Ellen Helsper is Professor of Socio-Digital Inequalities in the Media and Communications Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her research interests include the links between social and digital inequalities; vulnerability and discrimination in digital spaces; digital literacy; mediated communication and interpersonal relationships; and methodological innovation in quantitative and qualitative media and communications research. Her work is truly global in nature through her involvement in the From Digital Skills to Tangible Outcomes; Connected Communities and Inclusive Growth; YSkills; Global Kids Online and World Internet research projects. She consults widely for governments, the third and commercial sector on issues to do with client and citizen (dis)engagement in increasingly digital societies. Organisations that she has worked with include the BBC, European Commission, ITU, OECD, and UNESCO.

Ellen holds and has held Visiting Scholar positions at prestigious universities and research institutes in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the US. She has a PhD in Media and Communications from the LSE and an MSc degree in Media Psychology from Utrecht University and worked in commercial market and audience research in Europe, Latin America and the US.