Globally this International Women’s Day, we celebrate and highlight the importance of inspiring inclusivity in our communities and businesses. One such project with inclusivity at the heart of their research is Inclusion4EU. Digital technology is now pervasive yet its benefits have not been evenly distributed among all groups. Certain demographics have been marginalised or left behind, experiencing digital exclusion as a result. The Inclusion4EU project works to make software engineering more inclusive for users from excluded categories, starting from the education of future Computer Science professionals.
Inclusion4EU investigates co-design as a methodology to make the software development process more inclusive. The project team is working with users from excluded categories to co-design new frameworks for a more inclusive software development process. Project outcomes will include new curricula, best practices and learning resources that can be used in class by Computer Science lecturers to initiate students to the co-design methodology. The project’s objectives align with the EU Accessibility Act, ensuring that software and digital services prioritise inclusivity, thereby facilitating equal access for individuals with disabilities.
Behind the scenes of Inclusion4EU lies a goal-orientated and innovative team who strive to achieve the project’s objectives and realise a more inclusive methodology for software development for users from diverse backgrounds. The team includes ADAPT members Dympna O’Sullivan (Principle Investigator), the academic lead of the Digital Futures Research Hub at TU Dublin and Emma Murphy, a lecturer at the School of Computer Science and an expert in digital accessibility. The project is a partnership between TU Dublin (lead), Mälardalen University, Télécom SudParis, Informatics Europe, and SAP.
On this significant project, Dympna O’Sullivan said:
“Incorporating digital accessibility in software engineering is not just about meeting technical standards; it’s about empathy, inclusivity, and recognising the blind spots in our processes, ensuring that technology truly serves everyone.”
The full project team is: Dympna O’Sullivan, Andrea Curley, Emma Murphy, Anna Becevel, John Gilligan, Damian Gordon, Mariana Rocha, Claudia Rivera, Svetlana Hensman, Maíra Theophilo De Souza Amaral, and Denise Murray.
To learn more about this exciting and inclusive project, visit their website here: https://ascnet.ie/inclusion4eu-website/
The project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
