Adam Molnar is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Waterloo. His research integrates surveillance studies, computer science, and critical socio-legal studies to explore the development and implications of digital surveillance technologies. His work critically examines the design, use, and societal impacts of data-centric technological systems, focusing on issues related to digital harms, privacy, human rights, and politics. Molnar’s interdisciplinary approach assesses how emerging digital technologies are regulated and explores alternative possibilities concerning ‘the politics of technology’. He currently leads a research project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and The British Academy, examining the use of employee monitoring applications in Canada, the UK, and Europe. Additionally, his research also extends to the use, impacts, and governance of surveillance technologies in policing, intelligence, and national security.
Adam Molnar
Assistant Professor, Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo
Faculty
Faculty
RESEARCH CLUSTERS
RESEARCH CLUSTERS
Adam Molnar
Assistant Professor, Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo
Awards
- Primary Investigator, “Understanding the Risks and Regulation of Employee Monitoring Applications in the United Kingdom”, British Academy Visiting Fellowship Program, $37,346 (CAD), March 2023.
- Primary Investigator, “Workshop on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Cybersecurity and Privacy”, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, $23,835, May 2023.
- Primary Investigator, “Understanding the Risks and Regulation of Workplace Surveillance in Canada’s Digital Economy”, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Grant, $287,141, April 2021 – March 2026.
- Co-Investigator, “The Human-Centric Cybersecurity Partnership”, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Partnership Grant, $2,494,323, April 2021 – March 2026.
- Co-Investigator, “Opening the Blackbox: Examining the craft of police intelligence”, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Grant, $180,897, April 2022 – March 2025.
Select Publications
- Thompson, D. and Molnar, A. 2023. Workplace Surveillance in Canada: a survey on the adoption and use of employee monitoring applications. Canadian Review of Sociology, 60(4): 801-819.
- Thompson, D. and Molnar, A. 2023. Slouching Toward Regulation: Bill 88 as a Solution for Workplace Surveillance Harms? Canadian Journal of Law and Technology (Online First).
- Molnar, A. and Warren, I. 2020. Governing Liberty Through Accountability: Surveillance Reporting as Technologies of Governmentality, Critical Criminology, 28(1): 13-26.
- Harkin, D. Molnar, A. and Vowles, E. 2020. The commodification of mobile phone surveillance: an analysis of the consumer spyware industry, Crime, Media, Culture, (16)1: 33-60.
- Molnar, A., Whelan, C. and Boyle, P. 2019. Securing the Brisbane 2014 G20 in the wake of the Toronto 2010 G20: ‘failure-inspired’ learning in public order policing, British Journal of Criminology: 59(1): 107-125.
- Molnar, A. 2017. Technology, Law, and the Formation of (il)liberal Democracy?, Surveillance & Society, 15(3/4), 381-388.
- Whelan, C. and Molnar, A. 2019. Securing Mega-Events: Strategies, Organisation and Legacies. Crime Prevention and Security Management Series, New York: Palgrave-Macmillan.
- Monaghan, J. and Molnar, A. 2016. Radicalization Theories, Policing Practices, and “The Future of Terrorism?, Critical Terrorism Studies, 9(3), 393-413.
- Molnar, A., 2015. The geo‐historical legacies of urban security governance and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.The Geographical Journal, 181(3), pp.235-241.
Education
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Surveillance Studies Centre, (Queen’s University), 2014
- PhD Political Science, Cultural Social and Political Thought, University of Victoria, 2014
- MA Sociology, Cultural Social and Political Thought, University of Victoria, 2008
- BA Sociology and Political Science, York University, 2006