Short Biography
I am a Doctoral Research Fellow in the Digitalisation and Society program, researching the intersection of decentralised communication protocols, digital sovereignty, and European Public Service Media. My research investigates how emerging digital communication infrastructures afford democratic deliberation, with a primary focus on the decentralised protocols ActivityPub (Mastodon) and AT Proto (Bluesky), and a secondary focus on Matrix.
PhD program
Digitalisation and Society
Supervisory team
Main supervisor: Fredrik Andersen
Co-supervisor: Harald Borgebund
Education & Professional Background
- Master's degree in Interaction Design (2023) - Malmö University
- Master's degree in Advanced Journalism: Reporting (2013) - Ramon Llull University (Barcelona)
- Bachelor's degree in Theory of Literature and Comparative Literature (2009) - University of Barcelona (Including Erasmus exchange at the University of Manchester, UK)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Photojournalism (2005) - Autonomous University of Barcelona
- Bachelor's degree in Journalism (2003) - Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona)
- Industry Experience: Professional background spanning journalism and User Experience (UX) Design.
Personal website: https://joan.pla.cat
Academic interests
- Decentralised Social Media & Protocol Architecture
- Public Service Media in Europe
- Journalism and the Digital Public Sphere
- Political Economy of Communication and Digital Sovereignty
- Philosophy of Technology
Conference presentations
- “The Technostructural Democratic Affordances of Decentralised Social Media: Mastodon and Bluesky in the EU push towards digital sovereignty” Presented at the 3rd Biennial International Conference on Democracy & Digital Citizenship - Aarhus University, August 2026.
- "Decentralised Social Media Initiatives within European Public Service Media. Towards a Public Service Social Media?" Presented at PlatGovNet - Online, December 2025.
- "Decentralised Social Media Initiatives within European Public Service Media". Presented at SFSCON 25: South Tyrol Free Software Conference - Bolzano, November 2025.
- "Decentralised Social Media Initiatives within European Public Service Media. Towards a Public Service Social Media?" Presented at NordMedia25 - University of Southern Denmark (Odense), August 2025.
- "Decentralised Social Media Initiatives within European Public Service Media. Towards a Public Service Social Media?" Presented at GIG-ARTS 2025 - University of Salerno, May 2025.
Invited contributions
- Pla, Joan (2026). Defund Big Tech, refund public service media. In K. Unterberger & K. Mitschka (Eds.), (De)Funding the future. Added value at stake (pp. 6-9). Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF).