In my ongoing master’s thesis, “Am I Being Productive? Managing time, technology, and expectations among university students,” I examine how undergraduate students interpret, negotiate, and manage expectations around the organization of their time through digital technologies. I specifically ask:

1) how do students organize their daily/weekly tasks;

2) in what ways do pervasive technologies both provide mechanisms for coping with and produce expectations about time management; and

3) how do students interpret and reflect on how their time is managed?

I am using qualitative research methods—time-use diaries and semi structured interviews—with 15 undergraduate students at Queen’s University across three faculties with distinct schedules, expectations, and temporal autonomy: Engineering, Business, and Arts and Sciences. Critically approaching the narratives of ‘time management’ and productivity, and exploring how these are qualitatively experienced and managed, will be vital for better understanding the issues around students’ well-being.

Police civilianization, the employment of non-police personnel in various roles within police forces, has been increasing as policing practices demand greater specialization and a broader range of specific skills. In this context, my research aims to explore and describe civilianization initiatives within police forces across Canada by examining the roles and tasks carried out by civilian staff, assessing how the scope and nature of these roles vary within and across police organizations, and identifying strategies to best leverage civilian expertise in advancing organizational mandates. Relying on qualitative methods, combining ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, this exploratory study seeks to achieve a better understanding of police organizational change, specifically the processes and implications of civilianization. Ultimately, it strives to inform and guide police management policies on civilianization best practices by developing an operational framework focused on efficient and sustainable strategies for hiring, integrating, retaining, and deploying civilian staff within the police institution.

My dissertation research will broadly contribute to debates on digital colonialism by examining how Guyana’s “Digital Guyana” initiative negotiates digital sovereignty as a liberatory strategy to push back against Big Tech hegemony and how this initiative is bound up with postcolonial national identity in the digital age.

My dissertation research is broadly focused on state-industry-science networks in the critical minerals industry.

Spencer’s doctoral work examines how hybrid and remote work arrangements are reshaping organizational culture, labor practices, and everyday working life. Drawing on theories of deep mediatization and meaning-making, his dissertation research investigates how digital infrastructures, platform governance, and post-pandemic workplace policies influence temporal expectations, identity formation, and experiences of productivity. His dissertation contributes to emerging discussions of digital labor, organizational change, and the evolving relations between workers, employers, and technological systems in the contemporary workplace.