Professor of Internet Geography
Mark Graham is an economic geographer. His research focuses on digital labour, the gig economy, and digital inequalities. He is the author, most recently, of Feeding the Machine: The Hidden Human Labour Powering AI
The Fair Digital Economies and Work Group (FDEWG) investigates the systemic inequities embedded in digitally mediated labour and economic systems. Our mission is to map power imbalances and distributive outcomes in digital economies and work, and to develop evidence-based interventions that advance justice, equity, and meaningful change worldwide.
We take a multidisciplinary approach, bringing together expertise from the social sciences, law and ethics to uncover systemic factors driving inequalities and design strategies to address them. Our research draws on both emerging trends and historical patterns of inequality and resistance, offering insights to inform evolving forms of organisation and collective action in the digital age.
Through participatory action research, our work prioritises the lived experience of affected communities. We work closely with workers, civil society organisations, platform companies, policymakers, and trade unions to co-create actionable strategies for fairer digital economies. These include transparency standards for algorithmic management, equitable payment and value distribution models, and governance frameworks that safeguard worker rights, for example.
Policy engagement is central to the FDEWG’s mission. We work with government bodies, regulatory agencies, and international organisations to translate research findings into evidence-based policy recommendations, ranging from labour protections for platform work to ethical AI guidelines and inclusive digital marketplace regulations. By fostering dialogue among scholars, policymakers, and industry leaders, we bridge the gap between theory and practice.
Work is at the heart of all economic systems and is a key driver of inequalities. That’s why it forms the foundation of our research, providing a lens through which to understand and address broader societal inequities. Work is tied to issues of fairness and ethics in global production networks, which influence how resources are distributed, how labour conditions are shaped, and who benefits from economic activity.
By combining empirical research, actionable solutions, and collaborative engagement, we aim to address the root causes of inequality and promote meaningful improvements across communities, industries and institutions.
By James Muldoon, Mark Graham, Callum Cant.
AI is an extraction machine that feeds off humanity's collective effort and intelligence, churning through ever-larger datasets to power its algorithms. This book details what we need to do to fight for a more just digital future.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Oğuz Alyanak is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Fairwork project.
Researcher
Alessio Bertolini is a Researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute for the project FairWork, where he is investigating platform work in the UK and Germany.
Research Assistant
Lola Brittain is a Research Assistant on the Fairwork project at the Oxford Internet Institute.
MSc Student
Alexis is an MSc in Social Data Science student on a Marshall Scholarship, interested in algorithmic bias and fairness. She holds an MSc in Narrative Futures from the University of Edinburgh.
MSc Student
Farah has worked in the legal field and is interested in the regulation of AI and social media platforms, concerning child safety, combating misinformation, safeguarding elections, and upholding human rights.
DPhil Student
Sanna is a DPhil Student at the OII and also a doctoral student at the Alan Turing Institute, where she leads the Data and Inequality interest group together with her supervisor Mark Graham.
DPhil Student
Cailean is a DPhil Candidate in Social Data Science, whose research concerns the political economy of open source artificial intelligence.
MSc Student
Sara's research focuses on the ethical development and application of AI. Previously, she studied information ecosystems and social media discourse at McGill University.
DPhil Student
Marie-Therese is a British, Afro-Caribbean and Chinese-Singaporean individual whose DPhil Research lives at the intersections of technology justice, environmental justice and decoloniality.
MSc Student
Terra is interested in policy and legislative approaches to mitigating the impact of technology on democratic processes and human rights, with a focus on artificial intelligence and online platforms.
Associate Professor Digital South Asian Studies
Janaki's research examines the politics of digital exclusion in India. She uses ethnographic and archival research to examine how gender, caste and class have shaped the use of information and information technologies in varied contexts.
Cloudwork Postdoctoral Researcher
Jonas C. L Valente is a Brazilian researcher with a sociology Ph.D., with a thesis about digital platforms. He worked as a professor in Brazilian universities and is the author and editor of books about digital platforms and work.
DPhil Student
Kat Zhou is a DPhil candidate and Clarendon Scholar at the OII. Her research maps the geographies of resistance within the realm of AI, honing in on the labor organizing undertaken by data workers.
This project seeks to apply the principles of AI for Fair Work, by using these as a benchmark for empirical on workers’ experiences of the implementation of AI systems in the workplace.
This programme supports research in the sphere of AI & Work.
Drawing on the five OECD principles for responsible stewardship of trustworthy AI, this project proposes developing a set of accountability mechanisms to ensure AI systems foster fairer working conditions.
