information systems research

software engineering. digital identity platforms. identity categorization

About Me

I’m Katherine Wyers, an information systems researcher splitting my time between Oslo and Edinburgh. I write and speak about identity categorization, I produce academic publications and collaborate on advocacy projects. I’m an advocate for diverse and inclusive IS research and I’m committed to studying the social consequences of information systems, particularly how they shape the lives of LGBTQ+ people.

I’m an information systems researcher specializing in identity categorization in information infrastructures. Through several projects in writing, speaking, and outreach, I share research with the goal of advocating for engagement with identity categories and the social consequences of information systems. I am particularly interested in the identity categories of sex, sexuality, and gender, and how theses shape the lives of LGBTQ+ people.

I have worked for ten years as an IT project manager in commercial and humanitarian settings. As the founder of a commercial startup, I developed a business to be active in nine countries. In 2017, I made a career change into the humanitarian sector, where I was based in Thailand and Myanmar for four years as a Senior Software Engineer working with international NGOs and grassroots projects in health and education. Together, we developed sustainable data-management systems and local capacity to handle refugee data management. In 2022, I was the Senior Software Engineering Consultant for a large education management information systems in South Africa.

Now, I’m a doctoral fellow at the University of Oslo, where I am in the final stages of completing my PhD studying how gender recategorization in India’s government information infrastructure shapes the lives of India’s transgender and gender diverse people. I also hold an MSc in Software Engineering from the University of Hertfordshire, and an BA in Management from the University of Wales.

Projects

Identity Recategorization: India's Transgender Category

Studying the consequences of identity recategorization in India’s government information infrastructure. Using ethnographic methods and drawing on three months of fieldwork in north India

OpenValid for Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel

OpenValid is an open-source validation module for MS Access and MS Excel to improve data quality. It is used by NGOs and organizations in medical and humanitarian contexts to check whether data input is within valid ranges and prompts the user if the data is out of range. Started in 2018, the software is freely available for use under a creative commons license and is customizable for many different use-cases

LGBTQ+ Identities and Digital Platforms

This project explores the concerns of digital identity platform owners and the challenges of identifying members of LGBTQ+ communities when those identities are vulnerable

Publications

Managing Discretion at the Street Level of Information Systems Use

2024

AIS SIG Global Development

Health ICTs and Transgender Health Equity

2024

Information Technology for Development Journal

Identity Platforms and Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation

2023

IFIP 9.4 Conference

Leaving No-one Behind? A Research Agenda for Queer Issues in ICT4D

2022

IFIP 9.4 Conference

Speaking

Upcoming

May 9th 2025: Are your Digital Records Erasing Identities?: Rethinking Gender Categories in Electronic Health Records – Skyehuspartner Oslo, Norway

Past

Dec 22nd 2024: Co-design and gender in ICT4D/ICTD Research, ICTD2024 Conference, Nairobi, Kenya.
Sept 2024: Infrastructuring Gender Identities: The evolving representation of transgender identities in India’s public service information systems 2014-2024, Norwegian Queer Research Group
July 2024: Dropdown menus, identity categories, and bureaucratic discretion: How street-level bureaucrats shape social equity in welfare programmes, ICT4D North of England Workshop, University of Bradford, UK.
June 2024: Information Infrastructures and Transgender Equity: How the Indian State’s categorization of ‘transgender’ identities impacts on India’s transgender and gender diverse people, Pride@IFI Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo.