My work addresses the responsible governance of data-intensive health innovation with a focus on artificial intelligence and emerging health data ‘spaces’. I’m particularly interested in the comparative dimensions of digital health in Canada and the EU, including how technical infrastructures and popular imaginaries generate different health-related futures.

I am currently a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow at the University of Milan, Associate Fellow at the Institute for Technoscience and Society at York University, Canada, and a Postdoctoral Affiliate at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology & Society.

In January I will be joining the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ontario Tech University as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in AI and Digital Health.

Conceptually, my work engages with perspectives from Science and Technology Studies (STS), and has addressed topics such as trust and trustworthiness, participation and co-design, designer agency, accountability, policy regimes, data assetization, and key events in AI development and use.

Empirically, I employ qualitative methods, including case study research and ethnography. My research has also taken the form of collaborations with AI development teams, where I worked to produce design deliverables oriented to informing use.

In my current postdoctoral work I extend these lines of inquiry to the role of data economies in global politics and health innovation ecosystems, including especially the promises and practices that go into making digital health data available in Canada and the European Union through emerging health data spaces.

I have held policy, research, and advisory roles within the Ontario Ministry of Health, Women’s College Hospital, University of Toronto, and Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society. I also maintain a keen interest in promoting broader research impact through blog posts, multimedia, toolkits, and policy papers.

My work has been published in leading interdisciplinary venues including Big Data & Society, Social Studies of Science, Science and Engineering Ethics, the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT), and the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES).

I hold a Bachelor of Arts from Toronto Metropolitan University, and a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Toronto.

Contact me: jdonia [at] josephdonia.com