Dr. Rachel Charlotte Smith

Sustainable digital futures can only be achieved through an integration of humanistic and computational approaches.

Rachel C. Smith is an anthropologist, author and Associate Professor in Human-Centered Design at Aarhus University. Her work focuses on relations between anthropology, design, and digital technology, specifically social change and transformation through new and emerging technologies. Her research engages with the shaping of everyday practices and human digital futures in diverse contexts, emerging technologies in future educational practices, human approaches to future mobility in urban environments, and the transformation of memory practices and digital heritage between everyday life and cultural institutions. Rachel’s work has contributed significantly to the development of Design Anthropology as an academic transdisciplinary field through co-edited volumes, more than 40 peer-reviewed conference and journal papers and book chapters, and four special journal issues. She currently leads research on computational empowerment, digital inclusiveness, and democracy in the future of education. Rachel C. Smith is a partner of several international research projects on the human digital future.