Postdoctoral Fellowship. Post-growth HCI: 21st Century Information Technologies for Life Beyond the Polycrisis
The Research Excellence Postdoctoral Fellows Program at the University of Toronto is a prestigious opportunity for early-career scholars to develop and expand their research expertise at one of the world’s most distinguished public research universities. The Program, a collaborative initiative between the University and its divisions, is designed to engage 100 exceptional postdoctoral fellows across the university over the next few years. Its goal is to attract the highest-quality researchers globally—top domestic and international emerging scholars who demonstrate exceptional promise in their fields and the potential to have a positive impact at U of T.
Candidates interested in holding the fellowship at the Faculty of Information should first review the descriptions of available opportunities on the Faculty of Information website. They should then contact the listed supervisor—and co-supervisor, if applicable—to discuss the possibility of working together on the final application, due April 1.
Research Theme
Post-growth Human–Computer Interaction: 21st Century Information Technologies for Life Beyond the Polycrisis
Supervisor: Prof. Christoph Becker
As our world’s linked ecological and social crises deepen, the intensifying risks of climate and social collapse ask us how we intend to relate to the rest of nature, the planet, and each other. The science is clear: on a finite planet, the expansion of material activity we know as “economic growth” is ending. The ecological response is “post-growth”: to equitably transform our socio-economic systems to overcome their growth addiction. Post-growth is gaining traction.
This fellowship asks: How does a post-growth world change what we consider “good” information technology? Today’s technologies are shaped by our societies’ addiction to unsustainable extractive accumulation. But alternative visions, theories, organizations, practices, and technologies already exist. Alternative social media and worker-owned tech co-ops center principles of care, community, and mutual aid; digital commons are collectively governed in global infrastructures to support local production and repair. The emergent field of post-growth computing prioritizes sufficiency over efficiency, repairability over obsolescence, conviviality over convenience, commoning over commodification, care over control, autonomy over automation, and relationality over separability.
This fellowship centers these values and develops pathways for post-growth computing, asking questions such as:
- How do organizational structures support and constrain ecological and relational responsibilities in post-growth technology development?
- What if we build technology that centers sufficiency, care, conviviality, and cooperation? How do these values materialize socio-technically?
- What notions of scalability are appropriate to post-growth?
The fellow will join a growing global network of communities and researchers who envision and build emerging convivial technologies for resilience, care, and cooperation.
Learn more about the fellowship
Find more information on the Faculty of Information website.
For questions about the application process at the Faculty of Information, please contact
research.ischool@utoronto.ca
Interested in this research theme?
If you are interested in Post-growth Human–Computer Interaction: 21st Century Information Technologies for Life Beyond the Polycrisis, contact Prof. Christoph Becker to discuss project ideas and fit with the fellowship before applying.