The PRIME team has gained detailed insight into the various challenges minioritised ethnic citizens are facing when trying to access digital health, energy and housing services. The task to conduct 100 interviews with individuals across England and Scotland, was made possible by working in collaboration with our community organisation partners. In particular, our community partners supported us to recruit many minoritised ethnic individuals who do not currently use digital services effectively or who may have been reluctant to participate in an academic research project otherwise.

This task was further strengthened by the social science post-doctoral researchers from the Open University, Heriot-Watt and University of Glasgow, who were able to work with language translators or conduct interviews in additional languages where needed to extend representation and meaningful participation.

By capturing the day-to-day lived experiences of minoritised ethnic communities in navigating digital services, this rich data will inform the PRIME team’s understanding of where key challenges are, but will also enable us to identify how digital service design, policy and practice could be more inclusive moving forward.

Dr Aunam Quyoum | 1 March 2023