Welcome to my website. I am Dr Aditya Ray, a Senior Lecturer in Geography and Environmental Management at the University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol. My research brings together political economy, critical economic geography, technology and development studies to investigate how new technologies, economic systems and forms of work are reorganising societies and economies. I use interdisciplinary social science approaches to examine the political, social and spatial consequences of digitalisation, automation and technological change, with particular attention to postcolonial and Global South contexts. 

My work explores how technological transitions unfold through relationships between states, firms, workers and communities. I am interested in the possibilities and contradictions created by new economic models, asking how digital technologies generate opportunities for development while also producing new dependencies, inequalities and forms of contestation. Through this research, I contribute to wider debates on development, labour, innovation, globalisation and the future of work. 

My earlier ESRC-funded research (2019–2021) examined India’s expanding data and knowledge services economy, focusing on workers in the Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sectors. This research investigated how services-led growth transformed employment, professional identities and urban economies, while revealing the uneven social and economic outcomes associated with participation in global technology markets. 

I subsequently led a multi-year participatory research project (2020–2023) examining the experiences of migrant and non-migrant app-based workers in post-COVID India. Focusing on platforms including Uber, Zomato and Ola, this project investigated how digital platforms reorganise everyday work, alter relationships between workers, companies, the state and public institutions, and create new forms of insecurity and worker adaptation. The findings from this research are available through my publications and the Digital Precarity project page on this website. 

My current research extends these questions into global data work, artificial intelligence and emerging technology value chains. Through grant-funded research (2025–2027) on global services, labour and development in AI value chains, I am examining the experiences of data work, labour organisations and other stakeholders involved in contemporary digital economies. This work includes collaborations with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and other national and international partners, exploring how AI and digital infrastructures are influencing labour relations, development pathways and global inequalities. I have also contributed to research at the Open University examining gender and transnational mobility among highly skilled technology workers between the UK and India. 

Alongside research, I am committed to interdisciplinary teaching, supervision and academic engagement. I teach across areas including globalisation, digital labour, geopolitics, migration, urban change, environmental justice and research methods, and supervise student research on contemporary issues in development and society. I have also led action-research initiatives examining access to higher education for refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, contributing to institutional work around inclusion and belonging. 

I value collaborative and engaged scholarship and contribute to wider academic communities through research networks, public engagement and editorial activities. I currently serve on the editorial board of Work, Employment and Society, an international journal publishing research in economic sociology, industrial relations and the study of work. My research and teaching are driven by a commitment to understanding how technological and economic transformations are experienced by different societies, and how more inclusive futures can be imagined. 

For information on my research projects, publications and collaborations, please explore this website or contact me at: [email protected].