Professor Shirin Madon

I am an interdisciplinary scholar working jointly in the Departments of International Development, and Management (Information Systems and Innovation Faculty Group).

This dual role allows me to focus my teaching and research on understanding the institutional challenges and broader political economy implications of implementing digital technologies for socioeconomic development.
My research investigates the interplay between digital innovation and processes of governance within development and humanitarian aid contexts. Recent highlights include:

(i) Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): How India’s centralized digital infrastructure is aligning with decentralized community health governance, drawing on empirical fieldwork in rural Karnataka.

(ii) Humanitarian Innovation: How digital innovation shapes humanitarian governance. This includes research with the UNHCR on digital identity platforms, and with the IFRC on the adoption of digital cash technology as a primary solution for aid delivery.

I currently serve as Associate Editor for the Journal Information Technology for Development and the Information Systems Journal.

Expertise

ICTs and socio-economic development, health information systems for improving primary healthcare, rural e-governance in India, telecentres & community development

Courses:

MG487
DV483

PhD student completion within the past 20 years:

• Matthew Longshore Smith 2003-2007: Thesis title - E-government and Trust: A comparative multi-case study of two e-services in Chile
• Kiran Gopalkrishna 2003-2014: Thesis title – Multipurpose Nature of Telecentres: The case of e-governance service delivery in Akshaya telecentres project.
• Savita Bailur 2005-2011: Thesis title - The role of participation in telecentre implementation.
  Adebusoye Anifalaje 2007-2012: Thesis title - Health information systems in Nigeria.
• Silvia Masiero 2010-2015: Thesis title - Studying the role of ICT in the Public Distribution Systems in India.
• Emrys Schoemaker 2011-2017: Thesis title - Digital Faith: Social Media and the Enactment of Religious Identity in Pakistan.
• Kari Koskinen 2013-2018: Thesis title – When Local Routines Meet Global Technology: A case study on the role of context in application development in Kampala.
• Anulekha Nandi 2020-2024: Bounded Generativity: Contextualising interdependencies between architecture, ecosystem, and environment in digital product innovation: Studying the design and development of an agent-based simulation model for forced displacement.