Lai Ma

Lai Ma is Associate Professor at the School of Information and Communication Studies, University College Dublin (UCD), where she also serves as Director of Research (2022–2025) and previously directed the MLIS and GradDipLIS programmes. She holds a PhD in Information Science from Indiana University Bloomington and a BSc(Econ) from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her work bridges philosophy, information science, and science policy.

• PhD, Information Science, Indiana University Bloomington
• MLIS, Indiana University Bloomington
• BSc(Econ), The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Her research centers on the epistemology of information and knowledge production, with a focus on open research, scholarly communication, research evaluation, and research infrastructure. Influenced by critical social theory, philosophy of language, and STS, she investigates issues of epistemic injustice, bibliodiversity, and the political economy of academic publishing. A major theme is the critique of metrics and platformisation in research.

Her recent publications reveal a strong trend toward analyzing the structural inequalities in global knowledge production, especially through the lens of open access models, citation practices, and research assessment. She critically examines how commercial interests and dominant platforms shape what counts as knowledge, often marginalizing voices from the global periphery.

• Best Paper Meta Reviewer Award
• Teaching Excellence Award
• Best Paper Reviewer Award

Lai Ma leads the ERC Consolidator Grant project Sustainable and Collaborative Research Information for Bibliodiverse Ecosystems (SCRiBe) (2025–2030) and has secured other grants on open research culture. She actively mentors PhD students and has coordinated key modules such as Digital Libraries, Scholarly Communication, and Research and Practice in LIS. She serves on editorial boards and review panels for major journals and funding bodies, and has held leadership roles in ASIS&T and the Library Association of Ireland.

She is affiliated with the UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy and contributes to policy discussions on research evaluation, ethics, and open science. Her work emphasizes the need for community-governed, equitable, and sustainable research infrastructures.