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Dr. Sarah Anne Ganter is an Associate Professor of Communication and Cultural Policies at the Â鶹ÊÓƵSchool of Communication. She is the Director of the Digital Content & Platform Governance Lab. She is an expert in the areas of media governance and media policy in the digital era, journalism and other content industries, comparative and cross-border research. Her expertise includes analyzing media and digital policy transformations from a theoretical perspective that focuses on the dynamics and interactions shaping institutional fields. Dr. Ganter’ s work is influenced by a cosmopolitan approach to academic work, integrating scholarly work from different cultural, linguistic and geographical academic settings. Sarah won the FCAT Researcher of the Year award in 2023 and serves on the Editorial Boards of The International Journal of Press/Politics, the Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business book series and the Global Media Journal/the German edition. She is the co-author of and co-editor of . Her research has appeared in leading journals including New Media & Society, Digital Journalism, The Information Society, The International Journal of Communication, Media, Culture & Society, and The European Journal of Communication.

Dr. Simran Agarwal is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Communication, where she works on an SSHRC-funded research project examining the emerging platform–publisher regulations and their (un)intended consequences for journalism. Simran holds a PhD in Information & Communication Sciences from the Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, France. Her research has focused on the dynamic relationship between the Indian state and platforms in governing journalism and freedom of speech in India. Simran also serves as an editorial member to international journals and several international research networks where her work contributes to broader debates on the platformisation of culture industries, media regulation and censorship, and infrastructural governance in Global Majority contexts. 

Vinisa Nurul Aisyah is a PhD student in the School of Communication at Â鶹ÊÓƵ (SFU) and a Transatlantic Partnership Research Fellow. Her research examines the role of independent media in democratization processes, with a particular focus on Indonesia.

A former journalist and lecturer in Communication Studies, Vinisa brings a practitioner's perspective to her scholarly work. Her research interrogates how independent media outlets navigate socio-political pressures, resource constraints, and ethical dilemmas, and what these tensions mean for press freedom and democratic life. She also examines media audiences to understand how news is received and interpreted within Indonesian society.

Thomas Wilson is a musician, educator, and Master's student in the School of Communication at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. He holds a BA in English from the University of the Fraser Valley. His thesis work explores the changing meaning and practices of independence among musicians in Vancouver, BC in the platform age. Beyond this, he is interested in alternative platforms and approaches to platform governance, digital cultures, and the cultural industries. He is also co-Editor in Chief of Stream: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Communication.

Rose Chioma Muonanu is a PhD student in the School of Communication at Â鶹ÊÓƵ (SFU) and a recipient of the Canada Impact+ Research Training Award (CIRTA). Her research explores the intersection of communication, technology, and society, with a particular focus on generative artificial intelligence, media governance, journalistic autonomy, and public trust. Her background spans academic research and teaching support, writing, and strategic proposal development within the technology sector. These experiences shaped her interest in how emerging communication technologies influence institutions, professional practice, and public life.

Mahyar Sharafi Laleh is an affiliated data scientist with the lab. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Data Science, with Distinction, from Â鶹ÊÓƵ. He was a research assistant on the team from 2022 to 2025. In that role he developed DocuLens (), an automated tool  for collecting research documents and systematically coding policy documents to assess the relative influence of different stakeholder groups. He currently conducts statistical analysis of survey data for the lab's new research project. His applied experience includes data science at TELUS and health analytics at BC Cancer (Provincial Health Services Authority).

Dr. Annika Sehl is Professor and Chair of Journalism with a Focus on Media Structures and Society at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany (since 2022). She is also a Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford, UK (since 2018), and an Affiliate Member of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S), Australia (2025-2027). She was a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Communication, Â鶹ÊÓƵ, Canada (2026), Visiting Scholar at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2025), Visiting Researcher at Deakin University, Australia (2025), Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Journalism, City, St George’s University of London, United Kingdom (2024), Visiting Scholar at the Department of Communication Studies, Northwestern University, United States (2018), and Associate Researcher at the Weizenbaum-Institut for the Networked Society, Germany (2018). From 2020 to 2024, she served as Vice-Chair resp. Chair of the Journalism Studies Division of the International Communication Association (ICA).

Her research interests include journalism and communication studies, with a focus on public service media, digital transformation, journalism and social conflict, audience participation, journalistic norms and values, and international comparative research.

Her work has been published in books, edited volumes, and peer-reviewed journals, including Digital Journalism, European Journal of Communication, Information, Communication & Society, International Communication Gazette, Journalism, Journalism Studies, Mass Communication and Society, Media and Communication, Social Media + Society, and The International Journal of Press/Politics among others. Dr. Sehl is a co-associate editor of the International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies (Wiley-ICA, 2019) and board member of the journals Digital Journalism and Journalism Studies.