IT for Change is delighted to announce that our Executive Director, Anita Gurumurthy, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Loughborough University on 9 July 2026, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to digital justice.
Through the course of her career, Anita has helped shape some of the world's most important conversations on the digital society — from data and AI governance to platform economies, feminist digital futures, and democratic accountability. Her work has consistently challenged dominant paradigms, bringing Global South perspectives to the forefront of international policy debates while remaining grounded in the lived realities of communities.
Below is the oration introducing Anita, delivered by Prof. Daniel R. Parsons, Pro-Vice-Chancellor - Research and Innovation and Professor in Geosciences, Loughborough University, at the doctoral ceremony.
Chancellor,
There are some individuals whose influence cannot be measured by a single discipline or career path, but instead by the ways in which they reshape how others think, connect and pursue justice in an increasingly complex world. The individual I present to you today is such a figure. Anita Gurumurthy has established herself as one of the most profound voices at the intersection of technology, society, and global justice. Despite not following a conventional academic route, her work has helped define the very fields that others now study.
In 2000, she co-founded IT for Change, an organisation based in Bangalore with an ambitious purpose: to ensure that digital technologies serve human rights, equity, and social justice. Under her leadership, IT for Change has evolved into a globally respected institution, combining research and policy engagement with practical, community-based work. Its projects span from grassroots initiatives with women’s collectives, to high-level contributions moulding international debates on the digital economy.
Anita’s work is innovative in the way it brings these worlds together. Through her writing and advocacy, she has fought against dominant narratives in favour of fair and inclusive ones, by making space for perspectives from the Global South, an area that has long been ostracised from shaping digital futures.
With globally reaching scholarship and contributions to journals and edited collections, her expertise is sought by leading universities and international forums. Her plenary address to the International Association of Media and Communication Research stands as an example of the regard in which she is held across disciplines. Anita’s connection to Loughborough University has been meaningful and sustained. She has contributed to major collaborative publications with our academics, including work emerging from innovative forums such as the Communication and Social Change conceptual hackathon. She has also played a key role in our intellectual life, contributing to the Paulo Freire Centennial programme and returning to deliver the university’s Annual Freire Lecture, events that promote shared commitments to critical thinking and social transformation.
As a member of the Development and Social Change Advisory Board, she has helped shape research and teaching, while partnerships with IT for Change have strengthened the links between scholarship and practice.
Anita is differentiated by the clarity and consistency of her work across local and global settings, with justice, inclusion and the equitable use of technology at the forefront of her practice.
Chancellor, it is my honour to present to you, Anita Gurumurthy, for the award of the Doctor of the University, honoris causa.
Read Anita’s acceptance speech here.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Anita on this well-deserved recognition and our gratitude to Loughborough University for celebrating scholarship and leadership dedicated to the public good.