Alessandro Delfanti, University of Toronto

Research

(1) Digital Labour (2) Digital Capitalism (3) Amazon (4) Algorithmic Management (5) Work and Technology labour automation digital culture

Latest papers

The financial market of ideas: A theory of academic social media.
Social studies of science · 2021 · first author
Beams of particles and papers: How digital preprint archives shape authorship and credit.
Social studies of science · 2016 · first author

All 2 publications

Latest funding

GenLab: Labour, Creativity, and Generative AI
SSHRC · 2025 · Principal investigator
$31,910
Platform organizing: advancing collective organization by workers in the platform economy
SSHRC · 2020 · Co-investigator
$158,781
Platform organizing: advancing collective organization by workers in the platform economy
SSHRC · 2020 · Co-investigator
$102,238

All 4 grants and awards

2 publications.

01

The financial market of ideas: A theory of academic social media.

Delfanti A

Social studies of science2021First author

DOI: 10.1177/0306312720966649 PMID: 33070699

02

Beams of particles and papers: How digital preprint archives shape authorship and credit.

Delfanti A

Social studies of science2016First author

DOI: 10.1177/0306312716659373 PMID: 28948873

GenLab: Labour, Creativity, and Generative AI

Principal investigatorSSHRC2025Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Delfanti, Alessandro

Keywords: labour;automation;digital culture;artificial intelligence;science & technology studies

$31,910

Platform organizing: advancing collective organization by workers in the platform economy

Co-investigatorSSHRC2020Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Brophy, Enda

Keywords: digital labour; platform economy; platform labour; collective organization; trade unions

$158,781

Platform organizing: advancing collective organization by workers in the platform economy

Co-investigatorSSHRC2020Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Brophy, Enda O.

Keywords: digital labour; platform economy; platform labour; collective organization; trade unions

$102,238

Amazon and the future of work

Principal investigatorSSHRC2019Insight Development Grant

Principal investigators: Delfanti, Alessandro

Keywords: (1) Digital Labour; (2) Digital Capitalism; (3) Amazon; (4) Algorithmic Management; (5) Work and Technology

$47,224

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their SSHRC grant from 2025

Subject: Prospective PhD student: (1) Digital Labour Dear Professor Delfanti, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "The financial market of ideas: A theory of academic social media." (2021), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your SSHRC-funded project "GenLab: Labour, Creativity, and Generative AI" (2025), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]