Incoming PhD student Rose Muonanu receives Canada Impact+ Research Training Award

The School of Communication is excited to welcome PhD student Rose Muonanu, who will be joining the Digital Content & Platform Governance Lab. Along with joining the School this fall, she is also receiving a Canada Impact+ Research Training Award for her research on generative artificial intelligence use in journalism and newsroom practice.

More specifically, Muonanu looks at how journalists and news organisations decide when and how to use AI, how newsroom and platform policies shape those decisions, and what these changes mean for professional autonomy, accountability, and public trust in news. She is also interested in how emerging communication technologies shape institutions, professional practice, knowledge production, and public life.

“Technologies such as generative AI are being adopted very quickly while many of their social and professional consequences are still unfolding,” says Muonanu.

“I want to better understand how AI may reshape journalistic work, decision-making, and trust, while also paying attention to contexts and perspectives that are sometimes underrepresented in global conversations about emerging technologies.”

This research has both academical and practical uses. Academically, this research can help deepen our understanding of how AI, media governance, and institutional practices interact. Practically, the findings will be useful to journalists, news organisations, researchers, and policymakers as they consider responsible, context-sensitive approaches to AI adoption.

Joining the Digital Content & Platform Governance Lab

Muonanu will be joining the Digital Content & Platform Governance Lab in the School of Communication, led by professor Sarah Ganter. Her research is closely tied to the work that Ganter and her team do on media governance, platforms, journalism, and digital communication.

“The Lab’s focus aligns closely with my interests in journalism, AI, media governance, and digital platforms, so I see it as a valuable environment to develop my research while learning from and contributing to collaborative projects. I am also thankful to be joining the Lab as a Research Assistant in addition to receiving the CIRTA award,” says Muonanu. 

“I look forward to learning from professor Ganter and the wider team and contributing to the Lab’s research as I begin my PhD.”

Muonanu previously completed an MA in Interdisciplinary African Studies at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, co-taught and awarded by the University of Porto in Portugal and Bordeaux Montagne University in France, and made possible through the Erasmus+ Joint Master’s Degree Scholarship programme.

Canada Impact+ Research Training Award

The Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards are an initiative designed to recruit international or returning Canadian researchers to Canada. Muonanu was nominated by professor Ganter because she saw the potential of her proposed PhD research. As part of the CIRTA, Muonanu will be receiving 40k per year over three years (120k total).

“I am deeply grateful to receive the Canada Impact+ Research Training Award. It is especially meaningful because it supports me at the beginning of a new stage of my academic journey and gives me the opportunity to focus on developing my research at SFU,” says Muonanu.