Nickhil Sharma

Nickhil Sharma

Profile

Nickhil is a 29-year-old Energy Engineer from Delhi/Bangalore, India. He has lived in India, Sweden and the Netherlands and is currently pursuing a PhD at the UEA, Norwich, England.  Prior to this, he has worked as a business lead for a Swedish e-commerce platform working for small and medium businesses in Sweden and India. He provides consultancy on customer journeys, user research, product-market fit, user experience and digital marketing. He also has worked extensively in the not-for-profit sector.

During his PhD, through an EU-funded Research Project on smart energy, technology and people, he hopes to explore the social justice implications of AI-enabled smart home technologies through qualitative research. He has a Master’s in sustainable development, where he pursued research around circular economy, sustainable urban futures, renewable energy policies, and sustainable electricity production. One of his most rewarding experiences was working with the local transport authority in Gothenburg, Sweden, and other stakeholders in the transportation sector to understand and envision the future of sustainable transportation in that part of the world. He hopes for an integrated, green, equitable and accessible future for all, and most importantly hopes that people realize the true environmental cost of their actions.

Nickhil Sharma

PhD title: Exploring the social justice implications of Smart Home Technologies

This project will explore the relationships between AI-enabled connected home technologies (CHTs) and social justice in real world settings. Methodology will be based on qualitative social science approaches, stakeholder workshops and any relevant insights from CHTs. In particular, the objectives are:

(1) Undertaking literature review and qualitative mapping exploring social justice concerns and implications of across the sociotechnical system surrounding AI-enabled CHTs.

(2) Develop a cross-national survey on user perceptions of social justice concerns in relation to CHTs.

(3) Undertaking qualitative research with expert stakeholders and relevant households to explore how

CHTs can impact upon the lived experience of social justice.

(4) Holding multi-stakeholder workshop(s) to validate and reflect on findings, and to develop principles/guidelines to ensure social justice concerns are addressed in potential CHT futures. This will include principles that seek to ensure concerns relating to social justice are addressed by and embedded within future accountable, responsible and transparent (ART) CHT applications.

Awards and Prizes

Swedish Institute Study Scholarship for MSc Students (2016)

Not-for-profit work

Working as a coach and facilitator for youth organisations working on sustainability based in Ghana, India, Germany, the U.S., Chile, China, and Palestine since 2012 via the Melton Foundation.

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0549-2510