Professor Paolo Granata, University of Toronto

An award-winning educator, innovator, and cross-disciplinary media scholar.

Paolo Granata is an Associate Professor at St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto.

As a leading expert in media ecology – nurtured by the centuries-old tradition of his Alma Mater, the University of Bologna – his research and teaching interests lie broadly in the areas of media ethics, semiotics, print culture, and visual studies.

Over the last 20 years of his academic career in research, teaching, and public engagement, Professor Granata has held positions at the University of Bologna, the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and Turin, and most recently at the University of Toronto, with affiliation in the Department of Italian Studies, the School of Cities, and the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society.

Since 2011, he has been a Marshall McLuhan Centenary Fellow at the Faculty of Information and since 2019 a Senior Fellow at Massey College, Toronto.

Media Ethics Lab

Since 2019, Professor Granata is the founder and director of the Media Ethics Lab, a research hub that studies the ways that digital media practices and emerging technologies are marked by ethical issues and decisive political, societal, and cultural questions.

Professor Granata is passionate about safeguarding human rights in the digital sphere. Serving since 2018 as a member of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, his advocacy efforts are focused on digital sustainability.

As a cultural strategist and an advocate of sustainable development, in 2017 his research and consultancy activity led to the designation of Toronto as a UNESCO Creative City. He is also the Chair of the #CultureForSDGs initiative.

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Recent Projects

Recent Talks

Professor Granata's latest presentations, covering a range of thought-provoking topics and ideas.

AI and the Future of Learning - Paolo Granata

Keynotes, Workshops, and Seminars Proposals

Topics and Themes for Engagements.

Exploring the Metaverse

An in-depth look at how VR/AR/MR can revolutionize learning and collaboration in education and coworking.

AI for Education

Exploring AI's transformative role in reshaping educational strategies and enhancing learning experiences.

The Laws of Media

Playing with McLuhan's Laws of Media to decode the essence and impact of technological innovation.

Digital Sustainability

Exploring the intersection of UN Global Goals (SDGs) with digital culture for sustainable future pathways.

AI is Shaping a New Human Environment

Over the past few years, emerging technologies and unforeseen digital media practices have given rise to ethical issues, political and societal questions of critical importance to our evolving future. It's time to explore new ethical perspectives and sustainable frameworks to underpin the building blocks of our human-technology ecosystem.

The Medium is (still) the Message

Environments are not just containers, but are processes that change the content totally. New media are new environments.
That is why the media are the message.

Marshall McLuhan