PhD Research and Education on Data Justice, Social Justice, and Sustainability
Emerging data technologies often exacerbate social inequity and climate change, two of the most pressing challenges facing the world today, with their capacities to digitally monitor, sort, and control individuals and communities while consuming vast human and planetary resources in the process. The Universities of Toronto and Warwick are preparing our PhD students to take a leading role in addressing these global challenges by taking a global approach to PhD research and education that centers Data Justice, Social Justice, and Sustainability in Technology Design.
The project team designed and facilitated three online workshops bringing together academics and PhD researchers together from the two institutions on three topics: questioning the supposed inevitability of artificial intelligence; methodological approaches to data justice, social justice, and sustainability; and the role of academics in facilitating social change. These events built relationships between the two universities, and enabled students to brainstorm projects for an exchange. Lab members Nadia Mariyan Smith and Rowan O.A. Munson visited University of Warwick in June 2026, and the Just Sustainability Design Lab hosted Greta Timaite and Tia Kgothule from University of Warwick in September 2026 where they progressed their projects.
Warwick PI: Dr Siddharth De Souza
U of T PI: Professor Christoph Becker
Rowan O.A. Munson, PhD Student, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Funded 2025-2026 by the University of Toronto and University of Warwick Joint Seed Fund