Isabel Pedersen
PhD

Background

Dr. Isabel Pedersen is a Professor of Communication Studies at Ontario Tech University, specializing in the intersection of technological change and its cultural, ethical, and political implications. Dr. Pedersen’s research focuses on the lifecycle of technology—design, adoption, and adaptation—with a particular emphasis on Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Pedersen’s expertise has been recognized through influential roles, including serving on the Meta Reality Labs Policy Advisory Council, the IEEE Standards Association's Global XR Ethics Working Group (P7030), and as a Canada Research Chair (2012-2022). She is the founding Director of the Digital Life Institute, an international research network of multidisciplinary scholars. Her recent co-authored books include Augmentation Technologies and Artificial Intelligence in Technical and Professional Communication: Designing Ethical Futures (Routledge, 2023) and Writing Futures: Collaborative, Algorithmic, Autonomous (Springer, 2021). Her work has appeared in leading journals such as AI and Society, Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, and Communication Design Quarterly. In 2020, Dr. Pedersen pioneered Ontario Tech's first graduate course in Global AI Ethics, establishing a framework for ethical considerations in the field of computer science.

Dr. Pedersen has given invited national and international talks and keynotes, including for the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Big Thinking on the Hill Lecture Series. She spoke at World Science Festival in New York, IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, Global Affairs Canada AI Symposium, IFA Summit Berlin, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, the International Wearables Technologies Conference in Munich, The International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET) World Assembly, the Canadian Association of Journalists Annual Conference, The Walrus Talks, TEDx, and Spur Festival (Calgary and Toronto).