Skip to main content
News and EventsCareers
HomeCommunityCommunity Events

Digital Access Research Forum

September 16 – 18, 2025

Kansas City

Hosted by the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Kansas City, New York and Philadelphia

The forum will highlight the latest research on digital access, as well as emerging methodologies and best practices in the sector.

This in-person event brings together academics, researchers, community development practitioners and policymakers for impactful conversations around digital access research in areas such as:

  • Program evaluation and outcomes measurement.
  • Benefits of digital access interventions in communities.
  • Labor market implications.
When
  • Sept. 16–18, 2025
Where
  • Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
    Kansas City, Missouri
Registration
  • Opens in April
Interested in presenting?

Submit a proposal

Proposals will be accepted between Feb. 19 and March 14, 2025.

Presentations should highlight policy-relevant research related to digital access. Presenters may include graduate students, academics (multidisciplinary), policy analysts and practitioners.

Proposals should be no longer than 750 words and include motivation behind the research, data sources and methodology (if an empirical study), and a description of expected research findings and policy implications.

Submissions will be reviewed and selected for presentation by the forum’s organizing committee. Authors of accepted presentations will be notified in April.

For questions, contact merissa.piazza@clev.frb.org and theresa.dunne@phil.frb.org.

Forum goals
  • Assess the state of existing research on digital access.
  • Identify gaps and needs for future research.
  • Enable community development practitioners and policymakers to use the research and develop practical applications from it.
  • Offer a space for digital access researchers, practitioners and policymakers to connect and learn from one another.
Possible topics

The forum will accept high-quality presentations from a wide range of topics, methods, disciplines and perspectives. Research areas of particular interest include but are not limited to:

  • Geographic comparisons of broadband and digital access.
  • The changing nature of the digital access landscape and its labor market implications, such as the role of digital skills in workforce development, entrepreneurship and small business growth, and the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
  • Innovative practices and methodologies in accurately measuring access, affordability and adoption of broadband and digital technologies.
  • The role of community development practitioners and policymakers in creating measurable best practices in broadband policy and deployment.
  • Fundamentals of data collection, data availability and using existing data.
  • Qualitative research design and data use in digital access research.
Organizing committee

Marycruz De Leon, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Theresa Dunne, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Jeremy Hegle, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Nye Hodge, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Kassandra Huhn, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Marisa Martinez, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Ambika Nair, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Merissa Piazza, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Alvaro Sanchez, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta