Josie West

Josie West is a Gender and Assistive Technology research assistant at the Global Disability Innovation Hub, with nearly a decade of research experience developing qualitative research approaches.

Josie recently earned her Ph.D. in Digital Humanities from King’s College London. Her research explored how gendered politics inform digital exclusion, invisibility and unfreedom within the online sex industry. Through co-research techniques, she examined how socio-economic exploitation and marginalisation shapes labour conflict and avenues for technological resistance.

Josie is committed to advancing participatory action approaches and understanding of the intersections between assistive technologies, disability and gender. She believes in tech innovation that prioritises progressive transformation, including within social, political and economic infrastructures. This drove her research fellowship with the Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy, where she explored how tech innovation can be driven towards democratic ownership and collective governance.