Legacy note
This project was part of Catalyst CIC’s final contribution towards tech justice. Though the project is no longer active, its grantees are part of the wider network carrying the work forward. You can connect with them below.
Catalyst has always existed as a network to support and catalyse a change in how digital technology is used and run.
Since April 2024 our focus has been on tech justice and liberatory technology. As we enter a period of degrowth ahead of the CIC’s closure in March 2026, we wanted to leave the community with kindling – to nourish what has been, what is, and what might be ready to start.
The Kindling Programme has two parts: a small grants round and an in-person connection space (the Kindling Retreat).
Together, they’re intended to support ten pieces of work to take root, to share learning back into the movement, and to strengthen relationships across the network.
About the grants
We are making ten grants of £4,000 to organisations and individuals exploring or developing tech justice ideas and practices.
The programme is designed to be flexible and light-touch, with an emphasis on approach and learning rather than perfection – and with an invitation to share learning publicly at the start and end of each project.
About the retreat
The Kindling Retreat is an in-person gathering for grant recipients and legacy stewards, designed to build connection between projects and to collectively explore what future work might be nurtured next.
It took place on 4–5 February 2026 at Charney Manor, Oxfordshire.
The recipients
You’ll find the full list of the ten Kindling recipients and their projects below, with links so you can follow, connect, and learn alongside them.
Anthronation (Sadaf Rasheed)
Tech barriers in a digital NHS.
A research project exploring how people with rare cancers – especially older patients who aren’t digitally native – navigate treatment access as NHS systems become more digital, and where tech creates barriers, burdens, or inequities.
Black AI Futures (Hameed Adigun)
Community-owned AI tools repository for Black and Global Majority communities.
Building a community-owned directory that rates and ranks AI tools by their benefits and harms for Black and Global Majority communities, so grassroots groups can share trusted recommendations and support more informed, safer choices.
Birmingham Tigers (Jahed Uddin)
Youth-led tech justice learning in Sparkbrook & Balsall Heath East.
Working with young people to explore lived experiences of digital exclusion, safety and fairness – through listening sessions, mentoring and a small prototype test – then sharing learning so tech justice work can be shaped by local realities.
Coexist (Daniel Balla)
Participatory online governance tools for commoning communities.
Piloting and improving open-source participatory decision-making tools in Coexist’s online “commoning hub”, through co-designed workshops with the Bristol Commons ecosystem, and sharing a practical guide so other groups can adopt accessible digital governance.
Afghanistan and Central Asian Association (Tamim Isazadah)
Digital Confidence Cards with refugee and migrant communities.
Facilitating small listening circles with refugee and migrant communities to explore digital safety, data rights and online harm, then co-designing simple multilingual “Digital Confidence Cards” to help people navigate the digital systems shaping their lives.
QueerAF CIC (Jamie Wareham)
Trans-led investigation into LLM harms and misinformation.
A trans-led investigation into whether widely used large language models generate biased, harmful, or inaccurate responses about trans people and trans issues in the UK, with findings published through QueerAF and sector partners.
WeLivedIt.AI (Madhuri Rahman)
Community-trained AI filter to reduce online toxicity for journalists.
Testing an AI toxicity filter trained by communities with shared experiences of harassment, starting with co-design workshops with UK journalists, to explore whether collective moderation can reduce isolation and mental load – and what trustworthy, caring AI protection requires.
Ramla Anshur
Decolonial and pluriversal AI futures with diaspora communities.
Using participatory creative practice – workshops, reading groups and storytelling – to explore decolonial, pluriversal AI futures with diaspora communities, making space to dismantle oppressive tech narratives and imagine justice- and care-centred alternatives grounded in cultural knowledge.
Seen, Not Sorted (Stephanie Smith)
A community map of digital reality.
An exploration of how Black and Brown communities in Huddersfield experience everyday digital systems, using listening circles and participatory sessions in trusted spaces to map where digital challenges appear and what needs to change for more equitable technology.
Nish Doshi
Where does Tech Justice sit in our movements for collective liberation?
A series of eight friendly lunchtime conversations with community organisers and campaigners across the UK. Exploring why tech justice matters, how it shows up across struggles for collective liberation, and what resources, support and routes to involvement are needed.