The International Communications Association (ICA) has inducted Alfred Hermida, co-director of the Global Journalism Innovation Lab and UBC professor, into the ICA Fellows Class of 2024.
The ICA is the leading global organization for communication scholars and Fellows are recognized for their contributions to the field of communication studies. Hermida is among 27 notable scholars honoured with Fellow status in this year’s cohort.
The Fellows were formally recognized during the Annual Presidential Awards ceremony held at ICA24 in the Gold Coast, Australia, in June.
“It is an honour to be recognized by the ICA and humbling to be in the company of so many scholars who have shaped my academic journey,” Hermida said upon receiving the fellowship.
“I am full of gratitude for the generosity and encouragement of my colleagues and collaborators at the University of British Columbia and at universities globally, who have unreservedly shared their intellectual guidance and advice.”

Hermida is a professor at the University of British Columbia and a leading scholar in the field of digital journalism. He has coauthored three books, including Participatory Journalism, co-edited the Sage Handbook of Digital Journalism, and wrote several highly influential pieces on digital journalism. His research program revolves around the transformation processes in journalism and the dynamics of news production and dissemination in emerging online environments.
He has been an OsloMet Digital Journalism Research Fellow (2019) and a Visiting Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford (2021).
Kamal Al-Solaylee, director of UBC’s School of Journalism, Writing, and Media, commented on Hermida’s ICA fellowship.
“He is a distinguished scholar, a brilliant teacher and a gifted administrator. The ICA Fellowship is a richly deserved recognition of his innovative scholarship.”
He was also the director of the UBC School of Journalism from June 2015 to December 2020. Before joining the university in 2006, Hermida was a BBC TV, radio and online journalist for 16 years and was a founding news editor of the BBC News website in 1997.