Professor Dorothea Kleine

PhD

Department of Geography

Professor of Human Geography and Co-Director of the Institute for Global Sustainable Development

Dorothea Kleine portrait smiling into camera
Profile picture of Dorothea Kleine portrait smiling into camera
D.J.Kleine@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 7954

Full contact details

Professor Dorothea Kleine
Department of Geography
Room: C14b
Geography and Planning Building
Winter Street
Sheffield
S3 7ND
Profile

Dorothea Kleine is Professor in the Geography Department and Research Theme Lead for Data and Digital Innovation at the Institute of Global Sustainable Development (IGSD).

Professor Kleine’s research investigates sustainable human development, global justice, and the potential role of digital technologies in making progress towards these aims.

Her research has been supported by ESRC, EPSRC, GCRF, Newton Fund, DFID, DAAD, Zeiss-Stiftung, Studienstiftung (ddV), and the EU.

Current roles:

  • Chair of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Digital Geographies Research Group (DGRG)
  • Principal Investigator and Convenor, ESRC Digital Development GCRF Strategic Network with 29 partners in 13 countries
  • Co-Investigator, ESRC SCArFE (£670k) Ethical Consumption in Brazil, South Africa and China
  • Editorial Board Member, The Journal of Consumer Ethics; Information Technologies and International Development; Sustainability
  • Advisory roles for UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNEP, EuropeAid, DFID, GIZ, BMZ, IDRC, private sector organisations (Deutsche Telekom; GSMA) and NGOs.

Previous roles:

  • 2015-2017 Faculty Associate, Harvard University, Berkman Centre for Internet and Society
  • Since 2013 Senior Programme Committee, ICTD (IEEE/ACM), International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development
  • Lead Author on UNICEF commissioned Methodology Toolkit for participatory research with children and young people. Free download.

Before joining Sheffield in 2016, Dorothea Kleine was Professor of Human Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she was Director of the interdisciplinary ICT4D Centre. Prior to this she held posts at the University of Cambridge and Bonn University. Educated at the University of Munich (LMU and TUM) and the University of Oxford, she holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Research interests

My key research interests are:

  • Sustainable and just development futures in the global South (and North)
  • Information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D)
  • Digital geographies and digital participatory methods
  • Ethics of ICT-related development interventions, inclusive innovation and data ethics
  • The capabilities approach and sustainable development
  • Sustainable/ethical consumption research, food geographies, trade justice and Fair Trade

Themes such as participation, gender, justice and choice run strongly through my work.

I have conducted research in Latin America (Brazil; Chile), Europe (UK, Germany), South Asia (India) and Africa (Kenya; South Africa).

I am strongly committed to research which is both academically excellent and can have a positive impact in the context of the global challenges we face today.

Thus my work includes participatory action research in partnership with local communities and marginalised groups, theoretical reflections on the need to redefine “development”, policy advice at UN level, strategic advice to NGOs, and speaking at global policy conferences.

Publications

Books

  • Kleine D (2013) Technologies of Choice? ICTs, Development, and the Capabilities Approach. MIT Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine D (2005) Surfen in Birkenstocks? Das Potential des Internets für den fairen Handel. München: Oekom Verlag. RIS download Bibtex download

Edited books

  • Mansell R, Hwa Ang P, Steinfield C, van der Graaf S, Ballon P, Kerr A, Ivory JD, Braman S, Kleine D & Grimshaw DJ (Eds.) (2015) The International Encyclopedia of Digital Communication and Society, 3 Volume Set. John Wiley & Sons. RIS download Bibtex download

Journal articles

Chapters

  • Kleine D & McCarrick H (2020) Inclusion numérique, entrepreneuriat féminin et sujets néolibéraux In Leterme C (Ed.), Impasses Numériques - Points de Vue du Sud Paris: Centre Tricontinental et Éditions Syllepse. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine DJ (2018) Digital Development In Leszczynski A, Ash J & Kitchin R (Ed.), Digital Geographies Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing. RIS download Bibtex download
  • McCarrick H & Kleine DJ (2018) Digital Inclusion, Female Entrepreneurship and the Production of Neoliberal Subjects—Views from Chile and Tanzania In Graham M (Ed.), Digital Economies at Global Margins Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine D (2016) How fair is fair enough? Negotiating alterity and compromise within the German fair trade movement, Interrogating Alterity: Alternative Economic and Political Spaces (pp. 113-130). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine DJ (2016) Putting ethical consumption in its place: Geographical pespectives In Shaw D, Newholm T, Chatzidakis A & Carrington M (Ed.), Ethics and Morality in Consumption: Interdisciplinary Perspectives London: Routledge. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine DJ (2015) ICT4D: Editor's Introduction to the Section In Mansell R, Ang PH, Steinfield C, van der Graaf S, Ballon P, Kerr A, Ivory J, Braman S, Kleine D & Grimshaw D (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Digital Communication and Society New York: Wiley-ICA. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine DJ (2014) Children, ICT and Development: Innovation for equity on the basis of participatory practice In Gasser U & Cortesi S (Ed.), Digitally Connected: Knowledge and Practice around Children, Youth and Digital Media (pp. 93-97). Cambridge, MA: Berkman Center, Harvard University. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine DJ & Poveda S (2014) Corporate Social Responsibility and Development In Desai V & Potter R (Ed.), Companion to Development Studies (pp. 195-200). London: Hodder Arnold. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine D (2013) Placing and scaling ethical choices: ethical consumption and ethical public procurement, The ethics of consumption (pp. 29-31). Wageningen Academic Publishers RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine D (2012) Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien in der internationalen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (ICT4D), Informationsgerechtigkeit (pp. 194-214). DE GRUYTER RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine D (2011) "The men never say that they do not know": Telecentres as Gendered Spaces In Steyn J, Van Belle J-P & Villanueva Mansilla E (Ed.), ICTs for Global Development and Sustainability: Practice and Applications (pp. 189-212). IGI Global RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine D (2010) How fair is fair enough? Negotiating alterity and compromise within the German fair trade movement, Interrogating Alterity: Alternative Economic and Political Spaces (pp. 113-130). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine D (2010) How Fair is Fair Enough? Negotiating Alterity and Compromise within the German Fair Trade Movement In Fuller D, Jonas AEG & Lee R (Ed.), Interrogating Alterity - Alternative Economic and Political Spaces (pp. 153-170). Abington: Routledge. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine D () ICT4D (pp. 1-9). Wiley RIS download Bibtex download

Conference proceedings papers

Reports

  • Lange S, Tilman S, Dencik L, Dietz T, Ferreboef H, Hankey S, Hilbeck A, Hilty L, Höjer M, Kleine D , Pohl J et al (2022) Digital Reset. Redirecting Technologies for the Deep Sustainability Transformation RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine D (2019) Your Word Counts - Using Digital Feedback Data in Oxfam's Humanitarian Response RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine D, Pearson G & Poveda Villalba SC (2016) Participatory methods: engaging children’s voices and experiences in research (UNICEF Report) View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine D, Hollow D & Poveda Villalba SC (2014) Children, ICTs and Development: Capturing the Potential, Meeting the Challenges (UNICEF Report) View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Geldof M, Grimshaw DJ, Kleine D & Unwin T (2011) What are the key lessons of ICT4D partnerships for poverty reduction (DFID Report) RIS download Bibtex download

Theses / Dissertations

  • Poveda Villalba SC (2016) Conscientisation and Human Development: The case of digital inclusion programmes in Brazil. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Kleine D Empowerment and the limits of choice: Microentrepreneurs, information and communication technologies and state policies in Chile. RIS download Bibtex download

Dictionary/encyclopaedia entries

Research group

I am interested in supervising PhD students on topics in digital geographies, ICT4D, critical development theory, and sustainable consumption.

  • Particularly, in the following areas:
  • Theorising engaged digital geographies
  • The capability approach and ICT4D
  • Big Data and new digital tools for citizen participation and co-design
  • Gender and ICTs or online representation
  • Ethical consumption and digital tools
  • Conceptualisations, translations and digital representations of fairness across spatial and cultural distance

Current PhD students:

  • Hannah McCarrick (funded as a Grantham Scholar), Contextualising e-agriculture: Strengthening rural livelihoods through information and communication technologies in Tanzania, first supervisor, co-supervised with Prof Dan Brockington and Dr Anna Krzywoszynska
  • Chisenga Muyoya (Commonwealth Fund Scholar), A gender-focused approach to data science, first supervisor, co-supervised with Dr Suvodeep Mazumdar

Past PhD students:

  • Gemma Pearson (2019, ESRC funded): Responsibility, work and transitions on the street. A grounded theory study of street-involved children and young people in northern Tanzania, co-supervised with Prof Katie Willis
  • Vera Hoelscher (2019): Ethical consumption in online and offline spaces, co-supervised with Dr Andreas Chatzidakis (Management)
  • Felicity Butler (2018, ESRC Collaborative Funding Award): Empowerment through valuing women’s unpaid care work? An examination of an innovative Fair Trade and Community Trade pricing model in Nicaragua, co-supervised with Christina Archer (The Body Shop) and Prof Katie Willis
  • Jennie Cole (2017): The Role of Online Discussion Forums During a Public Health Emergency, co-supervised with Prof Chris Watkins (Computer Science)
  • Ronda Zelezny-Green (2017): The Role of Girls’ Mobile Phone Use to Increase Access to Educational Content After School: A Capabilities-Based Evaluation in Nairobi
  • Sammia Poveda (2016): Conscientisation and Human Development: The case of digital inclusion programmes in Brazil
  • Tony Roberts (2016): Critical Agency in ICT4D: a case study of Zambian women's use of participatory video technology to challenge gender inequality
  • Wouter Geertz (2014): Business travel, hotels, and environmental sustainability: An exploration of business travellers' environment-related practices at the travel destination, co-supervised with Dr Mary Dengler

PhD students of mine have won Fulbright Field Research scholarships (1) and Royal Geographical Society Prizes (2).

After their PhD they have gained posts including at United Nations University, Oxford University, Sheffield University, Royal Holloway, University of London, the Institute of Development Studies (Sussex), or they have gone on to research-related careers in the private and NGO sector.

Grants

Current Research Projects:

  • ESRC Large Grant Sustainable Consumption and Agri-food Ethics among Middle Class Consumers in the Global South (South Africa, Brazil, China) (2018-2020, overall £679k). Co-Investigator on a cross-cultural multi-method study, led by Prof Alex Hughes (PI, Newcastle). Prof Dorothea Kleine, together with Prof Roberto Bartholo, Prof Rita Afonso (both Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ) and Dr Stefania Vicari (Sheffield) is leading on the Brazilian study and on innovative digital methods in studying sustainable consumption. We combine interview data on online activity with observation, digital ethnographies and longitudinal social media analysis.
  • EU Horizon 2020 AfriCultuReS Project (2017-2023, overall €8m): This large African-European scientific collaboration project aims to design, implement and demonstrate an integrated agricultural monitoring and early warning system that will support decision making in the field of food security (in Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Mozambique, Niger and Tunisia). Prof Dan Brockington and Prof Dorothea Kleine are Co-Investigators leading on the user engagement strand.
  • GCRF Nosso Mapa Project (2019-2020): Exploring the role of digital tools in the social innovation and environmental innovation landscapes in Brazil and the UK. Mapping initiatives and co-producing a joint research agenda. With Prof Rita Afonso, Gabriel Orsi, Dr Lee Crookes, Mike Henline.

Selected previous projects:

  • Global Challenges Research Fund/ESRC Strategic Network on Digital Development: Leveraging Data Science and Digital Participatory Practice for Development Impact (2017-2018; overall £150k): Principal Investigator and convenor of a network bringing together 29 participants (academics, NGOs and business partners) from 13 countries to develop joint cutting-edge research agendas.
  • #ICTDEthics (2016-2018): Prof Andy Dearden (Sheffield Hallam University) and Prof Dorothea Kleine (TUoS) are co-facilitating a process of co-producing minimum ethical standards across disciplines for research in the field of information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D).
  • 2015-2016 UNICEF “Cross-cultural toolkit for participatory engagement with children in debates about digital futures”. Lead author, with Dr Sammia Poveda and Gemma Pearson on a UNICEF-commissioned methodological toolkit on participatory methods with children and young people in digital social research. Free to download.
  • 2015-16 ESRC-CONFAP Newton Grant “Food 2.0: Using participatory film to express visions of sustainable food futures – Youth views from Rio and London” (overall £89,546); Joint PI with Prof Bartholo and Prof Afonso (UFRJ, Rio). Participatory digital action research project with community organisations in London (Ovalhouse Theatre) and Rio (Observatório de Favela) to work with disadvantaged young people to develop digital participatory films to express their views on sustainable food consumption and food justice issues.
  • 2014-15 TECH4RIED Project “Technology for rural innovation and education”. Collaborated, as Senior Scientific Advisor, with the Council for Scientific and Industrial research (CSIR) in South Africa, in applying the Choice Framework (Kleine 2013) in participatory ways in the design and evaluation or agricultural innovation projects.
  • 2012-2013 UNICEF “ICT4D for child-focused development work”; Lead author, with Dr David Hollow and Sammia Poveda; on a report produced in collaboration with UNICEF Office of Research, Florence. The study interviewed 35 experts in youth and child-related ICT4D projects and distilled key lessons learned. Among the issues that emerged a key focus was gender inequality. Free download.
  • 2011-2013 ESRC-DFID Choices Project “Leveraging Buying Power for Development – Ethical consumption and public procurement in Brazil and Chile”; (ES/I033904/1, overall £282,753); Principal Investigator with Dr Tomás Ariztía (Universidad Diego Portales, Chile) and Prof Roberto Bartholo (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Key comparative study using both qualitative and quantitative methods to explore Chilean and Brazilian citizen’s views on their personal shopping decisions and state procurement choices.
  • 2010 DFID, Multi-stakeholder Partnerships in ICT4D, Systematic review report on the lessons learned and good practice in partnerships. Joint PI with Tim Unwin and working with Prof David Grimshaw and Dr Marije Geldof.
  • 2008-2010 EU-Edulink ICT4D Grant (overall €1.1m).The project linked Finnish, UK, Swedish and Danish universities with universities in Ghana, Mozambique, Kenya and Senegal to develop a curriculum for multi-disciplinary teaching in ICT4D. Co-Investigator with Prof Tim Unwin.
  • 2006-2009 EPSRC Research Grant (Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, overall grant: £372,762) “Fair Tracing: Enriched information for producers and consumers”; This was a pioneering project with computer scientists, HCI experts and social scientists exploring barcodes, RFID chips, digital traceability, participatory digital video in order to give producers a voice and consumers more transparency in “ethical” trade supply chains.
  • 2003-2007 Dr. Heinz Dürr/Zeiss-Stiftung Research Fellowship funding an ethnographic field study on the Chilean Digital Agenda and its outcomes in rural Chile. This included applying the capability approach and developing a gender-aware critique.
  • 2003-2004 EU-@LIS Programme, Met@LoGo Project (overall €3.6 m), E-government in Latin American local authorities; co-lead on a comparative study on e-governance in four Latin American countries, for Stanhope Centre for Communications Policy Research, London
PhD supervision

Current PhD students:

  • Hannah McCarrick (funded as a Grantham Scholar), Contextualising e-agriculture: Strengthening rural livelihoods through information and communication technologies in Tanzania, first supervisor, co-supervised with Prof Dan Brockington and Dr Anna Krzywoszynska
  • Chisenga Muyoya (Commonwealth Fund Scholar), A gender-focused approach to data science, first supervisor, co-supervised with Dr Suvodeep Mazumdar

Past PhD students:

  • Gemma Pearson (2019, ESRC funded): Responsibility, work and transitions on the street. A grounded theory study of street-involved children and young people in northern Tanzania, co-supervised with Prof Katie Willis
  • Vera Hoelscher (2019): Ethical consumption in online and offline spaces, co-supervised with Dr Andreas Chatzidakis (Management)
  • Felicity Butler (2018, ESRC Collaborative Funding Award): Empowerment through valuing women’s unpaid care work? An examination of an innovative Fair Trade and Community Trade pricing model in Nicaragua, co-supervised with Christina Archer (The Body Shop) and Prof Katie Willis
  • Jennie Cole (2017): The Role of Online Discussion Forums During a Public Health Emergency, co-supervised with Prof Chris Watkins (Computer Science)
  • Ronda Zelezny-Green (2017): The Role of Girls’ Mobile Phone Use to Increase Access to Educational Content After School: A Capabilities-Based Evaluation in Nairobi
  • Sammia Poveda (2016): Conscientisation and Human Development: The case of digital inclusion programmes in Brazil
  • Tony Roberts (2016): Critical Agency in ICT4D: a case study of Zambian women's use of participatory video technology to challenge gender inequality
  • Wouter Geertz (2014): Business travel, hotels, and environmental sustainability: An exploration of business travellers' environment-related practices at the travel destination, co-supervised with Dr Mary Dengler

PhD students of mine have won Fulbright Field Research scholarships (1) and Royal Geographical Society Prizes (2). After their PhDs they have gained posts including at United Nations University, Oxford University, Sheffield University, Royal Holloway, University of London, the Institute of Development Studies (Sussex), or they have gone on to research-related careers in the private and NGO sector.