I was selected as a fellow for CALAS-The Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences to develop a 3-month research project in Guadalajara, Mexico. During April- June 2026, I worked at the University of Guadalajara and conducted research at migrant shelters in the city. You can read more about my project here: http://calas.lat/en/content/michele-ferris-dobles
I wrote a chapter in this book in Spanish titled: Cruzar las fronteras con el celular: Desigualdades, apropiación tecnológica y resistencia en la migración centroamericana / Crossing Borders with a Cell Phone: Inequalities, Technological Appropriation, and Resistance in Central American Migration.
Here you can read and download: my CV, a summary of my dissertation research in Spanish, and the MRG Report for which I wrote the chapter on migration and technology.
CV en Español
My dissertation focuses on the interconnections between human mobility and media technology and infrastructure(s). Specifically, by examining the case study of Central American migration to the United States, my research asks: How do human mobilities and technological infrastructures mutually shape each other?
I worked under the guidance of Professor Steve Jones from the Communication Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I also have advice from Professor Zizi Papacharissi (Communication Department, University of Illinois at Chicago), Professor Elaine Yuan (Communication Department, University of Illinois at Chicago), Professor Andreas Feldmann (Latin American and Latino Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago), and Professor Ignacio Siles (Communication Department, University of Costa Rica).
Furthermore, I am very excited about being part of the reading and writing retreat hosted by MIGTEC (http://sts-migtec.org/) which will cover themes like: border technologies, race and colonial/imperial power; border technologies and the (un)making of (un)knowledge; digital technologies resistance and the mobile commons; migration control infrastructures and alternative infrastructures of resistance; migration control, technopolitics of public infrastructures, and (lacking) existential provisions and human rights.
*STS-MIGTEC is an independent network of scholars at the intersection of science and technology studies (STS) and critical migration, security and border studies.
I attended the Cornell Summer School on Designing Technology for Social Impact this summer; I am very excited to share with professors and colleagues from different disciplines and backgrounds.
I am also participated in the 18th NECS (European Network for Cinema and Media Studies) Graduate Workshop: Migration as Method: Media, Circulation, and Knowledge Production. I will be presenting my paper: From the Intimate to the Infrastructure: A Critical Approach for Understanding Migration and Communication Technologies.
Also, look at my contribution for the Minority Rights Report. I wrote a chapter on Technology and Migration for the Minority and Indigenous Trends Report 2020: a Focus on Technology. Read the report HERE
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND AWARDS
2023 Award for the best doctoral thesis in communication and technology (CAT) from the International Communication Association ICA.
2022 Award for the best doctoral thesis in social sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
2017-2020 LASPAU- Fulbright Scholarship to pursue PhD studies in the United States.
2019 University of Illinois President’s Research in Diversity Travel Award
2019 University of Illinois at Chicago Graduate Student Council Travel Award
2018 ECO Midwest Conference, Chicago, IL Best Graduate Student Poster Award
2011-2013 IIE-Fulbright Scholarship to pursue MA studies in the United States
PUBLICATIONS
Book Ferris-Dobles, M. (2023) Crossing the border with the cell phone: migration and technology. Editions Institute of Social Research, University of Costa Rica.
Book Chapter Ferris-Dobles, M. (2022) New Communication Technologies and Peoples’ Movement. In The Routledge History of Modern Latin American Migration (pp. 400-411). Routledge.
Book Chapter Ferris-Dobles, M. (2020) Central America: For migrants crossing national borders or connecting across ‘the wall’, communication technologies play a vital role. In Minority Rights Report. Minority and Indigenous Trends a Focus on Technology.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
2023 Inaugural Conference. Affects that cross borders: communication practices and the smart cell phone as communication infrastructure during the processes of Central American migration to the United States. Communication Conferences, Communication Research Center (CICOM), University of Costa Rica.
2022 AoIR Association of Internet Researchers Conference. Ireland. Paper Presentation: “Breaking the myth of the “other,” resistance and the use of technology during the migratory journey.”
2020 AoIR Association of Internet Researchers Conference. Virtual. Paper presentation: “Communication Technologies and Human Migration: Moving Beyond the Narrative of the ‘Connected Migrant’”.
2019 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Media in Transition Conference. Paper presentation: “Central American Migration and the “Borderless” mobile phone”.
2019 Utrecht University, NL. Digitized Mobilities Conference. Paper presentation: “Central American migration, using the mobile phone across national borders”.
2019 AoIR Association of Internet Researchers Conference. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Paper presentation: “Central American migration, trusting the mobile phone to cross borders”.
2018 Eco Midwest Conference, Chicago IL. Poster: “Undocumented and Unafraid: young Latinxs in the United States using Instagram to build networks of solidarity”. Best graduate poster award.
SEMINARS, WORKSHOPS, AND ADDITIONAL TRAINING
2021 MIGTEC (http://sts-migtec.org/) writing workshop: training academic skills at the intersection of science, technology, and human migration.
2021 Cornell University. Computer and Information Science Department. Summer School “Design for Social Impact”.
2021 NECS-European Network for Cinema and Media Studies Graduate Workshop “Migration as a Method: Media, Circulation, and Knowledge Production”.
2019 AoIR Association of Internet Researchers Conference “Dissertation Research Workshop”. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2022-present Professor. University of Costa Rica, School of Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences.
2019-2020 Instructor. University of Illinois at Chicago, Communication Department. COMM 100 Fundamentals of Human Communication / Public Speaking.
2014-2017 Professor. University of Costa Rica, School of Communication.
ACADEMIC SERVICE
Journal Reviewer: New Media & Society
Conference Paper Reviewer: AoIR Association of Internet Researchers
Michele Ferris Dobles 