About
I am a Research Associate in the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) at The Open University, where my work sits at the intersection of digital wellbeing, inclusive participation, and educational technology. My research examines how digital platforms and participatory methodologies can support the wellbeing of young people and communities who face structural barriers to formal educational and civic participation, with a particular focus on the social and ethical implications of digital innovation in learning contexts. Current projects include Peace of Mind, a cross-border youth mental health initiative using citizen science to redistribute epistemic agency to young people in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and a study of AI use in Relationships and Sex Education based in the Faculty of WELS, conducted in partnership with Brook.
Biography
Dr Jessica Carr is a Research Associate at the Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University, a role she has held since 2021. Her research programme focuses on digital wellbeing, inclusive pedagogy, and participatory citizen science, examining how digital platforms can be designed to support the wellbeing of young people and communities who face structural barriers to educational and civic participation, and attending closely to the social and ethical implications of those design choices.
Dr Carr has a growing interest in the role of AI within research practice itself, including the ethical and methodological implications of using AI tools in qualitative analysis, which she explored in a presentation at the OU FAIESTA conference in 2025.
Dr Carr holds a PhD, MRes, and PGCE in Online and Distance Education from the Open University. Her doctoral research, conducted in partnership with My Life My Choice, a self-advocacy organisation for people with learning disabilities in Oxfordshire, established the inclusive and co-productive approach that characterises all of her subsequent work. She is a peer-reviewed author with publications in Research for All, the Lublin Pedagogical Journal, the Journal of Interactive Media in Education, and the proceedings of LAK '25, with a further article on AI assistants for disabled students currently under review.
Prior to her current role, Dr Carr held positions as a Postdoctoral Researcher within OpenTEL at IET, and has contributed to a range of internally and externally funded projects including the Digital Access Advisor (Open Societal Challenges Fund), the Student Facing Dashboard (OU APS funding), Intimacy and Ageing Well, ExtenD.T.2 (Horizon Europe), and the Citizen Science: Vision and Activities project.
The Student Facing Dashboard project team was recognised with the Recognition of Excellence in Teaching award in 2025.