Matt Ratto is Associate Dean, Research and a full Professor in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. Dr. Ratto is also a faculty affiliate with the Climate Positive Energy Institute (CPE), the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society (SRI) and an SDG Fellow with the Sustainable Development Goals Institute (SDGs@UofT). He was awarded the Ontario Minister of College and Universities’ Award of Excellence in 2020, and has received two Canada Grand Challenge grants, Stars in Global health and Transition to Scale for his work on 3D printed prosthetics. He was the Bell Canada Usability Labs Chair in Human-Computer Interaction from 2018-2023 and the inaugural Director of the Bachelor’s of Information degree program from 2018-2020.

His research explores the social production of knowledge in the context of emerging digital technologies and leverages critical theories and perspectives from the humanities and social sciences to develop novel insights and design paradigms. He is most known for his conceptual work on ‘critical making’ and its application in the creation of novel socio-technical systems.

Dr. Ratto’s research has resulted in multiple forms of impact, including the development of technologies that seek to empower workers through the recognition of tacit forms of expertise, and the importance of situated, socio-cultural context. Innovations include a software and hardware toolchain for use in rehabilitation clinics in the developing world, a novel breath meter for supporting users with metabolic disorders, and clinical chatbots to provide guidance for mental health and addiction. To support the ongoing impacts of these innovations, Dr. Ratto founded multiple non-profit and for-profit organizations.

He has received over 6 million dollars in funding as an Investigator, has over 100 peer reviewed publications, and received 3 patents.

Professor Ratto is motivated by the impactful possibilities that emerge through interdisciplinary research and is driven to foster novel collaborations and communities of practice to nurture the next generation of researchers focused on social and material change.

Affiliations:

• Faculty Affiliate, University of Toronto, Schwartz Reisman Institution for Society & Technology, Toronto, Canada. 2020 – present.
• Faculty, University of Toronto, Book History and Print Culture Collaborative Program, Toronto, Canada. 2009 – present
• Faculty, University of Toronto, Knowledge Media Design Institute, Toronto, Canada. 2008 – present.
• Director, Social Agentics Lab