{
  "id": 4780167,
  "title": "Ila Kumar: Innovating with communities",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/01/ila-kumar-innovating-with-communities",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-01T04:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MIT News AI",
    "slug": "mit-news-ai",
    "url": "https://news.mit.edu/2026/ila-kumar-innovates-with-communities-0901"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Ila Kumar, a researcher at MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten group, approaches technology innovation from a unique perspective. Rather than working in isolation, she believes that true innovation emerges when the people who will benefit from a technology are involved in its design from the beginning. This philosophy has guided her work with young people who have experienced trauma during childhood, particularly those in the child welfare system. Kumar emphasizes that community-based design is essential to create technology that accounts for communities' needs, barriers, cultures, and concerns. It is the only way to make sustainable and positively impactful technology. Despite initially intending to stay at MIT only for a master's degree, Kumar fell in love with her work and decided to pursue a doctorate. Her doctoral research has shifted from merely listening to communities to building with them. Her work explores how digital platforms can both harm and help young people's mental health, emotional processing, relationship building, and healthy vulnerability, if designed thoughtfully and embedded in the systems where young people already receive care and support. One example is a project where she replaces text-heavy communication with a visual collage system to help young people express emotions and build connectedness. In another project, Kumar collaborates with the Justice Resource Institute to design a mobile app that empowers youth in the treatment-planning process and helps them work toward their goals. Kumar has also co-facilitated a technology leadership circle with Foster America, bringing together young people and technology experts to envision how digital technologies can fill gaps in care for young people in the child welfare system. She has also focused on educating care providers about artificial intelligence and its potential impact on young people who have experienced trauma. Beyond her research, Kumar volunteers as a court-appointed special advocate, working with a young person in the child welfare system. Her passion for advocating for young people extends beyond the lab, and she recently mentored intern with foster care experience during a six-week program that combined technology, creativity, and personal growth. Kumar's commitment to community-driven innovation deepens the relationship between researchers and the communities they serve, ensuring that technology is created with the needs and experiences of those it serves in mind.",
  "summary": "The PhD student works to give young people an active role in shaping digital technologies that can support their own well-being.",
  "key_points": [
    "Ila Kumar innovates with communities, not in isolation.",
    "Her work focuses on trauma-experienced youth in child welfare system.",
    "Kumar builds digital platforms to support young people's mental health."
  ],
  "editors_take": "Kumar's community-driven innovation approach redefines the researcher's role, shifting from isolated development to collaborative design that prioritizes the needs and experiences of the communities that will be impacted by the technology.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}