Maryam Bandukda

Maryam is an academic research fellow at GDI Hub’s Academic Research Centre and Sub-programme Lead on the GDI Hub’s UKAid-funded flagship AT2030 programme, where she leads the research on the role of mobile and emerging technologies to support inclusion, empowerment, and wellbeing of people with disabilities. She currently leads the Mobile as AT project, funded by ATScale and Google, to investigate the impact of Android smartphones as assistive technology for people with visual and hearing impairments in the global south. The project is currently being implemented in Brazil, India, and Kenya.

Maryam is an EPSRC Digital Inclusion and ICT Public Engagement Champion for UCL and co-leads the Inclusive Public Activities for ICT (IPACT) project to improve meaningful participation of people with disabilities in ICT and AT research and design using a participatory approach, advocacy, and storytelling to develop the knowledge and tools necessary to empower and amplify disabled voices against disability stigma and digital divide.

Maryam’s PhD research examined the agency and participation of blind and partially sighted people in open space leisure activities. Her research highlighted the value of experience sharing and the need for an accessible platform to enable blind and partially sighted people to share their travel and leisure experiences with others. Her PhD research led to the design of SenseMap, an accessible online platform to enable blind and partially sighted people to share their travel experiences. SenseMap was developed through funding awarded from the EPSRC Impact Acceleration and UCL Enterprise and Innovation.

Beyond academia, Maryam has a vast professional experience in product development and management across multiple sectors since 2016 in the UK and Pakistan.

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