Introduction
Eleanor Drage is a researcher, author, broadcaster, and speaker at the University of Cambridge. She is best known for studying artificial intelligence, gender inequality, and the social problems linked to automated technology.
Her career has taken an unusual path. She started in financial technology, helped establish an e-commerce company, and later moved into academic research.
Today, she works at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence. She also writes books, teaches students, and hosts conversations about AI.
Her main question is simple. Can technology treat people fairly?
That question sits behind much of her work.
Quick Facts About Eleanor Drage
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Eleanor Drage |
| Professional Name | Dr Eleanor Drage |
| Profession | Academic researcher, author, speaker, broadcaster |
| Known For | Artificial intelligence ethics and feminist technology research |
| Workplace | University of Cambridge |
| Research Centre | Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence |
| Academic Position | Senior Research Fellow |
| College Affiliation | Gonville & Caius College |
| College Roles | Bye-Fellow and Tutor |
| Undergraduate University | University of Edinburgh |
| Doctoral Universities | University of Bologna and University of Granada |
| Doctoral Qualification | International dual PhD |
| Research Fields | AI ethics, feminism, gender, discrimination, technology regulation |
| Podcast | The Good Robot |
| Podcast Co-host | Kerry McInerney |
| Recognition | 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics, 2022 |
| Latest Published Book | What If We Got AI Right? (2026) |
| Official Website | eleanordrage.com |
Who Is Eleanor Drage?
Eleanor Drage is a Cambridge academic whose research questions how artificial intelligence affects society.
She studies problems that ordinary people face.
Think about hiring software. A company might use AI to assess job applicants. But what happens when that software treats some groups unfairly?
Drage studies questions like this.
Her research considers gender discrimination, racial inequality, technology companies, and government regulation.
She also examines how people think about machines.
That matters more than ever.
AI tools now affect workplaces, public services, and personal decisions. Drage’s research asks whether these systems deserve the trust they receive.
She approaches these questions through feminist philosophy and social research rather than treating them as purely technical problems.
Early Life and Background
Public information about Drage’s childhood is limited.
Her official academic profiles concentrate on education, research, and professional achievements. They do not establish her birthplace or detailed family background.
Her professional story, though, is well documented.
Before joining Cambridge, she worked in financial technology. She then helped co-found an e-commerce company.
This gave her experience outside universities.
She saw how businesses work. She also gained experience with the commercial side of technology.
Later, her academic career brought those interests together.
She began examining how companies develop AI systems and why good intentions do not always prevent unfair outcomes.
Education and Academic Qualifications
Education became an important part of her career.
Drage studied French with English Literature at the University of Edinburgh.
According to her official résumé, she attended between 2012 and 2015.
She graduated with a first-class MA (Hons) degree and received a distinction in spoken French.
Her academic interests then developed further.
She completed an international dual PhD through the University of Bologna in Italy and the University of Granada in Spain.
Her doctoral studies focused on feminist and anti-racist philosophy, women’s science fiction, and the history of utopian writing.
She also participated in the European Union’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie-funded GRACE project.
GRACE stands for Gender and Cultures of Equality in Europe.
The project investigated questions about gender, culture, and equality across European societies.
Her doctoral work helped establish the research interests she later brought into artificial intelligence.
Career Before Cambridge
Drage did not begin her career exclusively in academia.
Her official biography confirms that she first worked in financial technology.
She later co-founded an e-commerce business.
These experiences gave her a practical view of commercial technology.
Academic research followed.
She became interested in how businesses could respond to ethical questions without treating fairness as a simple checklist.
That interest remained part of her work after she joined Cambridge.
Her projects would eventually bring academic ideas into direct conversations with technology companies.
Academic Career at Cambridge
Drage joined the University of Cambridge’s research community and became involved in its Gender and Technology Research Project.
She previously worked as a Christina Gaw Research Associate.
That position allowed her to study ethical problems involving artificial intelligence, gender, and race.
She also worked with a major multinational technology company on questions about AI ethics.
Her later research appointments took her to the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence.
There, she became a Senior Research Fellow.
Her work includes research into AI regulation and discrimination.
She has contributed to projects that examine how businesses respond to laws such as the European Union’s AI Act.
These projects seek to make ethical concerns part of real business decisions.
Work at Gonville & Caius College
Drage also holds academic roles at Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge.
Her college profile identifies her as a Bye-Fellow and Tutor.
She is involved in university teaching.
Her subjects include AI ethics, gender studies, and the social consequences of technology.
She helped create and teach a Gender and AI module for Cambridge’s MPhil in Ethics of AI, Data and Algorithms.
Her teaching also includes contributions to programmes covering AI ethics and society.
These responsibilities connect her research with students preparing to study or work in technology-related fields.
Her Research on Artificial Intelligence
AI ethics is central to Drage’s academic work.
She examines what happens when automated systems make decisions that affect people.
One major concern is discrimination.
AI systems learn from data. That data can contain existing social inequalities.
So an automated process does not automatically become fair simply because a computer makes the decision.
Drage’s research challenges that assumption.
Can AI Make Hiring Fairer?
Automated recruitment is one of her best-known research subjects.
Some companies use AI to assess applicants.
These systems may examine interviews, application information, or other personal characteristics.
Their developers sometimes claim that AI reduces human bias.
Drage has questioned these claims.
In research highlighted by the University of Cambridge in October 2022, she and fellow researchers examined problems with AI-powered recruitment technology.
The research challenged the idea that such systems can reliably remove discrimination from hiring.
Her work shows why companies must question what their recruitment software actually measures.
Technology and the Right to Protest
Another research topic concerns public demonstrations.
Authorities and organisations may use automated systems to identify or classify public events.
But these systems can reflect harmful assumptions.
Drage has studied how AI-powered event detection may reproduce racial ideas about protests.
Her work with researcher Federica Frabetti examines how automated descriptions can affect the way protests are understood.
The research raises questions about surveillance, policing, and civil rights.
Helping Companies Understand AI Regulation
Drage also works on AI governance.
She has been involved in the Ammagamma project, which examines how companies respond to European AI legislation.
Her research looks at compliance with the EU AI Act.
But following legal requirements is only part of the discussion.
Her projects also consider how businesses can identify social harms that may not be obvious from technical testing alone.
Generative AI and Personal Advice
Her current research also addresses people’s relationships with conversational AI.
According to her official biography, she leads a nationwide digital wellbeing project.
The project investigates how people use AI chatbots, including ChatGPT and Claude, for life advice.
People increasingly ask these tools questions about everyday decisions.
That creates new research questions.
How much do users trust AI responses? What happens when software starts influencing personal choices?
These are among the issues her work examines.
Books Written and Edited by Eleanor Drage
Writing is another major part of her career.
Her publications cover feminism, technology, philosophy, and the social effects of artificial intelligence.
What If We Got AI Right? (2026)
Her 2026 book is titled What If We Got AI Right? How to Stop Catastrophising and Build an Ethical Future.
Profile Books published it on 16 July 2026.
The book questions how society talks about AI.
Public conversations often focus on extreme possibilities. Some people imagine perfect machines. Others fear technological disaster.
Drage argues that these debates can distract from problems already affecting people.
She discusses issues such as unfair algorithms, technology companies’ power, and the need for public involvement in decisions about AI.
The book encourages readers to think about practical ways to build a fairer relationship with technology.
The Good Robot (2024)
Drage and Kerry McInerney edited The Good Robot: Feminist Voices on the Future of Technology.
Published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2024, the book brings together feminist perspectives on technological development.
It questions common assumptions about what makes technology useful or beneficial.
The collection also considers who participates in creating technology and who may be excluded from important decisions.
Feminist AI (2023)
Another major publication is Feminist AI: Critical Perspectives on Algorithms, Data and Intelligent Machines.
Drage co-edited this academic collection with Kerry McInerney.
Oxford University Press published it in 2023.
The book examines artificial intelligence through feminist scholarship.
It considers problems involving algorithms, data, discrimination, and social power.
An Experience of the Impossible (2023)
Drage also wrote An Experience of the Impossible: The Planetary Humanism of European Women’s Science Fiction.
Published in 2023, the book examines ideas found in women’s science fiction.
Its subject matter includes humanity, society, imagined futures, and philosophical questions.
This work reflects her academic background in literature and feminist theory.
Reprogram
Her official writing page lists Reprogram: Why the Tech Industry Is Broken and How Feminism Can Transform It, written with Kerry McInerney.
The writing page lists 2027 for publication through Princeton University Press.
Her résumé contains a different year, so the exact release date should be checked with the publisher before being reported as confirmed.
Academic Papers and Publications
Drage has contributed to numerous research papers.
Her published work includes studies on recruitment systems, AI development, surveillance, and cultural attitudes towards technology.
Selected publications include:
- Does AI Debias Recruitment? Race, Gender, and AI’s ‘Eradication of Difference’ (2022).
- Who Makes AI? Gender and Portrayals of AI Scientists in Popular Film 1920–2020 (2023).
- Copies Without an Original: The Performativity of Biometric Bordering Technologies (2023).
- The Performativity of AI-powered Event Detection (2024).
- Engineers on Responsibility: Feminist Approaches to Who’s Responsible for Ethical AI (2024).
- Tech Workers’ Perspectives on Ethical Issues in AI Development (2024).
- AI, Journalism, and Critical AI Literacy (2025).
- Curiosity Killed the Cat? From a Masculinized ‘Frontier Mindset’ to Ethical Curiosity in AI Engineering (2025).
Several papers involve other researchers.
Their subjects show the breadth of her academic work, ranging from engineering practices to media and public institutions.
The Good Robot Podcast
Drage co-hosts The Good Robot with researcher Kerry McInerney.
The podcast focuses on feminism and technology.
Its episodes feature conversations with researchers, artists, activists, and people working in the technology industry.
Guests discuss artificial intelligence and its effects on society.
The questions are often practical.
Who builds AI? Who benefits from it? Why do some technologies reproduce existing inequalities?
The show gives listeners another way to engage with academic research.
It also allows Drage to share conversations with people outside her immediate research field.
Broadcasting and Public Speaking
Drage’s work extends beyond university classrooms.
She speaks at academic conferences, public events, and industry discussions.
Her official profiles list presentations involving organisations such as the United Nations, NatWest, and the Open Data Institute.
She has also appeared in documentary projects and media discussions about artificial intelligence.
Her broadcasting experience includes educational programmes, interviews, and podcasts.
She has contributed to The Guilty Feminist and worked on digital-rights content associated with journalist Carole Cadwalladr’s All The Citizens project.
These appearances have brought her research to wider audiences.
Awards and Recognition
In 2022, Drage was included among the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics.
Her Bloomsbury publisher biography confirms the recognition.
She has also participated in major funded research projects.
Her work has involved European academic institutions and research initiatives connected to AI ethics and responsible technology.
These activities have helped establish her public research profile.
Is Eleanor Drage Married?
Her marital status is not established in the authoritative biographical sources reviewed.
Her university and official personal profiles concentrate on her academic and professional work.
Personal Interests
Her Gonville & Caius College profile provides a few details about her interests outside work.
These include dancing, music, sport, fashion, and French.
Her interest in music ranges from choral music to techno.
These details offer a small picture of her life beyond research.
Where Is Eleanor Drage Now?
As of October 2026, Drage is identified as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence.
She also holds roles at Gonville & Caius College.
Her current activities include academic research, teaching, public speaking, broadcasting, and writing.
Her latest published book, What If We Got AI Right?, came out in July 2026.
Her work continues to examine how artificial intelligence affects people, organisations, and society.
Why Her Work Matters
AI systems are increasingly used to make everyday decisions.
Recruitment provides one example.
A company may trust automated software to assess job applicants. Yet the system’s decisions can still reflect unfair assumptions.
Drage’s research asks people to examine those assumptions rather than accept promises about neutrality.
She also connects ethical research with industry practice.
This matters because business decisions often determine how technology reaches the public.
Her work encourages researchers, companies, and policymakers to ask tougher questions before trusting automated systems.
Final Thought
Eleanor Drage has built a career around one persistent concern: how can artificial intelligence work fairly for people?
Her background is unusual.
Literature, feminist philosophy, financial technology, and academic research have all formed part of her professional journey.
Now, at Cambridge, she studies the human consequences of technology.
Her books and podcast bring those questions to readers and listeners outside universities.
The message behind much of her research is clear. Technology needs careful examination, especially when its decisions affect people’s opportunities and rights.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who is Eleanor Drage?
Eleanor Drage is a Cambridge researcher, author, and broadcaster known for her work on artificial intelligence ethics, feminism, and technology.
2. What does Eleanor Drage do?
She researches AI ethics, teaches university students, writes books, and speaks publicly about technology and society.
3. Where did Eleanor Drage study?
She studied at the University of Edinburgh and earned an international dual PhD through the Universities of Bologna and Granada.
4. Where does Eleanor Drage work?
She works at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge and holds college roles at Gonville & Caius.
5. What is Eleanor Drage’s latest book?
Her latest published book is What If We Got AI Right?, released by Profile Books on 16 July 2026.
6. What is The Good Robot Podcast?
It is a podcast co-hosted by Eleanor Drage and Kerry McInerney. It discusses feminism, AI ethics, and technology’s effects on society.
7. What recognition has Eleanor Drage received?
She was included in the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics list in 2022.
8. What are her main research interests?
Her research covers AI discrimination, ethical recruitment, gender inequality, technology regulation, surveillance, and the social effects of AI.