Nicole CohenView profile
Associate Professor
Nicole Cohen is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, affiliated with the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology and the Faculty of Information . Her research focuses on the political economy of communication , media labor precarity , and cultural worker organizing , with a particular emphasis on journalism , alternative media , and digital labor . Institution : University of Toronto Primary Affiliation : Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology Secondary Affiliation : Faculty of Information Academic Rank : Associate Professor Her research explores: Worker Empowerment : Unions, co-operatives, and collective action in digital journalism Platform Labor : Exploitation on Substack, social media, and freelance platforms Media Precarity : Gendered and racialized dimensions of insecure work Alternative Media : Resistance, autonomy, and labor activism Recent research trends identified in her publications include: 2025 Focus : Platform governance, writers of color, and labor education reforms 2024-2023 : Intersectional analysis of media labor, audience commodification theories 2020-2015 : Unionization strategies, unpaid internships, and coworking politics Scientific awards: Gertrude J. Robinson Book Prize (2017) CWA Canada/CAJ Award for Labour Reporting (2013) She supervises graduate students like Christine H. Tran and Darsana Vijay , and participates in the SSHRC-funded Cultural Workers Organize project.





