I am an Assistant Professor at Lakehead University. I hold the inaugural Lakehead University Faculty of Social Science and Humanities Research Chair in Social Change, Technology, and Justice (2025-2027).
Previously I was a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Windsor, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary (geography) and a visiting scholar the University of Essex (sociology). I completed my PhD in sociology at Queen’s University. I hold a Master of Arts in sociology and Bachelor of Arts in sociology (hons) with an extended minor in criminology from Simon Fraser University.
My general research interests are in surveillance studies; critical criminology; urban sociology, social justice; socio-legal theory; science and technology studies; and qualitative research methodologies.
My research agenda is guided by pressing challenges concerning intersectional justice and cuts across five research domains: (1) urban and community governance, (2) private security and surveillance, (3) technology (4) policy, law, and regulation, and (5) innovative qualitative methodologies.
I am currently working on SSHRC funded projects that explore safety and security in midsized Ontario public libraries, and the securitization of private data centres.
My work has been published in Urban Studies, Surveillance and Society and the Canadian Journal of Sociology. I am the co-editor of Digital (In)Justice in the Smart City, and I have contributed chapters to edited volumes such as Changing of the Guards (eds. Luscombe, Walby & Silva), Protests in the Information Age (eds. Melgaço & Monaghan) and Freedom of Information and Social Science Research Design (eds. Walby & Luscombe).
Debra Mackinnon, PhD 