Hi, I’m Palashi!

I’m an Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair for Technological Inclusion in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University. Prior to this, I was a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Communication at the University of California, San Diego. I am on leave for the academic year 2025-2026.

However, I am recruiting graduate students for Fall 2026 who are: 1. excited and motivated to do critical and interpretive research about humans and technology, 2. have evidence of writing/publishing/creating in some form, and 3. are aligned in research interests, ethics and methodologies (see more about this below.)

Theoretically, I work at the intersection of Information Science, Science and Technology Studies, and Feminist Studies. I study socio-technical and cultural practices of communities and institutions/organizations with a focus on relationships of power and inequity in computing. Methodologically, I am an ethnographer where I am interested in both what is said and unsaid, as well as, what is done and undone, in addition to how computing is experienced and felt.

As a scholar, I think a lot about what is considered normative and what is normalized in worlds of computing, including where it comes from and how it becomes common sense. To this end, I am often pursuing alternative understandings of computing that challenge or resist such norms. I am guided by historical, material and corporeal knowledge of marginalized communities to question as well as re-imagine worlds of technology.

💡 Critical and Interpretive Studies of Technology

👩🏽‍💻 Human-Computer Interaction

🤳🏽 Computer-Supported Cooperative Work

⚖️ Technology, Justice and Equity

You can contact me at pvaghela <at> sfu <dot> ca

(Picture of a person of South Asian heritage, medium dark brown hair and olive medium brown skin tone standing in a forest with a tote bag and a blue jacket in hand)