Dr Margie Cheesman

Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Digital Economy at King’s College London and Research Affiliate at the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, University of Cambridge

I am an anthropologist specialising in the social and political dimensions of emerging technology.

My work examines how technologies like blockchain are designed, used, and adapted in sensitive environments. Through research across Jordan, Kenya, Germany, and the UK, I investigate humanitarian aid programmes, migration management systems, and financial inclusion initiatives, uncovering how technological promises translate into everyday practices.

I use ethnographic methods to explore both grassroots and institutional perspectives. My public interest work builds evidence to understand and challenge contemporary forms of inequality and exclusion.

Current projects

1. When Blockchain Meets Aid: My upcoming book offers the first comprehensive ethnography on blockchain's deployment in humanitarian crisis zones. A major human experiment with new financial technology reveals the profound priority clash between aid managers, frontline humanitarians, and refugees.
2. Digital Sovereignty Observatory: I am co-Lead Investigator on an international research project analysing how emerging technologies reshape social and political boundaries. Funded by the Bosch Foundation, we focus on digital IDs, migration management systems, and the vulnerable groups navigating them.
3. The Digital Grey Zone:Digital platforms—from crypto to gig work—are creating new livelihood opportunities alongside emerging risks for low income groups and non-citizens, operating in spaces that blur conventional economic arrangements. My latest research and advocacy advances understandings of informal economic activity. This involves an Economy and Society special issue co-edited with Dr Andreas Hackl.

Past projects

Funded research projects I have led or collaborated on include:

• Digital Identity and Migration (Funded by the Bosch Foundation)
• Refugee Aid 3.0: Seeking Infrastructure Justice (Funded by ESRC)
• Refugees' Digital Livelihoods (ESRC)
• Anticipating Blockchain for Development (UKRI)
• Digital Identity, Trust Frameworks, and ‘Smart Africa’ (GIZ)
• Mapping Refugee Media Journeys (Open University)

Recent writings

My academic and public interest writing includes:

• The Reset Imperative: Digital Identity in Humanitarian Response
• The Britcard: Progressive or Concerning?
• Conjuring a blockchain pilot: Ignorance and innovation in humanitarian aid
• Self-sovereignty for refugees? The contested horizons of digital identity
• Web3 and communities at risk: Myths and problems with current experiments
• The identity issue: Proxy IDs in Kenya's online economy

Teaching

I am currently the programme director for the Digital Economy Master's Degree at King's College London.

Passion projects

Twinspiration…What does it mean to be human in an era of genetic and digital replication? With my twin, Dr Rosa Cheesman, we blend our knowledge from social and biological sciences to examine twinship as a lens on past, present, and future understandings of ‘who we are’.