Paolo Granata

Paolo Granata is an Assistant Professor in Book and Media Studies at St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto. He joined the University of Toronto in 2017 after spending fifteen years at the University of Bologna, Italy, where he almost entirely established his own academic career in research, teaching, and public engagement.
Nurtured by the century-old tradition of his Alma Mater, Professor Granata’s research and teaching interests lie broadly in the area of Aesthetics, Medium Theory, Ethics of Technology, Heritage Communication, Print and Visual Culture. He has authored a number of essays and book-chapters published in Italian, English, French, and Spanish. His main books are: Arte in Rete (2001), Arte, estetica e nuovi media (2009), Mediabilia(2012), and Ecologia dei media (2015); his latest works is the forthcoming Introduction to Media Ecology (2018).
From 2015 to 2017, he was Visiting Professor and Program Curator at the McLuhan Centre for Culture & Technology, University of Toronto.
Currently he is the Coordinator of the Book & Media Studies program at St. Michael’s College, Faculty of Arts and Science at UofT, Curator of the McLuhan Salons series (www.mcluhansalons.ca) presented by St. Michael’s College, and Chair of the Toronto School Initiative (www.thetorontoschool.ca) at the University of Toronto.
He is the vice-president elect of the Media Ecology Association (www.media-ecology.org) and conference chair of Media Ethics: Human Ecology in a Connected World global conference taking place in Toronto, June 27-30, 2019 as the 20th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association (www.mediaethics.ca).
As a cultural strategist and champion of urban sustainable development, he is also involved in the designation of Toronto as UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts (www.torontocreativecity.ca). He is also a member of the Executive Committee at the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (https://en.ccunesco.ca) as Chair of the Culture, Communication and Information Sectoral commission.
Professor Granata aims to raise public awareness about the role that Universities should play in the 21st century: to provide an environment of social cohesion; to create the conditions for human development; and to strength participation in cultural life.