Karmvir K. Padda, a PhD candidate in Sociology, has been named one of the 2025 Emerging Scholars by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, an international award recognizing exceptional doctoral researchers studying issues of violence and extremism. Padda is the only Canadian recipient in this year’s global cohort.
Her research examines how gendered and ideological forms of violence are produced and circulated across digital platforms – from violent extremist manifestos and forums to manosphere podcasts. By combining computational and qualitative methods, she has developed transferable models for analyzing extremist discourse online, tools that reveal how misogyny and grievance-based ideologies circulate across digital spaces. Her work aims to inform prevention and policy responses to gender-based extremism.
Padda successfully defended her PhD dissertation on December 1 under the supervision of Dr. Owen Gallupe.
