معرفی
Kean Birch is a Full Professor in the Department of Science, Technology & Society at York University, Toronto. He holds the Ontario Research Chair in Science Policy and directs the Institute for Technoscience & Society. Birch’s work bridges Science & Technology Studies (STS), political economy, and economic sociology, focusing on the political economy of science, technology, and innovation, particularly in the digital economy.
Education: MA (Hons) Sociology (University of Edinburgh), MSc in Technology Studies (University of Edinburgh), PhD Planning (Oxford Brookes University).
Research Interests: Digital personal data as economic assets, parasitic innovation, assetization processes, AI, blockchain, and bioeconomies. His theories include the 'post-innovation condition' and 'scam-stage of capitalism,' exploring how digital assets reshape markets and societies.
Grants & Projects: Leads funded projects such as the Ontario Research Chair on AI governance and the Open Research Area 8 initiative on research evaluation metadata. Collaborates internationally on data valuation in Africa and the sustainable value of digital data.
Awards: Not explicitly listed in the provided texts, but his contributions include co-editing Assetization: Turning Things into Assets in Technoscientific Capitalism (MIT Press) and authoring Data Enclaves (Palgrave Macmillan).
Labs & Affiliations: Director of the Institute for Technoscience & Society, Co-Editor of Science as Culture, and Series Editor for the Technoscience & Society Book Series at University of Toronto Press. Active in global STS networks, including visiting roles at Copenhagen Business School and Technical University Munich.
