Savita Bailur

Dr Savita Bailur is a Visiting Fellow and External Lecturer in the Department of Media and Communications. She convenes MC405: Policies for ICTs, society and development. The aim of the course is to examine the relationship between ICT policy and social inclusion. Just as examples, some of the topics discussed in the past on the course include policy-making surrounding the political economy of billing in South Africa, mobile internet and income generation for women in China and competition and regulation in Bhutan.

Dr Bailur is currently Research Director at Caribou Digital, an ICTs and emerging markets consultancy. She is a researcher with around fifteen years of experience in ICTs and development. Her recent work has focused on technologies for transparency and accountability, freedom of information and open data, with previous work on community radio, telecentres and mobile use in development. She has worked with organisations including the World Wide Web Foundation, Aptivate, mySociety, World Bank, Microsoft Research India, Commonwealth Secretariat, USAID and Panos. She was also co-Programme Director for the MSc Management in Information Systems: Development and Change at the University of Manchester, an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in ICTs and development at the University of Manchester and has taught both undergraduates and postgraduates at London School of Economics.

Savita holds an MSc and Ph.D. in Information Systems from London School of Economics as well as degrees from the University of London and University of Cambridge. Her Ph.D. was on the challenges and complexities of community participation in Namma Dhwani, a UNESCO supported community radio and telecentre in rural South India. An accomplished writer, Bailur was the co-author/editor on Closing the Feedback Loop: Can Technology Bridge the Accountability Gap (World Bank, 2014) and has several peer-reviewed publications, including in Government Information Quarterly, Information Technology and International Development, and Gender, Technology and Development. Publications are listed in detail below.