[Air-L] Dr Tomas Walker-Borsa is the winner of AoIR’s 2025 Annual Dissertation Award

[AoIR Association Coordinator]

It gives us great pleasure to announce that the recipient of the 2025
Annual Dissertation Award is Dr. Tomas Walker-Borsa, Oxford University, for
the outstanding dissertation ‘Future Proof: the Meanings and Makings of The
Fibre Project on Haida Gwaii’.

This award is for the best dissertation submitted in English; we will be
announcing the winner of the best dissertation submitted in Portuguese soon.

Dr. Walker-Borsa’s dissertation demonstrates excellence in the execution of
a critical ethnography and an infrastructures approach to the fibre network
of the islands of Haida Gwaii. This is an extensive and in-depth account of
the development of a full-fibre network in a rural setting. It makes a
strong methodological contribution, combining surveys, news analysis and
ethnographic approaches including interviews, participation and
photography. It is theoretically rich, reflective and informed. It
addresses a wide range of issues related to internet access,
infrastructure, community and alternative networks, Indigenous-led rural
broadband development. The project makes a very strong contribution to the
field, particularly in debates about digital sovereignty and
self-determination. By focusing on the communities in which the network was
developed, the research contributes to a deeper understanding of
infrastructure’s cultural and social dimensions.

The committee also recognises Dr. Louisa Bartolo, Queensland University of
Technology with an Honourable Mention. Dr. Bartolo’s dissertation, entitled
‘Algorithmic Recommendation as Repair Work: Towards a More Just
Distribution of Attention on Cultural and Entertainment Platforms’ is an
exemplary, original, empirical study of algorithmic recommendation systems.
The project develops an empirically grounded conceptual approach to
algorithmic recommendation, and presents clear recommendations for how this
could be done otherwise. The dissertation clearly articulates the findings
of empirical evidence of recommendation systems across two platforms. It
also offers alternative designs for recommender systems to work towards
more reparative ends. It makes strong methodological contributions, as well
as an original contribution to the field, and is highly relevant to debates
about platform politics and algorithmic culture.

AoIR is grateful for the hard work by this year’s AoIR Dissertation Award
committee: Kate O’Riordan (Chair), Vanessa Valiati, Jean-Christophe Plantin
and Usha Raman. Thank you for your hard work and professionalism during the
review process.