Convenors

Dr Jeremy Knox, University of Oxford
Email:  jeremy.knox@education.ox.ac.uk

Dr Janja Komljenovic, The University of Edinburgh
Email:  j.komljenovic@ed.ac.uk

Dr Vily Papageorgiou, University of Surrey

Email: v.papageorgiou@surrey.ac.uk

Janja, Jeremy and Vily are active researchers in this area with extensive networks.

Jeremy Knox is Associate Professor of Digital Education at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, and an Official Fellow of Kellogg College. His research interests include the relationships between education, data-driven technologies, and wider society, and he has led projects funded by the ESRC and the British Council in the UK. Jeremy has previously served as co-Director of the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. His published work includes AI and Education in China(2023), Data Justice and the Right to the City (2022), The Manifesto for Teaching Online(2020), Artificial Intelligence and Inclusive Education (2019), and Posthumanism and the Massive Open Online Course (2016).

Janja Komljenovic is a Senior Lecturer in Education Futures at the University of Edinburgh. Her research interests include the digital economy, platform capitalism, and phenomena like digitalisation, datafication and platformisation of universities.

Vasiliki (Vily) Papageorgiou is a Senior Lecturer in Higher Education at the Surrey Institute of Education, University of Surrey. Her work focuses on learning design and digital education, supporting educators and institutions in creating evidence-informed and engaging learning environments. Her research interests include learning design, educational technologies, teacher professional development, education futures, and sustainable pedagogies.

Network Outline

The Digital University Network brings together researchers, practitioners, students, professional staff, policymakers and institutional leaders who are interested in critically examining how digitalisation is reshaping higher education.

The purpose of this Network is to host three events each year, creating opportunities for participants to connect, share emerging research, exchange practices and engage in critical reflection on current and future developments. Events will mainly include research presentations and discussions with invited speakers, and practice-based contributions to encourage dialogue across different roles, disciplines, institutions and national contexts.

The Network takes a broad and interdisciplinary approach to the idea of the digital university. Its primary aim is to highlight, discuss and critically interrogate current issues, trends and debates concerning the changing relationships between digital technologies, educational practices, institutional structures and the people who study and work in higher education.

The Network is also interested in emerging developments whose educational, ethical and institutional implications are still unfolding. These may include Generative AI in learning design, teaching and assessment, as well as its relationship with university governance, professional expertise and academic identity.

Digitalisation in higher education is ongoing, uneven and contested, while policy and governance often struggle to keep pace with practice. The Network therefore seeks not only to study these developments, but also to support informed and democratic debate about the kinds of educational technologies and digital universities we wish to create. It welcomes participants from across higher education and draws on diverse perspectives from education studies, sociology, science and technology studies, policy studies, philosophy and related fields.