Katherine Wyers

 

Critical information systems researcher specializing in transgender health equity and social categorization

I study the relationship between diversity in society and the categories that are embedded within information systems, and how this relationship affects people’s well-being

Research Topics

  • Transgender People
  • Social Categorization
  • Information Systems
  • ICT4D
  • Health Equity

Research Methods

  • Critical research
  • Intersectionality
  • Structural Violence
  • Capability Approach
  • Ethnographic methods
  • Interpretivism

Qualifications

  • PhD Information Systems – University of Oslo (ongoing)
  • MA Software Engineering – University of Hertfordshire
  • BA (Hons) Management

Professional Experience

  • UNESCO Project, Senior Software Engineering Consultant (2021)
  • M-FUND Migrant Health NGO, Senior Software Engineer (2019-2021)
  • Save The Children Thailand, Data Systems Consultant (2018)

About Me

I’m a PhD Fellow at the University of Oslo exploring how social categorization in information systems impacts on health equity for transgender people. My background is in software engineering in ICT4D projects in south-east Asia.

My PhD research looks are the broad range of gender diversity in India, and its relationship with the categorization of identity within a health information system. My work focuses on a programme provided through the Indian public health system that seeks to provide trans-specific health care for ‘all transgender people living in India’. I study how this programme is being rolled out at the grass-roots level in a region of Himachal Pradesh state in Northern India, to see what’s enabling or constraining trans people from accessing the programme. I’m using some ethnographic methods to immerse myself within the community for several months, and to try and understand what the lived realities are for a diverse range of trans people living in the area.

I take a critical, intersectional perspective on research. I believe that research should be conducted with a view to making a positive change, and that is extremely important when it concerns people’s wellbeing and access to healthcare. Information systems have a lot of influence on who gets access to which treatment, and it’s important that we understand how they shape health equity.

Publications

 

Academic Publications

Published

Wyers, K. (2022) ‘Leaving No-one Behind? A Research Agenda for Queer Issues in ICT4D’, IFIP WG 9.4 Freedom and Social Inclusion in a Connected World, Lima, Peru, 25-27 May 2022, Springer: London, UK.

Submitted for publication

Wyers, K. (2023) Health ICTs and the Systemic Barriers to Equity: Transgender and Gender Diverse Perspectives on Future Research, Information Technology for Development

In preparation for submission

Wyers, K. (2023) Categories that don’t match: Transgender health and welfare in North India, IFIP WG 9.4 After Latour: Globalisation, Inequity, and Climate Change, Hyderabad, India, 7-8 Dec 2023.

Wyers, K., Vandeskog, H. (2023) Social categories and transgender health care: A case from India, Social Science and Medicine. 

 

Other Publications

Wyers, K. (2023) Systemic Trans Exclusion: How can Health ICTs Make a Difference?

Conference Presentations and Panel Discussions

Wyers, K. (2023) Health programmes, classification, and the transgender community – A study of health-mediating information systems in northern India, Human Development and Capability Association Conference, Sofia, Bulgaria, Sept 2023.

Wyers, K. (2022) ‘Understanding healthcare choices for transgender populations: How do digital interventions mediate questions of health equity?’, Human Development and Capability Assocation Conference, Antwerp, Belgium, 19-22 Sept 2022.

Kuczyńska Z., Wyers K. (2022) ‘Queering Data Justice: Using Archival Methodologies to Recover Transgender Histories in Healthcare Data’, European Feminist Research Conference, Milan, Italy, 15-17 June 2022.

Wyers K., Masiero S. (2022) ‘Disrupting Transphobia in the Design of Digital Platforms’, European Feminist Research Conference, Milan, Italy, 15-17 June 2022.

Wyers K. (2022) ‘Queering Scholarship in ICT4D: Shaping Research Methodologies for Greater LGBTQ+ Visibility’, IFIP WG 9.4 Freedom and Social Inclusion in a Connected World, Lima, Peru, 25-27 May 2022. [abstract pdf]

Wyers K. (2020) ‘Keeping patient-data safe: Implementing a secure instant messaging network at a Myanmar healthcare clinic’, DSAI Annual Conference, Dublin, Ireland, 29 October 2020.

My Qualifications

I have a diverse set of qualifications. I began with an undergraduate degree in management. In my med-20s, I studied jazz saxophone, and contemporary classical composition, two passions of mine. While studying composition, I had the chance to develop AI-driven software systems that generated real-time algorithmic music in response to their surrpundings. During this time, I founded my first startup to support the Irish music scene. Later, I studied a masters degree in software engineering at the University of Hertfordshire, where I was commended by the Board of Examiners with an award for ‘Outstanding Distinction’. I am now conducting my PhD Research in information systems at the University of Oslo.

PhD Information Systems (ongoing)

  • 2021-2025: University of Oslo, Norway
  • Queer and Transgender Issues in Information Systems

MSc Software Engineering

  • 2017-2019: University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
  • Commendation: Outstanding Distinction
  • Nominated: Student of the Year
  • Thesis: Clinicom: Sustainable Open-source Instant Messaging for Healthcare in Developing Countries

MA Contemporary Composition

  • 2009-2011: Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland
  • Automated Music Composition System using Machine Learning

BA (Hons) Jazz Performance

  • 2005-2008: Newpark Academy of Music, Dublin

BA (Hons) International Hospitality Management

  • 2000-2004: Cardiff Metropolitan University, United Kingdom

Professional Experience

I have been an IT project manager and Software engineer for over ten years, starting my career as the sounder of a commercial startup company. In early 2017, I made a career-change to focus on software systems for development. I based based in Myanmar and Thailand for four years working with a range of different organisations, from international NGOs to grassroots projects in health and Education focussing on long-term sustainability by improving the current systems and building local skills for capacity-building.

  •  2022: Senior Software Engineer and Trainer, Consultancy
    • OpenEMIS UNESCO project, South Africa
  • 2019-2022: Senior Software Engineer
    • M-FUND Migrant Health NGO, Thailand and Myanmar
  • 2018-2019: Senior Software Engineer, Shoklo Malaria Research Centre, Thailand
  • 2017-2018: Data-systems Consultant
    • Save The Children Thailand
    • Burma Children Medical Fund
    • World Education, Thailand/Myanman
  • 2014-2016: Founder and Chief Technical Officer
    • Melody College, Live Online Music School
  • 2011-2013: Founder and Engineer
    • DublinJazz Web-marketing Platform

Projects

 

  • OpenValid
  • Clinicom Instant Messaging Network for Global Health
    • Sustainable Open-source Instant Messaging for Healthcare teams in Developing Countries

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