About me
I am a Distinguished ATRAE Researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela, where since September 2025 I lead the DataECO project, a €1 million grant funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades through the Agencia Estatal de Investigación.
Hosted at the Novos Medios research group (https://novosmedios.gal/) and the Instituto de Estudios y Desarrollo de Galicia (iDEGA), DataECO investigates contemporary forms of environmental activism that operate both through data and against data in the platform society. I will remain connected to the MediaFlows Research Group at the University of Valencia, where I was a Beatriz Galindo Distinguished Professor (2025), and to Cardiff University, where I serve as Reader in Data Agency and Media Ecologies (currently on career break).
My research explores digital activism, algorithmic agency, and resistance through a dual approach: addressing questions of culture and identity while developing conceptual frameworks rooted in mediation, media ecologies, and media practice. More recently, I have focused on data justice and digital disconnection in the Global South, positioning myself as a bridge between Western and Latin American schools of thought at the intersection of media, communication, social movements, and critical data studies. As a widely cited author fluent in English, Spanish, and Italian, my work has been translated into ten languages worldwide. I am a strong advocate for multilingualism and open access in academia, and my career reflects a sustained effort to break epistemic silos and foster innovative thinking and doing across disciplines, languages, and regions.
I have published over 80 articles in top-ranked peer-reviewed journals across 7 languages. I am the author of Hybrid Media Activism: Ecologies, Imaginaries, Algorithms (Routledge, 2019), which won the Outstanding Book Award from the ICA Activism, Communication and Social Justice Interest Group. I co-authored Data Justice (Sage, 2022) that was the runner up for the Sage Social Justice Book Award 2023, given to Sage titles that demonstrate a commitment to social justice and the promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion. I've co-edited two path-opening books: Citizen Media and Practice: Currents, Connections, Challenges (Routledge, 2019) and COVID-19 from the Margins: Pandemic Invisibilities, Policies and Resistance in the Datafied Society (Theory on Demand Series of the Institute of Network Cultures, 2021). Additionally, I have co-edited nine special issues that have contributed to define and advance the fields of digital activism, critical data and digital disconnection studies. During 2019 and 2020, I acted as Consultant Editor for the Routledge Encyclopedia of Citizen Media.
I am the co-director of the Data Justice Lab based at JOMEC, a word-leading hub of critical research into the relationship between datafication and social justice. I am the cofounder of the "Big Data from the South" Research Initiative that interrogates the diverse practices that subvert the dominant narratives of datafication as theorized and narrated by the global north. I am also the co-editor of the multilingual blog ‘Covid-19 from the margins’. From 2018 to 2021, I acted as the vice-chair of the 'Communication and Democracy' section of ECREA (European Communication Research and Education Association). I am the co-editor of the ‘Data Justice’ Book Series published by SAGE which was kickstarted by the collective book "Data Justice" published in 2022. During my career, I have raised over one million Euros in projects and grants. I have secured funding for international projects that I led or co-led from the European Union, the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, the Mexican System of National Researchers, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, The Open Society Foundations, the Staley Commission, the SSHRC (Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Canada) and the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council, UK).
I have delivered presentations of my research at nearly 100 distinguished international conferences , events, and universities across 20 different countries including the following international associations: IAMCR, ICA, ECREA, LASA, ALAIC, AoIR, ISA, ESA, CLACSO, AMIC, 4S, ComPol, AIS, DGPuK and Data Power. My presentations and keynotes on digital activism, data agency, and digital disconnection have been sought after at over 30 events worldwide, while my participation in over 60 plenary sessions, roundtables, and invited seminars by leading universities and institutions all over the globe has solidified my position as a thought leader in the field. I was the programme manager of the ‘Communication and Democracy’ Section for the 2021 ECREA Conference and have been the organiser of nearly 30 events including 3 international conferences of the 'Big Data from the South Initiative' and three editions of the Data Justice conference (2019, 2021, 2023).
Impact
My work has informed - among others - the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation and my research was profiled by WIRED US, the Public Books Podcast of the ‘Data & Society’ Institute, the National Spanish Radio 3, newspaper El Diario, the CI and Public Books Podcasts, Diggit Magazine, La Jornada, Il Manifesto, La Repubblica, El Comercio, openDemocracy, UTV Esmedios and Corresponsales en Línea. I have been a consultant for ‘European Digital Rights’, the School of Internet Governance (Brazil) and Amnesty Tech. The Data Justice Lab’s has been invited to consult on policy-related discussions, including with the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the Institute for the Future of Work. Research conducted by the Lab has also been referenced in policy briefs and reports, including the UK’s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation and the UN Special Rapporteur for extreme poverty and human rights. In addition, research conducted by the Lab has been covered in international media, including The New York Times, Sky News, The Guardian, The Observer, The New Statesman, and El País.
Supervision
I have successfully supervised around 40 undergraduate and 35 postgraduate students in the areas of digital media, social movements and critical data studies. I have supervised 4 PhDs to completion and currently supervising 6 PhDs and 1 postdoc at Cardiff. I have acted as external PhD examiner of 13 dissertations in universities in Spain, Sweden, Portugal, and Mexico.
Visiting Fellowships
I have been a visiting scholar, fellow and/or professor in a variety of world-leading academic institutions across the globe including Dartmouth College and Denver University in the US, Lakehead University in Canada, Scuola Normale Superiore in Italy, Universidad del Norte and Uniminuto in Colombia, Erfurt University in Germany, Complutense University of Madrid, Polytechnic University of Valencia and Open University of Catalonia (UOC) in Spain and the Universidad Nacional de Salta, Argentina.
During my career, I have created and taught over 20 courses on media theory, digital/social media and culture, citizen media, social movements, critical data/algorithms studies and research methodologies. I have delivered my teaching in Italian, Spanish and English in a variety of institutions and formats at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. My modules include: Social media and politics, Datafied Society, Power and Resistance in the Big Data Age, Citizen Journalism and Digital Publics, Interviews and Focus Group Research and the award-winning Understanding Digital Society through Black Mirror. This latter module was awarded the Education Innovation Prize of the Truman Foundation for “its audacity, timeliness and capacity to reflect on digital society’s most pressing issues and dilemmas through the lens of a TV series”.
Awards and Accreditations
I've obtained three awards for excellence in research, teaching and supervision, namely:
- The Outstanding Book Award of the ICA Activism, Communication and Social Justice Interest Group for my monograph 'Hybrid Media Activism'
- the Education Innovation Prize of the Truman Foundation for my course ‘Understanding Digital Society through Black Mirror’
- the Outstanding Doctoral Supervisor Award of the Enriching Student Life Award 2019 at Cardiff University.
In 2022 I obtained the Spanish ANECA accreditation as associate professor in social sciences and law and in 2023 the Italian ANVUR accreditation as full professor in sociology of communication and cultural processes. In 2023, my co-authored article 'The emergence of algorithmic solidarity: unveiling mutual aid practices and resistance among Chinese delivery workers' won the MeCCSA Outstanding Achievement Award in the Journal Article of the Year category. In the same year, my co-authored book 'Data Justice' (Sage, 2022) was the runner up for the Sage Social Justice Book Award 2023, given to Sage titles committed to social justice and the promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Reviewing and Boards
I serve as ad hoc reviewer for over 40 scientific journals and sit on the editorial board of the following international journals: Social Media & Society; The Journal of Alternative and Community Media; Commons, Journal of Communication and Digital Citizenship; Mediaciones; Journalism and Media; Third World Thematics; Revista RAE-IC; Miguel Hernández Communication Journal. I have refereed grant applications for several international funding bodies including ESRC, AHRC, UKRI, HORIZON, NWO, IRF, CLACSO, the Spanish State Research Agency and the Italian Ministry of Education. In 2019, I was elected a member of the ‘Juan de la Cierva Postdoc Fellowships’ Commission of the Spanish Ministry of Science.