Lauren Knight

Lauren Knight (she/her) is a PhD Candidate and Part-Time Course Instructor in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, specializing in Media, Technology, and Communication. She teaches courses including Popular Music and Media Cultures (Winter 2025) and Popular Culture and Society (Summer 2024), while completing her doctoral research.

• PhD Student, Faculty of Information: University of Toronto (2022–ongoing)
• MA in Communication: Simon Fraser University (2021)
• BA Honours in Media Production: Toronto Metropolitan University (2019)

Her research explores acoustic ecology, decolonial media studies, and sensorial ethnography through sound-based artistic practices. Knight examines how sound functions as a political and environmental tool across urban landscapes, Indigenous knowledge systems, and technological interfaces. Her creative work spans sound installations, podcasts, and documentary media, with pieces nationally broadcast on CBC and featured on CBC Gem.

Her recent publications reveal a trajectory examining sound's relationship to power structures (neoliberalism, colonialism) and ecological systems. The work increasingly incorporates participatory methods, co-creation with marginalized communities, and nonhuman perspectives through sonification techniques.

• SSHRC Canadian Graduate Scholarship Doctoral Award ($105,000)
• Ontario Graduate Scholarship ($15,000)
• R. Murray Schafer Soundscape Award ($1,200)
• Graduate Student Merit Award - Canadian Communication Association Conference ($500)

Knight actively mentors through teaching roles across three institutions since 2019, serving as Course Instructor, Guest Lecturer, and Teaching Assistant for 15+ courses. Her research is supported by multiple SSHRC-funded projects examining AI discourse, Toronto arts funding, and remote connectivity infrastructures. She co-created the BEEP zine project mapping Toronto's urban soundscapes and produced the CBC-broadcast documentary Stereo Toronto profiling musicians in significant city locations.

As a practicing sound artist, Knight develops community-based projects like Livable Soundscapes (a community toolkit) and has presented work through the Canadian Association for Sound Ecology. She serves on the Doctoral Students Association and Academic Appeals Committee at UofT while maintaining membership in CASE.