The Lab
Located in the heart of downtown Toronto, the Social Media Lab is a multi- and interdisciplinary research laboratory at Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University. The lab studies how social media is changing the ways in which people and organizations communicate, share information, conduct business and form communities online, and how these changes impact society. The lab’s research seeks to advance the public’s understanding of the benefits and pitfalls of social media adoption.
The Social Media Lab was established in 2010 and is the the first of its kind in North America. It is led by co-directors, Anatoliy Gruzd (PhD) – Dir. of Research and Philip Mai (JD) – Director of Business and Communications. The lab is internationally recognized and attracts a diverse range of outstanding multidisciplinary scholars from around the world each year. It is a leader in social media studies and is the convener of the annual International Conference on Social Media and Society (#SMSociety).
The People
Dr. Anatoliy GruzdDirector of ResearchCanada Research Chair | Director of Research, Social Media Lab | Associate Professor, Ted Rogers School of Management | Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
Philip Mai, M.A., J.D.Director of Business and CommunicationsDirector of Business and Communications, Social Media Lab, Ted Rogers School of Management | Manager of Academic Communications, Ryerson University, Canada
Dr. Deena Abul FottouhPostdoctoral FellowPostdoctoral Fellow | Social Media Lab, Ryerson University, Canada
Dr. Melodie Yun-Ju SongPostdoctoral FellowPostdoctoral Fellow | Social Media Lab, Ryerson University, Canada
Dr. Jenna JacobsonResearch FellowAssistant Professor, Retail Management, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Dr. Priya KumarPostdoctoral FellowResearch Fellow, Social Media Lab
Dr. Marc Esteve del ValleResearch CollaboratorAssistant Professor, Media Studies and Journalism, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Dr. Caroline HaythornthwaiteResearch CollaboratorProfessor, Syracuse University, USA
Dr. Barry WellmanResearch CollaboratorDistinguished Visiting Scholar (2017-2018); Founder of International Network for Social Network Analysis, Director – Netlab, University of Toronto
Dr. Ángel Hernández-GarcíaResearch CollaboratorAssociate Professor, Department of Organizational Engineering, Business Administration and Statistics, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Dr. Jaigris HodsonResearch CollaboratorAssociate Professor, Royal Roads University, Canada | Canadian Science Policy Fellow, Environment and Climate Change Canada
Dr. Atefeh (Atty) MashatanResearch CollaboratorAssistant Professor, Information Technology Management, TRSM, Ryerson University; Director, Cybersecurity Research Lab
Dr. Joanne McNeishResearch CollaboratorAssociate Professor, Marketing; Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Dr. Elizabeth DuboisResearch CollaboratorAssistant Professor, University of Ottawa
Dr. Hua (Helen) WangResearch CollaboratorAssociate Professor, Department of Communication, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, USA
Dr. Kevin QuigleyResearch CollaboratorProfessor; Director, MacEachen Institute for Public Policy & Governance, Dalhousie University
- Dr. Melodie Yun-Ju SongPostdoctoral FellowPostdoctoral Fellow | Social Media Lab, Ryerson University, Canada
Raquel RecueroVisiting Scholar 2018Associate Professor at the Communication and Linguistics Department at Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPEL/Brazil) and at the Post Graduate program of Communication and Information at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande Read More.
Laurie BonniciVisiting Scholar 2018Associate Professor, University of Alabama | Project: Social Media & Health
Anne SuphanVisiting Scholar 2018Research Associate at the Institute for Law and Social Sciences at the University of Honenheim, Germany.
Olga BoichakVisiting Scholar 2018Ph.D. Candidate at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs doctoral program in Social Science (Syracuse University) | Project: Examining the Ukrainian diaspora on Facebook to understand what motivates Read More.
Lina M. Gomez VasquezVisiting Scholar 2017Assistant Professor, the School of Social and Human Sciences, Universidad del Este, Puerto Rico. | Project: How #hcsm healtcare community uses Instagram and Twitter to communicate with each other and with the public.
Bree McEwanVisiting Scholar 2017Assistant Professor, Communication, DePaul University, USA | Project: Developing measures to assess the “strength of weak ties” in online social networks.
K. Hazel KwonVisiting Scholar 2016Assistant Professor, School of Social & Behavioral Sciences and in-coming Faculty at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication | Arizona State University, USA | Project: Swearing Contagion in Social Read More.
Celine Yunya SongVisiting Scholar 2016Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong | Project: A Longitudinal Study of Discussion Networks on Weibo: Polarized Opinions on Genetically-Modified Food
Mark KleinVisiting Scholar 2016Principal Research Scientist, MIT Center for Collective Intelligence; Research Scientist, University of Zurich | Project: Using Crowd-Sourced Deliberation Mapping to Enable More Powerful Social Media Analytics
Staci ZavattaroVisiting Scholar 2016Associate Professor, College of Health and Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, USA | Project: University Use of Social Media: Communicating the Brand Identity
Irfan ChaudhryVisiting Scholar 2016PhD student Dept. of Sociology, University of Alberta | Instructor, MacEwan University, Edmonton, Canada | PROJECT: #HateOnline: Using social media to examine discourses of racism and xenophobia online
Isabelle RomanMarketing & Graphic DesignerBA, Sport Media, Ryerson University
Julia HoUX/UI DesignerMaster of Digital Media, Ryerson University
Nikolai KrauseWeb Developer - Data AnalystBSc, Computer Engineering, Ryerson University
Maria GintovaThesis StudentPhD Candidate, Policy Studies, Ryerson University
Tahmina AkhterThesis studentMaster of Science in Management, TRSM, Ryerson University
Tahoor QureshiThesis studentMaster of Science in Management, TRSM, Ryerson University
Bailey ParnellThesis StudentMA in Communications & Culture, Ryerson University
Lama KhoshaimThesis StudentPhd Candidate, Interdisciplinary PhD, Dalhousie University
Sarah GilbertCollaboratorPhD Candidate, iSchool, University of British Columbia
Drew PaulinThesis StudentPhd Candidate, iSchool, University of British Columbia
Lilach Dahoah HaleviResearch AssistantGraduate Student, MA in Psychological Science, Ryerson University
James LanniganCollaboratorPhD Candidate, Sociology Department, University of Toronto
Ali ArabiGraduate StudentMSc in Data Science and Analytics, Ryerson University
Oluwatomilayo (Tomi) AdegbiteWeb Developer - Data AnalystBSc, Computer Science, Ryerson University
Di (Corrine) YangMitacs Globalink Research InternUndergraduate Sociology student, Fudan University
Jiefan LuoGraduate StudentMSc in Data Science and Analytics, Ryerson University
Former Collaborators
Dr. Hong YuResearch CollaboratorDirector and Associate Professor, Ted Rogers School of Retail Management, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
Dr. Ingrid SketrisResearch CollaboratorProfessor, Department of Community Health & Epidemiology, Dalhousie University
Dr. Bertrum MacdonaldResearch CollaboratorProfessor, School of Information Management, Faculty of Management, Dalhousie University
Ksenia TsyganovaResearch CollaboratorSt Petersburg State University
Alicia WanlessResearch CollaboratorDirector of Strategic Communications at The SecDev Foundation, Ottawa
Dr. Dimitrina (Dima) DimitrovaResearch AssociateDima has over 15 years of research experience in social networks, organizations & knowledge transfer
Dr. Jeffrey RoyResearch CollaboratorProfessor, School of Public Administration, Faculty of Management, Dalhousie University
Dr. Matthew HerderResearch CollaboratorAssistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University
Dr. Xiao HuResearch CollaboratorAssistant Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong
Sean SedlezkyResearch CollaboratorManager of Program Design, Ted Rogers School of Retail Management, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
Dr. Rafa AbsarResearch CollaboratorAssistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, Clarkson University, USA
Dr. Alla KushnirykResearch CollaboratorAssistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Mount Saint Vincent University
Dr. Regina CollinsResearch CollaboratorAssociate Director, Writing Communications & Outreach, Albert Dorman Honors College, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Alumni
Dr. Nadia ConroyPostdoctoral FellowPostdoctoral Fellow, Social Media Lab
Michael PachecoWeb Developer - Data AnalystBSc, Computer Science, Ryerson University
Jaeduk SeoWeb Developer - Data AnalystBSc, Computer Science, Ryerson University
Jordan KilfoyWeb Developer - Data AnalystBSc, Computer Science, Ryerson University
Kary JiangMkt. Assistant / Event CoordinatorB. Comm. (Hospitality and Tourism Management), Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Alyssa TorresMkt. Assistant / Event CoordinatorB. Comm. (Hospitality and Tourism Management), Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Kamran MirshahiWeb DeveloperBSc, Computer Science, Ryerson University
Hira FatimaGraduate StudentMSc in Data Science and Analytics, Ryerson University
Martin PhillipsGraduate StudentMBA in Technology and Innovation, Ryerson University
Nelson Kimron CorionGraduate StudentMaster of Digital Media, Ryerson University
Stephanie TranResearch AssistantB. Comm. (Hospitality and Tourism Management), Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Anantha SoogoorResearch AssistantBComm, Business Information Technology Management, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Bradly DahdalyData Science InternB. Comm. (Bus. Tech. Mgmt.), Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Paarth AroraWeb Developer - Data AnalystBEng, Computer Engineering, Ryerson University
Anh T. DangThesis StudentPhd Candidate, Interdisciplinary PhD, Dalhousie University
Ben O’BrightThesis StudentPhd Candidate, Political Science, Dalhousie University
Nick (Yueh-Ching) LinProject ManagerMBA Candidate, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Veronica ChernyavskyResearch AssistantBComm, Business Information Technology Management, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Raghunath SoogoorResearch AssistantSoftware Development, Seneca College, York Univeristy
Dr. Marc Esteve Del VallePostdoctoral ResearcherSocial Media Lab, Ryerson University
Francisco GrajalesVisiting PhD student, '15/16PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia
Amitoj SinghGraduate StudentMBA in Technology and Innovation, Ryerson University
Gokul SundararajanResearch AssistantMBA Candidate, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Vinit BansalGraduate StudentMBA, Ryerson University
David GlowResearch StudentMBA Candidate, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University; Marketing Consultant at AppCentrica. David’s research uses social media to evaluate the emerging trend of ‘Digital Transformation’. Similar to terms like Read More.
Naureen NizamThesis StudentPhd Candidate, Computer Science, Dalhousie University
Nathan LaPierreThesis StudentMaster’s thesis student, Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University
Cameron MunroMajor Research Project StudentMaster’s of Digital Media student, Ryerson University
Julian FrankMajor Research Project StudentMaster’s of Digital Media student, Ryerson University
Lee WilsonResearch AssistantMaster of Library & Information Science Candidate, Dalhousie University
Shawn MenziesResearch AssistantBComm, Business Information Technology Management, Ryerson University
Nicholas MenziesResearch StudentMBA Candidate, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University | Project: Predicting stock prices based on social media engagement
Andrea KampenResearch AssistantMaster of Library & Information Science Candidate, Dalhousie University
Richard PannellResearch AssistantB.Inf – Bachelor of Informatics/Sustainability Candidate, Dalhousie University
Andrey KulakevichResearch AssistantBS – Computer Science, Dalhousie University
Nathan LaPierreData ScientistSocial Media Lab, Ryerson University
Kaitlin Haley (Dalhousie University, Master of Library & Information Studies Candidate) (2013- 2014)
Shali Liu (Dalhousie University, M.Sc. in Computer Science Candidate) (Research Assistant, 2011 – 2013)
Madeline Driscoll (Dalhousie University, Master of Library & Information Studies and Master of Public Administration Candidate) (Research Assistant, 2012 – 2013)
Catherine McGoveran (Dalhousie University Master of Library & Information Studies) (Research Assistant, 2012 – 2013)
