Victoria Austin (Vicki) is a pioneer of social justice, having worked in the field for more than 20 years. She was Head of Paralympic Legacy, Inclusion and Sport Participation for the London Legacy Development Corporation at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park where she led the £10m Paralympic Legacy Programme for the London 2012 Games. Using that experience she developed the concept and campaign for the creation of GDI Hub, which was launched in September 2016 by Mayor Sadiq Khan. More than a product, service, or policy, GDI Hub believes that disability innovation is a way of thinking to address disability challenges through co-design and knowledge sharing – creating solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges for disabled people by disabled people.
In her role as GDI Hub CEO, Vicki also leads the AT2030 consortium, a Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) initiative to test ‘what works’ to improve access to life-changing Assistive Technology (AT) for all and invest £20m over 5 years to support solutions to scale. Bringing together partners who haven’t traditionally focused on AT, with experts, innovators and AT users, AT2030 is experimenting with new ideas and thinking across community-led, systems-focused and market-driven interventions.
In addition Vicki is undertaking a PhD on ‘Can technology be assistive in enhancing the inclusive citizenship norms and practices of disabled people and their communities? A case study of informal settlements in the Global South’.
