Debra Mackinnon
PhD Queen's University
I am an Assistant Professor at Lakehead University. Previously I was a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Windsor, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary (geography) and a visiting scholar the University of Essex (sociology). I completed my PhD in sociology at Queen’s University. I hold a Master of Arts in sociology and Bachelor of Arts in sociology (hons) with an extended minor in criminology from Simon Fraser University.
My work explores (1) platform urbanism and urban governance (2) policing and insecurity (3) technologies of (in)justice, law and regulation, (4) qualitative and digital methodologies; where a focus on technology, surveillance, social justice, and policy allows me to explore connections between them.
My current project “In the Business of Policing” analyzes the convergence of public and private policing technologies used to patrol urban spaces and their implications for policing and community relations in Windsor (Ontario), Detroit (Michigan), Toronto (Ontario) and Chicago (Illinois).
My work has been published in Surveillance and Society and the Canadian Journal of Sociology. I have contributed chapters to edited volumes such as Protests in the Information Age (eds. Melgaço & Monaghan) and Freedom of Information and Social Science Research Design (eds. Walby & Luscombe).
If you would like to learn more visit my website: https://debramackinnon.com