Team

Janelle Allan

Janelle Allan is a recent MIT (Media Information & Technoculture program) graduate from Western University, who is an incoming MA in Media Studies Candidate. She has been developing her research skills as a research assistant on the Data Harms and Aging project, while developing her interests in writing, graphic design and digital content production. LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/janelle-allan-5b6671153/

Janet Allen

Janet Allen is a third year doctoral student in the Faculty of Information & Media Studies at Western University. Her research focuses on the sociopolitical impacts and relational experiences of information overload. She has a background in clinical social work (MSW) as well as a Master's of Library & Information Science. Janet has been working with the Starling team's AI and Homelessness project since the summer of 2021. Profile page: https://www.fims.uwo.ca/people/profiles/janet_allen.html

Daniel Arauz-Nunez

Daniel Arauz-Nunez is a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario. I am researching the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in mental health care. My interest lies in the joint histories of Western psychology and computation. I am particularly fascinated by the ways that various historic and contemporary developments in computing have produced different techniques to measure and construct different understandings of emotions, especially those associated with suffering.

Pinar Barlas

Pınar Barlas is a Library and Information Science Ph.D. student in the Faculty for Information and Media Sciences at Western University, studying the construction of datasets for machine learning applications, in order to minimize the harmful societal effects of Artificial Intelligence systems. Before starting the Ph.D. program, Pınar was a Research Associate for the Fairness and Ethics in AI-Human Interaction Multidisciplinary Research Group at the CYENS Centre of Excellence. Pınar has a BA in Cultural Studies & Communication, an MA in Interaction Design, and brief experience in the industry as a User Experience and Service Designer.

Website: https://pinarbarlas.com/

Jesse Cram (he/him)

Jesse is a Health Information Science Master’s Student in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS) and Faculty of Health Science at Western University with a research focus on homelessness and the opioid crisis. Currently, Jesse’s focus is on implementing harm reduction policies in London's supportive housing agencies, using machine learning to combat the opioid crisis, and understanding how information can be rapidly shared within communities who use drugs. Previous research has been published in the journal Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesse-cram-906382214/

JP Mann

JP is a PhD student in Library and Information Science at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS). He also has an MSc in Business Analytics from the Ivey Business School and two undergraduate degrees from the University of Windsor: the first in Behaviour, Cognition, and Neuroscience and the second in Business Administration, where they specialized in 1. Finance, and 2. Supply Chain and Data Analytics. JP’s current research touches on Cybersecurity and AI policy, as well as Repair and Auto theft.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jp-mann-phdstudent/
FIMS Page: https://www.fims.uwo.ca/people/profiles/jasvinder_mann.html

Darryl Pieber (he/him)

Darryl Pieber is a doctoral candidate in Media Studies at The University of Western Ontario. His research looks at locative media use and queer space. Darryl has been working on a collaborative project with Starling centre researchers titled "Mobilizing Tools and Community to Resist Corporate Influence In Critical Technology Research."
Website: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9533-9888

Sananda Sahoo

Sananda Sahoo is a research assistant working on a research project titled 'Mapping Canadian Government Uses of AI for Social Services' (funded by FIMS, Western University). She is PhD candidate in Media Studies at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Western University, Canada. She looks at the intersections of public, public space and digital infrastructures. Her previous research includes political posters and platforms, questions of collective responsibility, sites of violence in the digital sphere, and colonial narratives in photographs and memoirs by women. She holds an MPhil in English Literature and master’s degrees in journalism and English Literature.

Effie Sapuridis (she/her)

Effie Sapuridis (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in the Media Studies PhD program at Western University. Her dissertation focuses on innovative forms of digital storytelling on TikTok. Her research, more broadly, engages in a feminist ethics of care to explore the intersections of fandom studies, new media platforms, and data ethics. She has been published in Transformative Works and Cultures and Humanities.
Profile page: https://www.fims.uwo.ca/people/profiles/effie_sapuridis.html
@effietheant on all social media channels

Meghan Voll

Meghan Voll is a Ph.D. Candidate in Media Studies with research focusing on mobile dating apps, mobile dating economies, and value. She obtained her Master of Arts at Wilfrid Laurier University in 2019, and Bachelor of Arts at the University of Waterloo in 2018 and has since authored one article in the University of Toronto’s iJournal, and contributed to CBC columnist episodes regarding her current PhD research. Meghan works on the Data Harms and Aging Project.

FIMS profile: http://www.fims.uwo.ca/people/profiles/ReferenceProfile.html