Our Students

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C), Technology in Practice (TinP)

Areas of Research Interest
Cultural Studies, Political Economy, Media Theory, Critical Theory

Research
Aidan researches internet memes. Specifically how they can be made to critique, deconstruct and make humorous capitalism, settler colonialism and white supremacy and the political economy of Internet memes.

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of Research Interest
Human rights, television journalism, documentary filmmaking, and media arts, with a focus on Arab cinema, activism, social change, and the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

Research

Alaa Mosbah is a film producer, director, and writer currently working as a producer with the Being Black in Canada film mentorship program. He has worked with Netflix, Al Jazeera, and the Doha Film Institute. His films have been showcased at prestigious international festivals such as Berlinale, Tribeca, and Oberhausen. Notable projects include Ultras (Al Jazeera, 2015), Standards of Beauty (Al Jazeera, 2016), What Comes Around (Berlinale Panorama, 2018), and Paranormal (Netflix, 2020).

He received the FIPRESCI Critics Prize for Best Film at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. His films have garnered production support from Netflix, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), the Beirut Screen Institute, and the Doha Film Institute.

Alaa holds a bachelor’s degree from the American University in Cairo. He was a Fulbright scholar at Columbia College Chicago and completed his MFA at York University, where he was awarded the Research Cost Fund, the Academic Excellence Fund, and the Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC).

LinkedIn

PhD candidate in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Degrees
BA, Art History, McGill University
MA, Aural and Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths College University of London

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of expertise:
Sound technologies, digital cultures, Artificial Intelligence, gender and sexuality, media arts, feminist digital methods, media history

My research combines approaches from media history, sound studies, and feminist STS to examine voice technologies, particularly recent developments in AI. My doctoral dissertation crafts a genealogy between voice interfaces, such as Alexa, and spiritualist séances, examining how particular conceptions of voice, gender, performance, and (dis)embodiment remain operative within contemporary technologies.

Website: alexborkowski.net
LinkedIn: linkedin.com

Stream 
Media and Culture (M&C), Politics and Policy (P&P)

Areas of Research Interest
Asian Studies, Fan Studies, Filipinx studies, Activism, Girls Studies, Popular Culture, Identity

Research

Ava is interested in the intersection of politics and pop culture, particularly with Asian media like K-Pop and their corresponding fandoms. She is also interested in the formation and negotiation of diasporic identity through media consumption, and carries broader interests in online activism. Her previous work has looked at fandom activism, specifically in relation to K-pop fans and Swifties.

Ava's research will look into Asian media forms such as K-pop and K-drama and how the consumption of this media may assist the negotiation of sociopolitical identities of Filipinx diasporic youth in Canada, their identity as Asian Canadians, and their relations to the homeland.

LinkedIn

PhD candidate in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Stream:
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of Expertise:
Media studies, Philosophy, Film Studies, Communication Studies, Aesthetics, Moral Philosophy, Marshall McLuhan, Stanley Kubrick, Philosophy of Technology, Television Studies, Philosophy of Identity, Media Ecology, Media Literacy, Continental Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy, Creative Writing

Research:
Blair Miller is a published Canadian scholar with extensive experience presenting at conferences. As a PhD candidate he uses philosophy to reveal moral aspects of McLuhan’s work—within a wide breadth of research interests at the intersection of philosophy, culture, and media technology, like AI and the broader role of technology in human identity.

Books:
Miller, Blair. space/self/world—Space and Identity in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dio Press, 2022.

Young People and Social Media: Contemporary Children’s Digital Culture. Edited by Steve Gennaro and Blair Miller. Vernon Press, 2021.

Peer-Reviewed Articles:
Miller, Blair. “Human Identity Through the Ecoempathetic Looking Glass: Situating McLuhan in the Techno-Human Continuum.” The Journal of Communication and Media Studies 7 (1) (2022).

Miller, Blair. “Ghosting Us All: How Hollywood Obscures the Same Environmental Issues It Foregrounds.” AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 25 (September 2021).

Gennaro, Steve and Blair Miller. “Critical Social Media Literacy in the Googleburg Galaxy.” Media Literacy and Academic Research Vol. 3, No. 2 (December 2020).

Gennaro, Steve and Blair Miller. “Reliteration and Remixing the Self on Social Media.” Baudrillard Now Vol. 1, Issue 2 (Fall 2020).

Miller, Blair. “What You See Is Happening Right Now—Thermageddon and a Search For Tomorrow.” CineAction (70) (2006).

Miller, Blair. “. . .Simply Because You’re Near Me—Love, Chungking Express and In The Mood For Love.” CineAction (62) (2003).

Miller, Blair. “The Work of Interpretation: A Theoretical Defence of Film Theory and Criticism.” Kinema: A Journal of Film and Audiovisual Media. (Spring 1999).

LinkedIn Profile

Stream
Technology in Practice (TinP)

Areas of Research Interest
Mobile Transparency, Privacy, Technology Practice, Communication and Information policy

Research
I work with my supervisor on the mobile transparency project, the research focuses on the challenges of mobile transparency, particularly as devices become smaller and screen space becomes more limited. Compared to PC users, mobile users often access less detailed information due to interface constraints, simplified content displays, or poor usability. This limited access can hinder users’ ability to make informed decisions and increases the risk of overlooking important details. The research hope to investigate the importance of transparency within the mobile devices contexts.

LinkedIn

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of Research Interest
Cultural studies, visual culture, comic books, environmental humanities, interdisciplinary studies, civic engagement, environmental and sustainability education, rhetoric of sustainability

Research
My dissertation research addresses the circulation of text and images in historical and autobiographical comics. I focus on radical democratic engagement in narratives from anti-racist and anti-oppressive social movements. I also research how comics can be used pedagogically in university classrooms and as a form of public pedagogy. Before moving to Toronto, I was a founding faculty member in the Department of Integrated Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, where I taught courses in environmental humanities, civic engagement, and comic books.

LinkedIn

Stream

• Media and Culture (M&C)
• Technology in Practice (TinP)

Areas of Research Interest
Climate Change; Ecofascism; Game Studies; Gender; Nationalism; Settler Colonialism; Postcolonialism

Research
Breton's PhD research examines media texts, cultural practices, and technological infrastructures that have given rise to contemporary formations of “prepper” masculinities, ecofascism, and survivalism. He is exploring how digital games mediate anxieties surrounding political, economic, and environmental crises – and how these anxieties are increasingly articulated through masculinist ideals rooted in authoritarianism, ethno-nationalism, and colonial logics.

PhD candidate in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of expertise:
Gynoids, Feminist theory, Artificial intelligence (AI), Robotics and embodiment, Human-robot interaction, Posthumanism, Gender and technology

I investigate issues of gender, embodiment, agency, and artificial intelligence, drawing from interdisciplinary sources in robotics, feminist theory, media studies, and posthumanism.

This research critiques the social scripts embedded in the design and portrayal of gynoids, particularly how they reproduce or challenge dominant narratives around femininity, labor, and human-machine boundaries.

Website: chelseasbitstream.myportfolio.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com

PhD candidate in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Degrees
MA, Cultural Analysis & Social Theory, Wilfrid Laurier University
BA, Digital Media & Journalism, Wilfrid Laurier University

Stream
Technology in Practice (TinP)

Areas of Research Interest
journalism, democracy, elections, citizenship, public opinion, newspapers, digital media, public sphere, surveillance capitalism, privacy

Research
I am interested in developing connections between the communicative landscape and the political/electoral process in Canada. My doctoral dissertation, "Trudeau Squared" entails a comparative analysis of the 1968 and 2019 federal elections, intended to illustrate how the technological or material qualities of communication mediums influence the ways that voters are politically informed.

Supervisory Committee
Anne MacLennan (Supervisor), Tokunbo Ojo, Jonathan Obar

Additional Information
York Writing Centre Instructor, 2020-
PhD Representative, Faculty of Graduate Studies Awards Committee, 2020-2022
York President, ComCult GSA, 2019-2020

E-mail: dvallesi@yorku.ca.

Areas of Expertise:
autistic meaning-making; cognitive semiotics; biosemiotics; critical autism studies; neurodiversity studies; semiotics

My research argues that autistic meaning-making is just as valid as non-autistic meaning-making. It brings Critical Autism and Neurodiversity Studies views and theories into Cognitive Semiotic and Biosemiotic theories, models, and frameworks that showcase how autistic meaning-making is created in similar ways as non-autistic meaning-making (as all human and meaning-making is) but through different embodied and cognitive experiences.

Stream
Politics and Policy (P&P), Technology in Practice (TinP)

Areas of Research Interest
BIPOC Media Production & Representation, Transmedia Storytelling, Canadian Media Policy, AI & Media Ethics, Community & Civic Media, Podcast & Audio Production, Cultural Industries & Creative Labour, Media Convergence & Participatory Culture, Afro-Caribbean & Diasporic Cultural Media, Civic Media & Community-Led Broadcasting, Racialized & Equity-Seeking Media Practices, Cultural Industries and Creative Labour (Canada and UK), Journalism, Critical News Practices & Media Ethics, Youth Engagement & Emerging Talent Development, Media Training, Industry Partnerships

Research

My doctoral research makes the case for integrating transmedia storytelling and ethical AI technologies to support a sustainable future for Canadian Community-led Broadcast Media. Centring on the Campus-Community Class Licence sector, the project examines how grassroots broadcasters can adopt emerging tools—particularly Transmedia and AI—without compromising their public-interest values, cultural mandates, and commitments to equity and inclusion.

Rooted in my professional background in media production & public broadcasting, civic media, and equity-driven media training, this study proposes a framework for responsible, community-led innovation. It envisions Transmedia as both a narrative and infrastructural strategy for ensuring that Canada’s Community Media broadcast infrastructures remain inclusive, adaptable, and resilient in the face of rapid technological, industry-wide changes.

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of Research Interest
Political Economy, Critical AI, Generative AI, Critical Disinformation, Foresight & Speculative Methods

Research
Researching and writing on the political economies of "safe" generative AI, specifically with regards to their development and deployment in the context of the ongoing panic about disinformation and epistemic disorder.

LinkedIn

Stream:
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of Research Interest:
Journalism, political communication, media and social movements, digital media and culture , propaganda, and
political polarisation.

Research:
Guyo Wariyo Halake, widely known as Aba-Jirma, is a Canada-based Ethiopian journalist, producer, and Hardtalk
presenter with extensive experience at prominent media outlets, including the BBC MA and Oromia Media Network
(OMN). He is renowned for conducting exclusive interviews and producing groundbreaking documentaries for OMN, a
U.S.-based television network that broadcasts in Afaan Oromo—the language of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group.

These contributions have cemented his reputation as one of the most influential journalists across Ethiopia and
beyond. Most notably, Guyo was the last journalist to interview the iconic Ethiopian musician Hachalu Hundessa, who
was tragically assassinated just one week after their conversation on July 2020.

Hachalu’s death ignited widespread anti-government protests throughout the county , resulting in the deaths of over
200 people and the arrest of tens of thousands. In the ensuing political crackdown, Guyo was imprisoned and later
compelled to flee to Kenya in December 2020. After four years in exile, he resettled in Canada and currently pursuing
a PhD in the joint Communication and Culture program at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University. His
research explores the role of social media in political change : A Comparative Analysis of Ethiopia and Libya. He holds
a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Journalism and Communication from Mekelle University and Addis Ababa
University, respectively.

PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture

Degrees
MA Visual Sociology—Goldsmiths, University of London
BA Sociology—Concordia University

Stream
Technology in Practice (TinP)

Areas of Research Interest
Climate Change; Algorithms; Misinformation; Disinformation

Research
Jackson Ainsworth is a 2nd-year PhD Student at York University in the Communication and Culture Program. He is currently conducting research on climate change mis and disinformation.

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of Research Interest
Queer Theory History, Ontology. Philosophy Of Language & Technology, Communication History & Policy, Media Theory & Materialism, Art History & Production

Research
HIV Positive Long Term Survivors as a site of reclamation of the negative ontologies of recent Queer Theory.

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of Research Interest
Media History; Radio Studies; Chinese Diaspora; Cultural Identity; Representation in Media

Research
My research investigates the historical evolution of Chinese radio broadcasting, with a particular emphasis on its role in diasporic communities. By examining radio programs from Hong Kong, mainland China, and overseas Chinese communities, I aim to understand how radio has been instrumental in shaping cultural identities and negotiating issues of race and gender. Drawing on media history, my work explores the sonic dimensions of radio and their significance in creating communal bonds and expressing cultural narratives. Through comparative analysis with other diasporic media, such as those in Canada, I seek to contribute to a broader understanding of transnational media flows and their impact on local and global identities. I will employ various resaerch methodologies to uncover the ways in which radio has served as a platform for cultural expression and resistance. In an era of digital media, revisiting the history of radio offers valuable insights into the enduring power of sound in shaping cultural and social landscapes. My research seeks to integrate historical analysis with cultural theory to unpack the complex dynamics of media and identity.

Stream
Politics and Policy (P&P)

Areas of Research Interest
Critical media literacy; creative pedagogy and development; games-based learning; teacher education

Research

Julianna Kowlessar is a PhD student in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture at York and Toronto Metropolitan Universities. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology, an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies, summa cum laude, and an MA in Communication & Culture from York University. Her research centres on the benefits of teaching critical media literacy education to Canadian youth, using games and other media as forms of pedagogy to develop aptitude in this area.

Julianna’s master’s research explored how pre-service teachers understood and approached the subject of critical media literacy to discover practical and unique teaching methods for teaching it to their future students. Her doctoral work will build on this as she investigates and develops creative educational methods to foster media literacy competence amongst Canadian students.

Outside academia, Julianna is an electric guitarist. She is also an avid baseball and tennis fan, and enjoys baking and engaging in challenging activities that inspire her to explore and develop new physical and intellectual strengths.

LinkedIn

PhD candidate in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Areas of Expertise

Diverse and Community Economies, Gift Economy, Rural Women, Autoethnography, Storytelling, Abuse Prevention Education, Critical Pedagogies, Feminist Communication, Women's Empowerment, Decolonial Futures, Neoliberalism, Transnational Women's Solidarities, Care, Research Creation

Describe your research

Kacie uses an intersectional feminist lens to study women’s empowerment in rural communities. She specifically looks at women's social enterprises as community economies and examines what social enterprises can look like in rural extractive geographies. Kacie studies how handmade gifts are passed down through generations and the stories that are part of these gifts. She currently looks at women's economies in rural Appalachian America, Nova Scotia, and the Bahamas.

She is a member of the Community Economies Research Network, Women, Gender, and Social Justice, Rural Women's Studies Association, and the Canadian Association for Studies in Co-operation

Additional information
Kacie has a background in community organizing and abuse prevention. She is professionally trained with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center and YWCA to work with survivors of intimate partner violence and other forms of abuse. She has created an abuse prevention curriculum to help a rural Pennsylvania county. She is also the Co-Founder of the social enterprise, Wildflower Enterprises.

PhD candidate in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Degrees
MA in Disability Studies, Brock University (2021)
BA honours in Child and Youth Studies, Brock University (2018)

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of Expertise
Disability studies, social media and digital cultures, youth cultures, fandom studies, pop culture, social justice

Research

Kristen is a 4th-year PhD candidate whose dissertation will explore the use of social media as a tool for connection and community-building by disabled young adults. Disability justice frameworks and practices from disability arts and culture inform her work, as well as the research-creation method of photo-voice. Her lived experience as a disabled and neurodivergent queer woman drives her passion for this research. She is also explores other topics outside of her dissertation including fandom studies, queer culture, media representations of marginalized communities, and pop culture in general.

Kristen is a teaching and research assistant at York and TMU and is fuelled by delivery iced coffees. She lives in the Greater Toronto Area with her study buddies, Smudge, Rory and Sailor. Outside of academia she spends her time journaling and engaging in other creative activities and trying to rebuild a habit of reading for fun!

Website | LinkedIn

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C), Technology in Practice (TinP)

Areas of Research Interest
British Art History; Women's Work; The Arts and Crafts Movement; Digital Humanities; Archival Work

Research
Marion Tempest Grant (she/her) is a Doctoral Candidate in the Communications and Culture Program at York University in Toronto, Canada. Her research explores British handicraft guilds, women’s creative and associational labour, and the Arts and Crafts movement. Her research has been published in the Journal of William Morris Studies, Nineteenth Century Gender Studies, and Nineteenth-century Women Illustrators and Cartoonists (MUP 2023).

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of Research Interest
Japanese media, anime, fandoms and fan cultures, gaming, manga, sexuality, transhumanism

Research
My current research is on the concept of weaponized sexuality in Japanese media, how this trope is received as Japanese media is imported to other markets, and alternative means of interpreting this media (such as feminist theory and queer theory). I've also published work related to narrative conventions in gaming, the cyberpunk aesthetic, transhumanism in film, and gaming fandoms.

PhD candidate in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Stream:
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of Expertise:
photography, visual arts, social media

Research:
The main focus of my current research examines the power of imagery as public pedagogy, with a particular interest in hegemonic biases visually embedded within photographs and illustrations published in the media, social and otherwise. By examining the impact recent technological and social developments have had on our use of photography to communicate, educate, and activate the public, my research aims to challenge those who abuse its power of persuasion and champion new visual literacy praxis.

Website
LinkedIn

PhD candidate in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Degrees
Master of Arts, Communication & Culture, York University and Ryerson University
Bachelor of Arts with Honors, Communication, Culture, and Information Technology (CCIT), University of Toronto

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of Research Interest
critical theory; continental philosophy; media theory; literature studies

Research
Language capture, cognitive rentiership, nonprogrammatic communism, forms of thought & vice versa. How capital's data extraction
systems alter the conditions of collective rationality in a way that dulls humanity's potential for emancipation from worker-consumer
ideologies.

Nicholas' master's thesis focused on protocols of language surveillance, databasing, and patterns of neurological entrainment among Apple and Samsung smartphone users. His analysis of the above fell within a framework of Deleuzian societies of control and post-Operaist theories of immaterial labour and language.

PhD candidate in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Degrees
Honours Bachelor of Social Sciences with a Major in Criminology and a Minor in Sociology.

Research
My research interests sit at the intersections of race and technology. Particularly, I am interested in studying the ways in which the Black Canadians have used technology to create and sustain their identity in relationship with the rest of the Black diaspora.

PhD candidate in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Degrees
MA, University of Toronto
BA, New College of Florida

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C)

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of Research Interest
Affect; critical algorithm studies; sensation; critical media studies; phenomenology

Research
Sara Bimo (she/her) is a PhD Candidate in the joint program for Communication & Culture at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research examines the ways humans perceive, sense, and imagine the technological infrastructures underlying digital environments and the intersection between such processes of non-rational world-making and processes of identity formation and political resistance.

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C)

Areas of Research Interest
Minecraft, Art History, Museums, Research Creation, Internet Culture, Digital Humanities

Research

My research focuses on Minecraft as an emerging art medium. Combining curatorial practice, research-creation, feminist informed theory, and critical media theory to examine how video games and digital mediums intersect with contemporary art practice and museum interpretation.

What’s a Minecraft creepers favourite subject?
- Art HisssSSSssstory"

LinkedIn

PhD Candidate in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Stream
Technology in Practice (TinP)

Degrees
MA, English, University of Waterloo
BA, Honours Dramatic Arts, University of Waterloo

Areas of Interest
phenomenology, phenomenology of technology, philosophy of technology, theatre studies, critical race theory, game studies, game design, media studies, practice as research, research-creation, social construction, social reality and built environments

Research
The aim of my dissertation is to articulate and deepen our understanding of how racialized performers negotiate theatrical space within the Southern Ontario theatre industry and to use that understanding to inform Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonization policy changes related to safety in the Canadian theatre industry broadly. Three questions guide this program of study: How exactly are the bodies of performers taken up and produced at the intersection of race and theatrical space? How might racialized performers negotiate theatrical space for themselves within the theatre industry? In what ways might the performer’s body, as a site of the fundamental tension between theatrical practice and race, serve as a means of interrogating and dismantling that tension?

Publications
Books:
DeSouza-Coelho, Shawn. Magic as Medium. Plymouth, UK. Ultra Neat, 2022.

DeSouza-Coelho, Shawn. Whenever You’re Ready: Nora Polley on Life as a Stratford Festival Stage Manager. Toronto, Canada. ECW Press. 2018.

Peer-Reviewed Articles:
Roberts-Smith, Jennifer, Shawn DeSouza-Coelho, “Shakespeare, Game, and Play in Digital Pedagogical Shakespeare Games.”
Games and Theatre in Shakespeare’s England. Eds. Tom Bishop, Gina Bloom, and Erika T. Lin. Amsterdam University Press, 2021. 275-301.

Roberts-Smith, Jennifer, Shawn DeSouza-Coelho, Paul Stoesser, and the SET Research Team. “Cambridge Revisited?
Methodological and Phenomenological Theatricalities in Simulated Environments for Theatre History Research.” Early Modern Studies and the Digital Turn. New Technologies in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Eds. Laura Estill, Diane Jakacki, and Michael Ullyot. Iter Press, 2016. 318-344.

Roberts-Smith, Jennifer, Shawn DeSouza-Coelho and Toby Malone. “Staging Shakespeare in Social Games: Towards a Theory of Theatrical Game Design.” Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare Appropriation. 10.1 Special Issue: Social Media Shakespeare. Eds. Maurizio Calbi and Stephen O’Neill. 2016.

Roberts-Smith, Jennifer, Shawn DeSouza-Coelho, and the SET Research Team. “SET Free: Breaking the Rules in a Processual, User-Generated, Digital Performance Edition of Richard the Third.” The Shakespearean International Yearbook. Vol 14. Eds. Tom Bishop and Alexa Huang. Ashgate Press, 2014. 69-100.

Roberts-Smith, Jennifer, Shawn DeSouza-Coelho, Paul Stoesser, and the SET Research team. “Cambridge Revisited? The Logistics, Semiotics, and Phenomenology of Virtual Theatrical Space.” Renaissance Studies + New Technologies. Renaissance Society of America, New York, 27-29 March 2014. Peer-reviewed.

Grants/Awards
Canada Graduate Scholarship—Doctoral, 2024-2027
Canada Council for the Arts Circulation and Touring Grant, 2024
Ontario Arts Council Theatre Projects Grant, 2024
Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2023
Canada Council for the Arts Explore and Create, 2019
Tyrone Guthrie Award, 2016
Mitacs Accelerator Grant, 2015
Grade Average Award, 2015

PhD candidate in the joint program in Communication & Culture

Degrees
Master of Arts, Communication & Culture, York University and Ryerson University
Bachelor of Arts with Honors, Culture and Expression, York University

Stream
Technology in Practice (TinP)

Areas of Research Interest
Privacy, Surveillance, Media Ecology, Media Archaeology, Sound Studies

Research
Stephen J. Neville is a SSHRC-funded PhD student and former recipient of a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Master’s award. His master’s research on privacy and surveillance issues of smart speaker technology was awarded the 2019 Beaverbrook Prize by the Canadian Communication Association. As a research associate at the Infoscape Lab at Ryerson University he uses qualitative and digital methods to approach issues of political communication on social media platforms. His dissertation explores smart assistants (e.g. Alexa, Siri) through a genealogy of sonic interfaces and other assistive platforms.

Publications:
Neville, S. J. 2020. “Eavesmining: A Critical Audit of the Amazon Echo and Alexa Conditions of Use.” Surveillance and Society 18 (3): 343–56. doi.org.
Elmer, G., S. J. Neville & A. Burton. 2020. “Zoom-bombings disrupt online events with racist and misogynist language.” The Conversation. theconversation.com

Presentations:
November 2019 Digital Citizenship Cultures: Canadian Adversarial Politics, Poster Session for Rubix Research Festival, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
June 2019 Surveillance and Big Data on the Home Front for Canadian Communication Association, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
March 2019 Listening In: The Domestication of Voice-controlled Technology for University of Amsterdam, Department of Media Studies, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
March 2019 Listening In: The Domestication of Voice-controlled Technology for Erasmus Research Centre for Media, Communication and Culture, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

PhD candidate in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Stream:
Politics and Policy (P&P) | Technology in Practice (TinP)

Areas of Expertise:
International Relations, Geopolitics, Cross-cultural Communication, Cultural Diplomacy, Global Business, International Trade, Business Practices, Entrepreneurship, Behavioral Psychology, Cross-cultural Psychology, Security Studies, Global Markets, Market Trends, Economic Development, Digital Diplomacy, Social Media Influence, Corporate Governance, Public Policy, International Governance, and others.

Research:
Doctoral research argues that an intricate interplay exists within global business among online communication, cultural awareness, psychology, and conditioned human behaviour.

Website
LinkedIn

PhD candidate in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture

Degrees
Bachelor of Applied Science (Aerospace Engineering)
Masters in Engineering (Civil - Energy systems specialist)

Research
I want to know how to fight the formidable force that anti-science advocates have become. The climate change deniers have set us back decades and our children are now more likely of dying from famine than making it to old age. Anti Vaxxers have brought back measles and endanger those who are immunocompromised. The anti-science discourse is a danger to a democratic society. My interests lie in understanding and combating it.

Additional Information
Board member - Annex Residents' Association
Chair - Annex Residents' Association -Parks, Trees, and Environment committee

Founder of "Why Should I Care?" - a NFP dedicated to increasing civic participation in politics

Founder of "Plateshare" - new initiative to reduce landfill by providing plates and forks in various locations and encouraging party hosts to borrow instead of use disposable

Publications
Book Chapters
2014 T. Chu, M. Ragowska, M. Richardson, “The Importance of District Energy in Building Resilient Cities”, Canada: Becoming a Sustainable Energy Superpower, Ed. C. Bowman, R. Marceau, pp 169-186, Canadian Academy of Engineers,

T. Chu, S. Yee, “How District Energy Systems can be used to Reduce Infrastructure Costs and Environmental Burdens”, Sustainability Appraisal:`Quantitative Methods and Mathematical Techniques for Environmental Performance Evaluation, Ed. Erechtchoukova et al, pp 195-211, Springer-Verlag,

Conference Papers
T. Chu, S. Chen, A. Mayoral Baños, R. Hartani, “Increasing Renewable Energy Penetration Through Strategic Deployment of IoT Devices”, Proceedings of IEEE Canada Electrical Power and Energy Conference 2018, IEEE Press.

Non- referred Publications
2014 T Chu, “Municipal Planning for Severe Weather: District Energy can be part of  the Solution”, District Energy Magazine, 2014, Q2, p 69

Stream
Media and Culture (M&C), Politics and Policy (P&P)

Areas of Research Interest
Diaspora and Migration; Transnationalism; Contemporary Migration Policies; Border Governance; Filipinx/o/a Studies; Surveillance and Privacy Studies; Digital Forms of Resistance; Digital Ethnography; Media Studies; Cultural Studies

Research

Winona’s MRP, titled ""Diasporic Spaces of Un/belonging: Migration, Precarity, and Renting,"" critically examines the intergenerational ramifications of deskilling and labour racialization, with particular attention to how migrant workers and their children navigate housing precarity in the diaspora and engage in various forms of resistance through cultural and homemaking practices.

In recognition of her hardwork and dedication to socially engaged research, she has received several distinctions during her MA, including the Ioan Davies Award for Cultural Studies, the prestigious Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), and the York Graduate Fellowship. Her research papers have been accepted at various academic conferences in Canada, Japan, and the United States.

LinkedIn

Stream
Politics and Policy (P&P), Technology in Practice (TinP)

Areas of Research Interest
Protest, Resistance, Art and Activism, AI, Surveillance, Privacy, Law

Research
I envision my PhD built on the foundation I established through my master's thesis project. My previous academic work focused on the embodied and experiential aspects of protest, particularly through the lens of performance art. For my PhD, I am eager to build on this foundation by shifting my focus to the intersection of protest, resistance, and artificial intelligence (AI). The rapid proliferation of AI technologies has revolutionized various aspects of society, but it has also emerged as a powerful tool for surveillance and control, raising questions about its implications for resistance movements and democratic freedoms. My proposed research seeks to critically analyze the negative effects of AI in suppressing and controlling resistance movements, focusing on its deployment in surveillance, predictive policing, and disinformation campaigns.

Areas of Expertise:
Chinese diaspora; new media; identity; popular culture; intercultural communication

I am a doctoral student of Communication and Culture at York University with an MA in Communication from the University of Ottawa  and a BA in the same field from Simon Fraser University.

My doctoral research project will be a digital ethnographic study on the online consumption pattern of Chinese international students in Canada and its influences on their identity negotiation between Canadian and Chinese cultures, especially during the global pandemic. I will focus on YouTube and the Chinese video-sharing website Bilibili as the main subjects and explore how students react to the rising anti-Asian racism.