Pain, Datafication, and Epistemic Injustice
My doctoral research in science and technology studies established the foundation of my research program by examining the politics of pain measurement in clinical and digital health contexts. Through ethnographic fieldwork in pain clinics and interviews with individuals living with chronic pain, I examined how datafication practices shape both patient self-understanding and clinical authority. I showed that quantitative epistemologies can reproduce intersectional inequities in pain care by privileging standardized metrics over embodied narratives. The empirical findings revealed that ambivalence, rather than enthusiasm or resistance, is a dominant affective orientation toward digital pain technologies, unveiling deeper existential tensions around surveillance, autonomy, and illness. I argue that playfulness and creative expression can serve as tools of epistemic justice by opening new relational spaces between patients and clinicians.
This line of inquiry continues in my ongoing research on neurotechnologies and pain through my involvement with the Pain Commensuration Technology Lab, where we examine the ethical and epistemological implications of situating pain in the brain via neuroimaging, neuromodulation, and implantable devices.
Learn more about the PaCT Lab here.
Access my dissertation here.
Alongside project-based research, I am committed to advancing methodological and conceptual tools for embedded and participatory ethics research. Through my work with Connected Minds, a $300M+ interdisciplinary consortium funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), I research frameworks for co-creation that help interdisciplinary teams articulate ethical goals, select appropriate participatory methods, and evaluate impact across multiple timescales. This work responds to a growing need for ethical research practices that are transparent, accountable, and responsive to diverse stakeholders, particularly in large-scale, collaborative research initiatives. I draw together insights from diverse disciplines (public health, organizational studies, co-design, bioethics, philosophy of technology) to create a shared evaluative language for collaborative research.
Embedded Ethics and Co-Creation
Phenomenology & Technological Mediation
In my dissertation, I drew from phenomenology (traditional, post-, and critical) to think about how health technologies impact how we experience our bodies. Builing off this foundation, I am currently developing a project that uses phenomenologically grounded qualitative research to study the use of extended reality in clinical training. More on this coming soon.
I serve on the executive committee of the the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture (EPTC/TCEP).