Rachel C. Smith is an Anthropologist and Associate Professor of Human-Centered Design at Aarhus University. Her work focuses on relations between anthropology, design and digital technology, specifically on social change and transformation through new and emerging technologies. Her research engages with the shaping of everyday practices and human digital futures in diverse contexts; of emerging technologies in future educational practices, human approaches to future mobility in urban environments, and the transformation of memory practices and digital heritage between everyday life and cultural institutions.

Her research has contributed significantly to the development of Design Anthropology as an academic transdisciplinary field through co-edited volumes: Design Anthropology: Theory and Practice (2013), and Design Anthropological Futures (2016) and the international Research Network for Design Anthropology. She has published more than 40 peer reviewed conference and journal papers and book chapters, and edited and co-edited 4 journal special issues: Design Anthropology, Design Studies, The Interdisciplinary Journal of Design Research (2021 in press), Participatory Design in an Era of Participation, CoDesign, International Journal of CoCreation and the Arts, Vol. 13. 2017, Design Anthropology in Participatory Design, IxD&A International Journal for Interaction Design and Architecture, Vol. 26, 2015, Digital Fabrication in Education, International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, Vol. 5, 2015.

She currently leads research and societal impact on computational empowerment, digital inclusiveness and democracy in the future of education in the research project CEED Computational Empowerment for Emerging Technologies in Education, VILLUM/VELUX Foundations (2020-2024) at the interdisciplinary Research Center for Computational Thinking and Design CCTD. In addition, she partners several international research projects on human digital futures: POEM Participatory Memory Practices: Concepts, Practices, and Media Infrastructures for Social Inclusion, Horizon 2020, Innovative Training Network, Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) (2018-2022), AHA Design Ethnographic Living Labs for Future Urban Mobility: A Human Approach, VINNOVA Sweden (2019-2022), and D-CoDE Fundamentals of Design Competence for our Digital Future, Horizon 2020, Innovative Training Network, Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) (2021-2024).