Alexis Fabricius is a PhD student in the Applied Social Psychology program at the University of Guelph. She was first introduced to critical psychology during her undergraduate at York University through Drs. Alexandra Rutherford and Thomas Teo. In her time at the University of Guelph, she has continued to develop her critical sensibilities through working with her advisor Dr. Kieran O’Doherty, as well as with other critical scholars including Drs. Jeffrey Yen and Carla Rice.
Alexis is examining the entanglements between psychology and digital technologies like AI. Presently, she is investigating menstrual self-tracking app users’ relationship with their personal data during the Data Revolution by drawing on insights from posthumanism and feminist new materialisms to better understand the vital, relational, affective, agentic, and material roles digital data increasingly play in our lives. Her doctoral research will explore the implicit ontologies of ‘data’ in participants’ talk about their app use, as well as what performativities these ontologies engender. She is also interested in developing a new arts-based methodology called digital meta-narratives to consider how people respond to materializing their relationship with their digital data through story.
Alexis has also been active in women’s health research, exploring traumatic brain injury, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and menstruation. Drawing on feminist philosophy and bioethics, her MA explored how PCOS, a popular endocrine disorder, shaped participants’ subjectivities and bodies. Currently, she is working on a project exploring the history of menstrual theory and menstrual technologies through a new materialist lens.
Alexis hopes to work in academia, either in psychology or as an interdisciplinary scholar. Prior to beginning her studies in Psychology, she earned two history degrees; thus, it should come as no surprise that history and historical approaches inform her research. She also is influenced by scholars from diverse fields, including philosophy of science, feminist theories, STS, bioethics, and critical data studies, among others. She hopes to develop a program of study focusing on the psychological implications of the Digital Revolution that incorporates insights from this diverse body of work.
Critical Psychology Network 