People

 

Dr Alicja Pawluczuk [Research Fellow at the INCLUDE+ and Founder of the Digital Youth Work Research Hub] has over a decade of experience in co-designing, facilitating, and evaluating digital inclusion, digital literacy and ICT-enabled and/or focused education programmes in the UK and internationally. Alicja has experience working both on high-level digital development programmes (e.g. United Nations University, ITU, EQUALS-EU, Council of Europe, USAID) as well as smaller-scale community-led projects (e.g. digital literacy workshops, digital rights). She has a track record of peer-reviewed publications and cross-disciplinary public engagement activities. Her research has informed a number of international policy-making efforts and recommendations in the context of digital inclusion.The key areas of her expertise include digital inclusion, gender digital divide, digital youth work, and digital and data literacy.

 

Lotte Vermeire is a PhD researcher in communication sciences at imec‐SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. She is part of the Digital Inclusion and Citizen Engagement and Media, Marketing, and User Experience units. Her research looks into digital and data literacy, digital youth work, and digital inclusion. Her PhD project focusses on digitally inclusive initiatives aimed at improving data literacy in both formal and non‐formal educational settings. Lotte mapped the digital youth work field in Flanders-Belgium, zoomed in on the challenges and opportunities the youth sector encounters, developed policy recommendations and has since worked on several European digital youth work research projects.

 

Cristina Bacalso is the Research Lead for the Equitable by Default? Youth Work, Digital Equity, and Policy in the UK at the DYWR.HUB. Shea is an independent research consultant specialising in public policies for adolescent and youth development, and the human rights of young people. She has worked at international, European, and national levels, with organisations including UNICEF, UNICEF Innocenti, UNDP, European Commission, Council of Europe, European Youth Forum, and with various national governments and youth civil society organisations. Her focus areas are evidence-informed youth policies, youth participation, participatory research, and youth work.

 

Paul Phillips is a youth worker in Essex who has been developing digital youth work in the local authority. His involvement in digital youth work, particularly in the online space as well as in the co-creation of a virtual youth centre, has led him to teach, train, and support organisations across the United Kingdom and Europe. Paul's particular interests in digital youth work include the role of video games in young people's development and the design of virtual spaces and online environments for young people. Paul is a co-author of a chapter in Postdigital Learning Journeys and is currently a member of the Gaming and Esports Advisory Panel for Ygam.

 

Matt Bakall is based in Devon and has been delivering youth work in virtually every way possible since 2010, including working in schools, work with gangs, Street based work, open access, targeted interventions, supported housing and more. For the last six years Matt has been running online youth clubs and working across the south west to help train and upskill workers to confidently deliver digital work where young people are. In 2025 Matt completed a master's in youth and community work, research and leadership where he wrote a dissertation evidencing the voice of young people who fall through the gaps and are left behind by traditional youth work interventions. Matt has worked with the national youth work agency on policy and pushing forward working standards for digital and beyond. More recently he has been involved in writing and research around youth voice and digital engagement for young people ensuring no one is left behind or becomes invisible.