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This chapter explores the role of an ethics committee led by disabled academics, in supporting co-produced disability research beyond academia, in the context of a five-year research programme in the UK (2015–2020). This chapter includes reflections by the Ethics Committee members, alongside documentary research which analysed the communications between the Ethics Committee and the research projects it supported. This review of the role of the Ethics Committee showed that there were dilemmas in considering the boundaries between ethical review and providing pedagogic advice on research design, and in balancing its role in supporting and regulating research. Ethics review processes are sometimes seen as overly bureaucratic and as an obstacle course for researchers, and this was also sometimes the case for projects supported by the DRILL (Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning) Ethics Committee. Lessons to be learned from the process included that communication between ethics committees and researchers is key, and that ethics review can be a two-way process, recognising the expertise of both the researchers and the reviewers, thus mirroring the principles of co-production. We suggest that an alternative model for ethics review process could build on this generally positive experience of the DRILL Ethics Committee.

The purpose of this study is to explore how digital technologies at work serve as environments for informal workplace learning in knowledge work.

Digital ethnography was used to investigate the digital environments of one public sector workplace. The data included observations, interviews and participant diaries.

The digital work environment consisted of a complex network of technologies and people connected to them. The ethnographic accounts revealed both expansive and restrictive features of the digital environment. Digital technology extended learning opportunities by providing flexible possibilities for interaction, collaboration and access to a wealth of information. On the contrary, digitally mediated presence could restrict learning if the attendance and learning remained superficial. The complexity and constant change in digital workplace environments presented challenges that could potentially restrict learning. Information overload, constant interruptions and changes were burdens that required employees’ skills to manage these challenges.

The authors take a novel approach to view the workplace as a phygital environment in which social, physical and digital environments are combined. Because digital environments are becoming increasingly essential parts of the workplace, it is important to understand how they can support learning.