Poornima Kumar

Assessing the systemic and climate impacts of digitalisation in daily life

Poornima Kumar (she/her) is a DPhil candidate at the Environmental Change Institute and St Peter's College.

Her research, conducted as part of the ERC-funded iDODDLE project, examines how interactions between social and technological learning dynamics shape digitalisation in daily life and its associated rebound effects. She employs qualitative participatory systems mapping and quantitative system dynamics modelling, with a current geographical focus on the UK. Her research interests lie in using systems analysis to explore the unintended effects of technology on human behaviour, and their climate impacts.

She joined the 2025 Young Scientist Summer Programme (YSSP) at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), supported by a UKRI-NERC grant, and is also a member of the EDITS network on energy demand innovations.

Prior to her DPhil, Poornima worked with a climate policy think tank in India on energy transition pathways. This work, supported by Agence Française de Développement and 2050PathwaysPlatform, involved building a whole-economy system dynamics model to explore trade-offs between India’s climate and development goals. Within this, she was responsible for developing buildings sector components including housing shortage, energy demand, and space cooling.

She holds a degree in architecture from Anna University and MSc degrees from the University of Groningen (environmental and infrastructure planning) and the University of Edinburgh (climate change management). Her postgraduate studies were supported by Erasmus Mundus, Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, and Commonwealth scholarships.

• Wilson, C., Amanta, F., Gaytán Camarillo, M., Kumar, P., Seger, M. and Vrain, E. (2025) iDODDLE synthesis report on digitalisation of daily life and climate change. Oxford, UK.
• Chatterjee, S., Mastrucci, A., Niamir, L., Ashok, K., Sreenivas, A., Dukkipati, S., ... and Ürge-Vorsatz, D. (2024) Balancing energy transition: Assessing decent living standards and future energy demand in the Global South. Energy Research & Social Science, 103757.
• Wilson, C., Agnew, M., Amanta, F., Van Fan, Y., Kumar, P. and Seger, M. (2024) Evidence Synthesis of Indirect Impacts of Digitalisation on Energy and Emissions. technology, 99: 107033.
• Amanta, F., Kumar, P., Seger, M. and Vrain, E. (2024) The Impacts of Digitalised Daily Life on Climate Change. British Academy Discussion Papers on 'What are the possibilities of a good digital society?
• Mastrucci, A., Niamir, L., Boza-Kiss, B., Bento, N., Wiedenhofer, D., Streeck, J., ... and van Ruijven, B. (2023) Modeling Low Energy Demand Futures for Buildings: Current State and Research Needs. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 48(1): 761-792.