Brazil, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.
–> Go to the project’s website
2021: Co-Leader of Digital Arts for Refugee Engagment (DA-RE), an exploratory research project using arts-based activities in combination with digital literacy for developing the capabilities of refugee youth in Turkey and Bangladesh, funded by Bournemouth University.
–> Go to the project’s website
2019-2022: Research Partner of Connect2Aspire: Cultural engagements and young people’s professional aspirations, Principal Investigator: Amalia Sabiescu, Loughborough University, funded by the UK Art and Humanities Research Council.
Past Research Projects:
2021: Research Leader of Dual Netizenship, a youth-media project supported by the British Council that brought together 38 young filmmakers from the UK and Tunisia who, working online for 12 weeks, produced a movie together.
2020-2021: Co-Leader in Lockdown Stories, an international project that brings together communities’ voices, build-on community training and launch a digital platform for virtual favela tour experiences, funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund.
–> Go to the project’s website
2020-2021: Co-Leader in Sister Communities of Coastal Women: Sustainable livelihoods rooted on cultural and natural heritage, a project project bringing together two women groups, one from Kenya and one from Mozambique, both engaged in tourism activities rooted on the conservation of their natural and cultural heritage, funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund.
–> Go to the project’s website
2019-2020: co-Leader of Creative Network Plus: Baseline Research and Development Project (BREDEP) in collaboration with Derby University (Research Leader), Birmingham City University, University of Glasgow, University of Chittagong, Addis Ababa University, University of Haripur, Istanbul Bilgi University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Lebanese American University, funded by the UK Art and Humanities Research Council.
2019-2020: Consultant in Online Safety – Media Literacy Strategy – Mapping Exercise and Literature Review, funded by the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
2018: Research Leader of network e-Voices: Redressing Marginality in collaboration with Universidade Federal Fluminense, Telecentre Foundation/SparkLab, PAWA254, funded by the UK Art and Humanities Research Council.
–> Go to the project’s website
2016-2018: Research Leader of Digital Literacies and Host-Guest Encounters: the case of homestays in Malaysia in collaboration with the University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus, funded by Bournemouth University.
2016-2018: Research co-Leader of RiotID Educational Materials – CEMP (Faculty of Media and Communication, Bournemouth University), funded by Bournemouth University.
2016 – 2017: Research Leader of Quantitative Analysis of User Generated Content: A Study on Informal Learning and Slum Tourism in South Africa – CEMP (Faculty of Media and Communication, Bournemouth University), funded by the British Academy.
2013-2017: Research co-Leader of Telecentres and Mobile Technologies, in collaboration with Telecentre.org, co-funded by Bournemouth University.
–> Go to the project’s website
2012 – 2014: Research Officer of mCHW – mobile Community Health Workers – London Knowledge Lab (Institute of Education, University of London), funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council and the UK Department for International Development.
–> Go to the project’s website
2011-2013: Researcher of Mobile A2K – Mobile Access to Knowledge: Culture and Safety in Africa – NewMinE (School of Communication, Università della Svizzera italiana), funded by the Swiss Network for International Studies
–> Go to the project’s website
2010-2012: Project Coordinator of RE-ACT – Social REpresentations of community multimedia centres and ACTions for improvement – NewMinE (School of Communication, Università della Svizzera italiana), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
–> Go to the project’s website
2008-2012: Project Coordinator of MELISSA – Measuring E-Learning Impact in primary Schools in South African disadvantaged areas – NewMinE (School of Communication, Università della Svizzera italiana), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Secretariat for Education and Research
2005-2009: Project Coordinator of BET K-12 – Brazilian eLearning Teacher Training in K-12 – NewMinE (School of Communication, Università della Svizzera italiana), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Isabella Rega 