Reaching People has recently welcomed Dr Josie Barnard as a new Trustee of the charity. Dr Barnard is an Associate Professor in Creative Writing at De Montfort University and has worked with the Reaching People team on previous projects.
In 2025, Dr Barnard worked with Reaching People on a project aimed at helping older people make sense of the digital present. Dr Barnard led creative workshops using historical medical objects to help older adults feel more confident using digital health tools such as the NHS app. By placing familiar items from decades past next to today’s technology, Dr Barnard helped people to make connections and build digital confidence in the process. The aim was to help people see technology as something they can understand rather than something to be feared.
In 2022, Dr Barnard worked on a digital inclusion activity with Leicester Ageing Together at the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery. Dr Barnard initiated and led an online session live from Leicester Museum and Art Gallery with a group of ‘digitally excluded’ people aged 60 and above. This was the first of four events led by Dr. Barnard in the museum, because research shows that digital upskilling can be delivered more effectively in trusted community environments.
Working with Reaching People as a new Trustee
"I’m thrilled and honoured to be working with Reaching People," said Dr Barnard. “I feel passionate about helping people with digital inclusion and Reaching People shares this commitment.
“As a Trustee, I’ll be looking to support the great work that Reaching People does. Having worked on projects in the past, I’ve always been impressed by how much sensitivity and emotional intelligence the staff apply to their work.
“My work is focused on understanding the digital inclusion landscape more broadly and I aim to bring this knowledge to help Reaching People work to help people become digitally included in meaningful ways.
“Having access to a device isn't enough to be digitally included and this is shown by the fact that around 52% of people in work lack basic digital skills needed for work. The motivation to become digitally included can really help with empowerment.”
Accomplishments in digital inclusion
Dr Barnard is an author and academic whose research into digital inclusion was represented by her BBC Radio 4 programme, Digital Future: the New Underclass in 2019.
Dr Barnard is an award-winning author of six books, extensive print and broadcast journalism and international academic articles and chapters. She is an invited co-editor of a Multimodal Writing Special Issue of the National Association of Writers in Education international peer reviewed journal Writing in Practice (2022).
She collaborates with government departments and other key stakeholder groups to inform policy and develop citizens’ digital literacy. She was also awarded a Principle Fellow of the Higher Education Academy status in 2025.
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