Tim Unwin

Tim Unwin is a British and Irish academic geographer and public figure, specialising in the uses of digital technology by the world’s poorest and most marginalised peoples, and on the historical geography of wine and viticulture

Digital tech and development: Tim led the UK Prime Minister’s Imfundo initiative (creating partnerships for using IT in education in Africa) between 2001 and 2004, was Secretary General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation between 2011 and 2015, and founding Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D at Royal Holloway, University of London between 2007 and 2023. His latest book Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World: an Emancipatory Manifesto is published by Routledge in 2026.

Wine and viticulture: Tim currently serves as Academy Chair UK and Ireland for the World’s Best Vineyards awards (2019-present) and he writes a monthly Wine column for the Virginia Water Magazine, and the Sunnninghill & Ascot Magazine (2020-present). He was Co-founder of the Journal of Wine Research and served as Academic Adviser and External Examiner for the Institute of Masters of Wine (2004-2011). He is best known for his classic work Wine and the Vine (Routledge, 1991), and he was one of the Co-Editors of the Routledge Handbook of Wine and Culture (Routledge, 2022).