Roza worked as a Digital Innovations Consultant at the World Bank for four years before joining Horizon CDT, where she designed and implemented open data and digital development projects across more than a dozen countries in Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia. This experience sparked her academic interest in exploring how data—particularly open government data and citizen-generated urban data—can be used to design smart, sustainable cities with citizen participation.
Roza conducted fieldwork in two African cities—Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Nairobi (Kenya)—focusing on four data-driven community initiatives. Her research examined how city governments and other stakeholders engage with communities facing sustainability challenges and how data supports these efforts. Drawing on studies in sustainable cities, social sciences, and computer science, Roza employed an inductive, exploratory approach using qualitative research methods to analyze case studies.
The research revealed that the nature of data-driven community initiatives in these cities differed significantly from those in the ‘Global North’. These initiatives were shaped by traditional forms of public participation and the ways in which they were introduced and resourced.
After receiving her PhD in the summer of 2021, Roza secured a position as Senior Digital Innovations and Engagement Specialist at the International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group in Washington D.C., where she is now able to apply her academic insights in practice.
