About
Irina Rets is a research fellow at the Institute of Educational Technology (IET), the Open University, UK, with over a decade of experience in higher education as a lecturer, assistant professor, and researcher.
With expertise in inclusive artificial intelligence (AI), Irina’s current research explores how education can shape the future of work, with a particular focus on the role of technology and the ways structural inequalities influence educational and workplace opportunities. She currently works on a large-scale Erasmus+ project – “Empowering Everyone’s Engagement in Energy (Every1)” – focusing on co-creating solutions with diverse organisational stakeholders to ensure equitable participation in digital systems. Irina is also a co-champion of the Future of Work research group, bringing together colleagues and researchers from the Open University and beyond to foster collaboration, share insights, and advance research on the evolving landscape of work and professional development.
Before her current role, Irina was a Lecturer in Online Teaching in IET, responsible for designing and chairing microcredentials and online courses on educational technology (e.g., a postgraduate-level course: Teacher Development: Addressing the Climate Emergency, a teaser to which can be found here). Between 2021 and 2025 Irina also worked with the BIAS project team at the Department of Management Science (LUMS), Lancaster University, initially as a research associate and later as a visiting researcher. Her research focused on AI fairness and employment, the management of equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in organisations, and labour market analysis.
Irina is a Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). She has extensive experience of designing, teaching and carrying out the assessment on undergraduate and graduate courses in education. She has worked in international English Medium Instruction (EMI) settings (Sakarya University, Turkey) and in the UK (IET, The Open University, and Manchester Institute of Education, The University of Manchester).
Irina has published in leading education and organisational research journals, such as The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Interactive Learning Environments, International Journal of Ed Tech in HE, MIS Quarterly Executive, as well as in such CORE A conference proceedings, as Learning at Scale and European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS).
Irina is also active in postgraduate research supervision. She currently co-supervises two postgraduate researchers who explore the use of GenAI and technology in and for learning:
Truong Do, Title: "Enhancing Engagement and Comprehension in ESL Online Teaching: A Gaze Analysis Approach to Visual Aid Integration";
Freddie Gay, Title: "An investigation into the effects of instructing EAP students to use generative AI as a vocabulary learning tool".
Irina is actively engaged in moving from research findings to impact. She does so through publishing policy-oriented outputs,developing and presenting an impact strategy of her research projects at international events, communicating via knowledge exchange platforms, such as the LSE Impact Blog, Times Higher Education, and writing open accessible summaries of her published studies.