The second annual CLCF Research Day was held on May 5th, 2026, in the UTSC Arts and Administration Building (room AA303). This event brought together over 30 participants, including CLCF members, partners, and UTSC students to showcase some of the exciting research projects our researchers have been working on and participate in collaborative activities. As with last year’s Research Day, the community event was generative, creative, and inspiring—highlighting the diverse projects already underway by CLCF members and planting the seeds of future collaborations.
Schedule
| 9:30-10:00 | Coffee |
| 10:00-10:20 | Welcome, introduction, & CLCF updates |
| 10:20-10:50 | Check-in & starter question |
| 10:50-12:00 | Presentations |
| 12:00-12:30 | Collective thoughts & discussion |
| 12:30-13:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30-14:40 | Presentations |
| 14:40-15:10 | Collective thoughts & discussion |
| 15:10-15:30 | Break |
| 15:30-16:00 | 2026-27 projects |
| 16:00-16:30 | Check out: Key words; blog ideas |
Presentations
| 1 | Mapping discourse about AI in Media (Lauren Knight) |
| 2 | Mapping worker-led AI governance in global cultural industries (Helena Wright & Rafael Grohmann) |
| 3 | Voicing Back: Brazilian Voice Actors and Struggles for Worker-led AI governance (Rafael Grohmann) |
| 4 | Global Institutional Perspectives on GenAI and Creative Industries: Insights from Nigeria (Godwin Simon) |
| 5 | Imagining Critical and Creative Futures in Canada: Culture Sectors and Creative Industries (ME Luka) |
| 6 | Copyright, CanCon, and Generative AI: Creative Control and Ownership in Canada’s Streaming Economy (Claudia Sicondolfo) |
| 7 | Racism (Re)Generated: a comparative analysis of racial bias in Canadian press and AI-Generated news (Emily Faubert & Maryam Hassan) |
| 8 | (Re)thinking Content Moderation Online: Dialogues on a Research Agenda (Luiz Rogerio Lopes Silva) |
| 9 | GenAI Imaginaries, Practices, Policy, and Resistance in the Canadian Screen Industries (Daphne Idiz) |
| 10 | AI Song Generator Platforms and Creative Labour in the Music Industries (Tanner Mirrlees) |
| 11 | Shaping Futures: Techno-Solutionism and Renewable Energy in Brazil’s Scenes (Caroline Dalorto & Diogo Santos) |
| 12 | Political Economy of Influencers in Brazil and Canada (Larissa de Moura Cabral) |
| 13 | Love+Machines (Julia Park) |
| 14 | Strengthening the Case for the Arts: Data, Impact & Advocacy (Kadija de Paula) |
| 15 | Narrative of Inevitability as Virus (Zemina Meghji) |
Gallery
Research Assistant
Lauren Knight (she/her) is a sound artist and Ph.D. candidate (SSHRC CGS-D) in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include acoustic ecology, cultural sound studies, media history, and research creation.
Research Assistant
Helena Wright is a PhD student at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Information and is working under the supervision of Dr. Grohmann. Her research explores the intersections of technology, labour, and platform studies.
CLCF Co-Director & Assistant Professor
Rafael Grohmann is a Co-lead and Co-Director of the Creative Labour and Critical Futures (CLCF) cluster and an Assistant Professor of Media Studies (Critical Platform Studies) at the University of Toronto. Rafael is the leader of the DigiLabour initiative and founding editor of the Platforms & Society journal.
Postdoctoral fellow
Godwin Simon is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Toronto. He is a media industries researcher with interest in the intersections of digital platforms, streaming, and AI in the Nigerian media industries.
CLCF Co-Director & Associate Professor
Dr. MaryElizabeth (“M.E.”) Luka is PI and Co-Director of the Creative Labour and Critical Futures (CLCF) cluster and Associate Professor, Arts & Media Management, at University of Toronto, where they examine modes and meanings of co-creative production and distribution in the digital age for arts, culture, and media.
Assistant Professor
Dr. Claudia Sicondolfo is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in Arts Management, at University of Toronto, Scarborough. Her research sits at the intersections of cultural policy, film festivals, cinema urbanisms, screen publics, anti-colonial research methodologies, and affect in the creative industries.
Research Assistant
Emily Faubert is a PhD student at U of T's Faculty of Information, investigating how discourses of accessibility are weaponized by companies to develop and disseminate invasive data-collecting technologies, and envisioning Disability Justice-based approaches that approach technology with crip and mad-informed wisdoms.
Visiting Researcher
PhD in Information Management from the Federal University of Paraná (2022), with a doctoral sandwich period in Humanities at Universidad Carlos III of Madrid.
CLCF Co-Director & Postdoctoral Fellow
Daphne Rena Idiz (she/her) is a Co-Director of the Creative Labour and Critical Futures (CLCF) cluster and Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC).
Research Assistant
Julia Parke (she/they) is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information and a research affiliate at the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University. Her doctoral research examines the emergence of virtual/AI social media influencers on popular digital platforms.
