SCDS Academic Director Andrea Zeffiro is one of five McMaster researchers awarded the inaugural Societal Impact Seed Grant. Supported by the Office of the Vice-President, Research, grantees will generate and mobilize co-developed knowledge with societal partners to collaboratively address a societal challenge.
Dr. Zeffiro’s project will provoke mainstream cybersecurity frameworks that centre on a universal end-user and often overlook how cyber insecurities are shaped by intersecting identities of oppression and privilege.
In partnership with the Sex Workers Action Program Hamilton (or SWAP), the project seeks to understand the cyber insecurities sex workers face and the innovative and ingenious workarounds adopted by members of the profession to mitigate risks and threats.
To achieve the project’s goals, zines will be implemented as a participatory action research tool. Zines are do-it-yourself print and digital publications that represent the ideas, values, experiences, and identities of communities that are undervalued, underrepresented, or misrepresented in mainstream cultures.
These zines will be co-created with sex workers in Hamilton and document the contextual cybersecurity risks, threats, and mitigation strategies emerging from their intersectional experiences.
In addition to documenting and mobilizing knowledge about sex workers as experts with lived experiences and knowledge to reshape mainstream cybersecurity and safety, the project aims to promote the security, health and well-being of individuals who undertake sex work as an economic activity. SWAP has been instrumental in these efforts, and the project will directly support the organization’s commitment to community health and safety education.
Congratulations, Dr. Zeffiro and team!
See all Societal Impact Grant Projects.
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