Alfred Hermida

Professor, School of Journalism, Writing, and Media, University of British Columbia

@Hermida
Alfred Hermida PhD is professor and former director (2015-2020) at the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at the University of British Columbia, and co-founder of The Conversation Canada. With 25 years of experience in digital journalism, his research addresses the transformation of news, media innovation, social media and data journalism.
His current main research project is the Global Journalism Innovation Lab, a six-year SSHRC-funded project with multiple academic and media partners investigating how the future of journalism is being shaped by innovation practices, business models and policy frameworks. Specifically, Alfred is focused on the sustainability of journalism start-ups, together with the impact of platforms such as Google on journalism innovation.
Ranked by Stanford researchers in the top 2% of communication and media scholars globally, Alfred’s work has been published in top tier journals, including Digital Journalism, Journalism and Journalism Studies. His books include Data Journalism and the Regeneration of News (Routledge, 2019), co-authored with Mary Lynn Young, and Tell Everyone: Why We Share and Why It Matters (DoubleDay, 2014), winner of the 2015 National Business Book Award.
Alfred was a BBC TV, radio and online journalist for 16 years, including four in North Africa and the Middle East. During his time at the BBC, he was a founding news editor of the BBC News website in 1997 where he pioneer novel approaches to online story-telling.
He is British-Canadian, with his family roots in Gibraltar where he was born and lived until going to university in the U.K.