Ben Watson Email Address

Head of Digital Accessibility

University of Kent

Ben, a former law librarian, has a passion for inclusive design that has led him into researching and implementing approaches to inclusive information and technology provision for education. He has experience of working with all UK education sectors (primary, secondary, further and higher education) and many years experience of working to improve both the physical and digital accessibility of education organisations. In 2015 he initiated the OPERA (Opportunity, Productivity, Engagement, Reducing barriers, Achievement) project. This project reconsidered approaches to learning and teaching, digital systems and assistive technologies and catalysed a shift towards anticipatory reasonable adjustments and inclusive practice by design. This work has been hugely influential and was recognised in 2018 with Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Support for Students. Ben is also one of the founding chairs of the Further and Higher Education Digital Accessibility Working Group (FHEDAWG) which has worked directly with the Government Digital Service to develop guidance for the Higher and Further Education sectors to best meet obligations under the The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018. Ben holds two Masters degrees associated with information management, education and student support, and is undertaking a PhD looking into the provision of accessible information in education and developing mechanisms for measuring its impact. Ben is also co-director of All Able Ltd: www.allable.co.uk