Merlyna Lim is a Canada Research Chair in Digital Media and Global Network Society with the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University.  An ALiGN Media Lab founder/director and Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Merlyna Lim’s research interests revolve around the mutual shaping of technology and society, and political culture of technology, especially digital media and information technology, in relation to issues of justice, democracy and civic/participatory engagement. Lim considers herself an interdisciplinary scholar and have published extensively in various disciplines, including communication and media studies, religious studies, journalism, urban studies/sociology, geography, anthropology, Asian studies, Middle East studies, information and library science, computer science and information systems.

An award winning scholar, in 2016, Lim was named a member of the Royal Society of Canada‘s New College of Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.  Lim is  the recipient of the Best Publication Award 2012 in Information Systems. and selected “One of 100 Most Inspiring Indonesian Women” by the Kartini Foundation in 2011. Lim has been awarded dozens of research grants/awards from various institutions such as Canada Research Chairs, Social Science and Humanities Research Council (Canada), Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Research Fund, the National Science Foundation (United States), the Ford Foundation, the Volkswagen Foundation, the East-West Center, the Open Society, and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

Over the course of her career, Lim has delivered more than 200 talks and presentations and given more than 50 media interviews. Previously she was a Visiting Research Professor with Princeton University’s Center of Information Technology Policy, a Distinguished Scholar of Technology and Public Engagement at Arizona State University, and a Networked Public Research Fellow at the Annenberg Center for Communication University of Southern California.

Previous appointments:

Awards (selected)

  • Elected a member of Royal Society of Canada’s New College of Scholars, Artists, and Scientists (2016)
  • Canada Research Chair (2014-present) from the Canadian Government
  • Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) Research Fellowship (2013-2014)
  • Best Publication Award 2012 in Information Systems selected from all articles published in all information systems journals worldwide by the Senior Scholars Consortium, International Conference on Information Systems (2013)
  • KITLV Royal Institution of Southeast Asia and Caribbean Studies (Leiden, the Netherlands) Visiting Fellowship (2012)
  • One of 100 Most Inspiring Indonesian Women—2011 Kartini Awards, The Kartini Foundation.
  • 2010 Our Common Future Fellowship in Future Technologies, The Volkswagen Foundation.
  • 2009 Faculty Stars of Global Minds, ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Alumni.
  • Annenberg Networked Public Fellowship, Annenberg Center for Communication, University of Southern California (2005-2006)
  • Henry Luce Southeast Asia Fellowship, East-West Center Washington DC (2004)
  • Winner of American Society of Information Science and Technology (ASIST) Paper Contest (2003)