Charles Martin-Shields
Senior Researcher

Charles is a Senior Researcher at the German Development Institute in Bonn, Germany researching the relationship between digitalization and urban migration. His current work includes in-depth field work on the role that technology plays in the lives of displaced people living in Bogota, Nairobi, and Kuala Lumpur. His wider research interests include the politics of digital technology, international development, and peace and conflict processes. He recently worked with the International Security and Development Center, where he is an affiliated researcher, on an FAO-funded project on the political economy of food security and conflict, and was a Visiting Scholar at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution during the 2015-16 academic year. He has also consulted with the World Bank on mobile money and e-money policy in southern Africa. During his PhD he was a Fulbright Public Policy Fellow, advising the Samoan Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on disaster response and crisis prevention policy.

Exhibition Programme

  • Stand: BMZ / Tech for Good
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    Social Networks for Political Engagement

    Technology creates opportunities for communities to politically organize in exciting ways. But technology is only as good as the action people take after gathering information. This talk will explore the political and economic factors that influence how and why people use different digital tools to take social and political action.

    Charles Martin-Shields