My research sits at the intersection of digital platforms, development studies, and political economy, with a focus on marginalized users in the Global South. She examines how platform ecosystems reshape information practices, everyday livelihoods, and inclusion for users experiencing intersecting forms of disadvantage. Her scholarly work includes the development of the Platform Futures Framework, a methodological approach for assessing platform sustainability for marginalized communities. 

Research Areas

• Digital platforms and platform ecosystems
• Digital inclusion and development
• Political economy of platforms
• Digital platform experiences in the Global South

Platform Futures Framework

I developed the Platform Futures Framework to assess whether digital platforms enable meaningful, equitable, and sustainable participation, particularly for marginalized users in the Global South. Moving beyond measures of access and adoption, the framework considers users’ lived experiences, local users, conditions, and markets when evaluating a platform’s long-term viability, inclusiveness, and sustainability.

The framework consists of four interconnected pillars:

Vision: Examines a platform’s goals, intended users, governance, and assumptions about inclusion.
Whose future does the platform imagine?

Circumstantial Assessment: Considers the social, technological, institutional, and personal conditions shaping platform use.
Under what conditions does the platform become usable?

Synthesis
Compares the platform’s intended vision with users’ lived realities, revealing adaptations, barriers, dependencies, and uneven outcomes.
Where do intended and actual uses align or diverge?

Actions
Identifies practical opportunities for more inclusive platform design, governance, policy, and user support.
What interventions could enable more equitable and sustainable participation?

The framework is presented in my 2026 article, “Methodological Framework to Assess Digital Platform Viability and Sustainability for Marginalized Users in the Global South,” published in Digital Culture & Society.

Doctoral Research

My doctoral research examines India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as a public digital infrastructure shaped by the interconnected roles of the state, banks, fintech companies, and users. Also, how marginalized micro-entrepreneurs engage with digital platforms in their everyday livelihoods. Drawing on qualitative research with handicraft micro-entrepreneurs in India, the study shows that access and adoption do not necessarily lead to meaningful digital inclusion. Marginalized users actively negotiate platforms through selective use, family mediation, cash-based alternatives, and informal workarounds. By centring these everyday experiences, my research offers a more grounded way to understand whether digital platforms support equitable and sustainable participation. These findings led me to conceptualize the Platform Futures Framework as part of my dissertation. The framework responds to the limitations of assuming that platforms—particularly those designed using Global North models—will be adopted or used as intended by communities experiencing intersecting forms of marginalization.

Current and Emerging Research

My current research examines how people experiencing intersecting forms of disadvantage engage with digital platforms often designed and promoted as universally accessible. Across financial, educational, and intermediary platforms, I explore how users adopt, adapt, navigate, or resist mainstream technologies.

One ongoing project draws on 20 qualitative interviews conducted in Hyderabad and New Delhi to investigate how food-delivery platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy affect street food vendors’ sales and livelihoods. Preliminary findings point to both new economic opportunities and emerging forms of precarity. I plan to extend this research through a comparative study of gig workers in another Global South context, with particular attention to equitable policy and platform governance.