Staff profile

Professor Mariann Hardey: Championing Accessibility and Equity in Technology

A leading expert in accessibility and equity technologies, Professor Mariann Hardey brings a wealth of experience to her role at Durham University Business School. 

As part of Advanced Research Computing (ARC) at Durham University, Professor Hardey actively supports initiatives to widen participation and promote accessibility in computing. 

She has a strong track record of academic and professional achievement, having presented at numerous international conferences and media events, including the inaugural TEDx event in the UK. Her work has been recognized by the media and academic communities alike.

Professor Hardey's recent books, The Culture of Women in Technology: An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and Household Self-Tracking in a Global Health Crisis, have received acclaim from both industry and academia. The Culture of Women in Technology has been integrated into the Master Class curriculum of the UK Government Digital Service to advance employment reform and inclusivity.

Her forthcoming co-authored books explore cutting-edge issues in technology and society:

After GAI: Education, Learning & Pedagogy (February 2025): This groundbreaking work delves into the profound implications of generative AI on education and learning. It examines how AI can be harnessed to revolutionize teaching methods, personalize learning experiences, and foster critical thinking skills.

Navigating the Web of Disinformation: Employing Social Network Analysis to Decode Disinformation Dynamics in Modern Societies (November 2025): This timely book addresses the urgent challenge of misinformation and disinformation in the digital age. It explores social network analysis (SNA) to uncover the spread of information intended to harm, mislead and deceive, identify malicious actors, and develop strategies to combat these threats to public discourse.

Professor Hardey's work has been widely recognized and featured in leading media outlets. Her insightful commentary and research have appeared in publications such as The Guardian, The Independent, The Huffington Post, and The Observer. She has also been a frequent guest on BBC News and Bloomberg, and her research has been featured on BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme and Laurie Taylor's Thinking Allowed.

In a pioneering moment for digital storytelling, Professor Hardey's award-winning blog, Facebook Etiquette, became the first digital narrative to be presented at the Edinburgh Book Festival.

Professor Hardey holds a PhD in Sociology and a Master's degree in Women's Studies from the University of York, where she was awarded a prestigious 1+3 ESCR scholarship. She remains an active contributor to the research community at York.

Personal website www.mariannhardey.com

Areas of Interest for Doctoral Supervision 

Accessible and Equitable Technology Futures 

Research Interests 

Creative work, theory, qualitative methods, mHealth, self-tracking, data surveillance, action-research, technology 

Extra duties: Professor Hardey took time away from her career in 2016 to spend time with her daughter.

• Digital Culture
• Women in digital leadership roles
• Consumer-generated-content (CGC)
• Tech Cities
• Digital information systems
• Network society
• Wearable tech and digital consumption
• Social apps
• Digital Humanities

• 2000: IAS Associate Fellow 2022-2025: Mariann is a Fellow at the Durham Institute of Advanced Study. With Rille Raaper, she is the co-PI for their project Risks to Youth and Studenthood in Digital Spaces: Commodification, Transitions and Digital Identities. The research investigates young people's participation in image-rich, real-time digital environments such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok at a key point in transition from youth to adulthood. The project makes use of sophisticated video and image processing technologies. As an IAS Fellow, Mariann represents the University at the highest level internationally through sustained knowledge exchange initiatives with policy and cultural impact.

Authored book

• Hardey, M. (2022). Household Self-Tracking During a Global Health Crisis. Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/9781800439146
• Hardey, M. (2019). The Culture of Women in Tech: An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. Emerald
• Hardey, M., & Gilroy-Ware, M. (2013). Beginning Theory Digital Communications. SAGE Publications

Chapter in book

• Hardey, M. (2018). Social Network Analysis in an Age of Digital Information. In R. Alhajj, & J. Rokne (Eds.), Encyclopedia of social network analysis and mining (2671-2677). (2nd ed.). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7131-2_403
• Hardey, M. (2017). Theorizing and Researching Gender and Digital Leadership in “Tech Cities”. In C. M. Cunningham, H. M. Crandall, & A. M. Dare (Eds.), Gender, communication, and the leadership gap (291-310). Information Age Publishing
• Smith, H., Hardey, M., Hardey, M., & Burrows, R. (2016). Social Cartography and ‘Knowing Capitalism’: Critical Reflections on Social Research and the Geo-­Spatial Web. In N. G. Fielding, R. M. Lee, & G. Blank (Eds.), The Sage handbook of online research methods (596-610). (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications
• Hardey, M. (2014). Marketing Narratives: Researching Digital Data, Design and the In/Visible Consumer. In M. Hand, & S. Hillyard (Eds.), Big Data?: Qualitative Approaches to Digital Research (115-135). (13). Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/s1042-319220140000013008
• Branley, D., Covey, J., & Hardey, M. (2014). Online surveys: Investigating social media use and online risk. In SAGE Research Methods Cases. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/978144627305013514666
• Hardey, M. (2011). ICTs and Generations – Constantly Connected Social Lives. In F. Colombo, & L. Fortunati (Eds.), Broadband society and generational changes (97-109). Peter Lang
• Hardey, M. (2011). Ubiquitous Connectivity: User-Generated Data and the Role of the Researcher. In S. Hesse-Biber (Ed.), The handbook of emergent technologies in social research (111-132). Oxford University Press
• Hardey, M. (2011). How Rules of Acceptable Behaviour Enlighten our Digital Interactions – The Formation of Facebook Etiquette. In Psychology of Facebook. Persuasive Technology Lab, Stanford University

Conference Paper

• Fenton, A., Ahmed, W., Hardey, M., & Koral, C. (2022, August). Exploring SMEs attitudes to Net Zero & social media: Action Case research as a force for good. Presented at British Academy of Management Conference 2022, Manchester, England
• Aduragba, O. T., Yu, J., Cristea, A. I., Hardey, M., & Black, S. (2020, December). Digital Inclusion in Nothern England: Training Women from Underrepresented Communities in Tech: A Data Analytics Case Study. Presented at 2020 15th International Conference on Computer Science & Education (ICCSE)

Journal Article

• Lunt, N., Hardey, M., & Mannion, R. (online). Nip, Tuck and Click: Medical tourism and the emergence of web-based health information. Yearbook of Medical Informatics, 145-145
• Ahmed, W., Hardey, M., & Vidal-Alaball, J. A Social Network Analysis of Organ Donation Conversations on X: Developing the OrgReach Social Media Marketing Strategy for Organ Donation Awareness (Preprint). https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.59872. Manuscript submitted for publication
• Raaper, R., Hardey, M., Tiidenberg, K., & Aad, S. (online). Negotiating authenticity: experiences of student influencers on social media. Journal of Youth Studies, https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2024.2419085
• Raaper, R., Hardey, M., & Aad, S. (online). #Studytalk in marketised higher education: Student influencers as emerging support providers. Studies in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2024.2385614
• Aad, S., & Hardey, M. (online). Generative AI: Hopes, Controversies, and the Future of Faculty Roles in Education. Quality Assurance in Education, https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-02-2024-0043
• Ahmed, W., Önkal, D., Das, R., Krishnan, S., Olan, F., Hardey, M., & Fenton, A. (online). Developing Techniques to Support Technological Solutions to Disinformation by Analysing Four Conspiracy Networks During COVID-19. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 71, 13327-13344. https://doi.org/10.1109/tem.2023.3273191
• Vickers, P., Adamo, L., Alfano, M., Clark, C., Cresto, E., Cui, H., Dang, H., Dellsén, F., Dupin, N., Gradowski, L., Graf, S., Guevara, A., Hallap, M., Hamilton, J., Hardey, M., Helm, P., Landrum, A., Levy, N., Machery, E., Mills, S., …Mitchell Finnigan, S. (in press). Development of a novel methodology for ascertaining scientific opinion and extent of agreement. PLoS ONE,
• Ahmed, W., Hardey, M., Winters, B. D., & Sarwal, A. (2024). Racial Biases Associated with Pulse Oximetry: Longitudinal Social Network Analysis of Social Media Advocacy Impact. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 26, Article e56034. https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.56034
• Das, R., Ahmed, W., Sharma, K., Hardey, M., Dwivedi, Y., Apostolidis, C., Zhang, Z., & Filieri, R. (2024). Towards the development of an explainable e-commerce fake review index: An attribute analytics approach. European Journal of Operational Research, 317(2), 382-400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2024.03.008
• Ahmed, W., Aiyenitaju, O., Chadwick, S., Hardey, M., & Fenton, A. (2024). The Influence of Joe Wicks on Physical Activity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Thematic, Location, and Social Network Analysis of X Data. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 26, Article e49921. https://doi.org/10.2196/49921
• Fenton, A., Ahmed, W., Hardey, M. (., Boardman, R., & Kavanagh, E. (2023). Women’s Football Subculture of Misogyny: The Escalation to Online Gender-Based Violence. European Sport Management Quarterly, https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2023.2270566
• Hardey, M., Ahmed, W., Fenton, A., & Koral, C. (2023). Enlightened Participation: SME Perspectives about Net Zero on Social Media using the Action Case Approach. IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, https://doi.org/10.1177/22779752231166521
• Ahmed, W., Das, R., Vidal-Alaball, J., Hardey, M. (., & Fuster-Casanovas, A. (2023). Analysing Twitter’s Role in Combating the Magnetic Vaccine Conspiracy Theory Using Social Network Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25, Article e43497. https://doi.org/10.2196/43497
• Fenton, A., Cooper-Ryan, A. M., Hardey, M. (., & Ahmed, W. (2022). Football Fandom as a Platform for Digital Health Promotion and Behaviour Change: A Mobile App Case Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(14), Article 8417. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148417
• Ahmed, W., Fenton, A., Hardey, M., & Das, R. (2022). Binge Watching and the Role of Social Media Virality towards promoting Netflix’s Squid Game. IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, 11(2), 222-234. https://doi.org/10.1177/22779752221083351
• Hardey, M. (2022). Tracking the Trackers: Self-Tracking in Households as Social Practice. Digital Health, 8, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076221093131
• Hardey, M., & James, S. J. (2022). Digital Seriality and Narrative Branching: Season One, the Podcast Serial. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 19(1), 74-90. https://doi.org/10.1080/14791420.2022.2029513
• Hardey, M. (2020). Gender and technology culture: Points of contact in tech cities. Sociological Research Online, 25(1), 101-118. https://doi.org/10.1177/1360780419851137
• Ilich, K., & Hardey, M. (2020). ‘It’s all about the packaging’: investigation of the motivations, intentions, and marketing implications of sharing photographs of secondary packaging on Instagram. Information, Communication and Society, 23(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2018.1478983
• Cockshut, L., Brown, A., & Hardey, M. (2020). Social innovation and the university: the impact of intervention for the micro creative economy in North East England. Social Enterprise Journal, 16(2), 203-220. https://doi.org/10.1108/sej-03-2019-0017
• Hardey, M. (2019). On the Body of the Consumer: Performance-Seeking with Wearables and Health and Fitness Apps. Sociology of Health & Illness, 41(6), 991-1004. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12879
• Leng, J., Shoura, M., McLeish, T., Real, A., Hardey, M., McCafferty, J., Ranson, N., & Harris, S. (2019). Securing the future of research computing in the biosciences. PLoS Computational Biology, 15(5), Article e1006958. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006958
• Hardey, M. (2019). Women’s Leadership and Gendered Experiences in Tech Cities. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 34(3), 188-199. https://doi.org/10.1108/gm-05-2018-0048
• Hardey, M., & Atkinson, R. (2018). Disconnected: Non-users of Information Communication Technologies. Sociological Research Online, 23(3), 553-571. https://doi.org/10.1177/1360780418764736
• Hardey, M. (2013). Special Issue Editorial: Re-asserting the social media contribution to the theory and practice of market research. International Journal of Market Research, 55(6), 751-754
• Hardey, M. (2012). New visions: Capturing digital data and market research. International Journal of Market Research, 54(2), 159-161
• Hardey, M. (2011). To spin straw into gold? New lessons from consumer-generated content. International Journal of Market Research, 53(1), 13-15. https://doi.org/10.2501/ijmr-53-1-013-015
• Hardey, M. (2011). Generation C: Content Creation, Connections and Choice. Journal of the Market Research Society, 53(6), 749-770. https://doi.org/10.2501/ijmr-53-6-749-770
• Lunt, N., Hardey, M., & Mannion, R. (2010). Nip, Tuck and Click: Medical tourism and the emergence of web-based health information. Open Medical Informatics Journal, 4, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874431101004010001
• Hardey, M. (2010). Key Trends: The Social Context of Online Market Research: An Introduction to the Sociability of Social Media. International Journal of Market Research, 51(4), 562-564

Report

• Cockshut, L., Hardey, M., & Toal, A. (2021). Durham Digitale pilot project 2020-2021: Pilot project evaluation findings. Creative Fuse, North East
• Hardey, M. (2015). The UK’s Instagram Changing Economy & Cultural Landscape: The Sharp Rise In Professional Instagram users As Share Of Images; Affiliation And Other Revenues Continue To Grow. [No known commissioning body]
• Hardey, M. (2015). Gender in Tech City - Phase 1.i. [No known commissioning body]