McKenzie to Receive 2025 Research in Information Science Award
The Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) is delighted to announce that Pamela McKenzie is the recipient of the 2025 Research in Information Science Award. The award recognizes an individual or team who has made an outstanding contribution to information science research. The award is for a systematic “program of research” in a single area at a level beyond the single study, but not at the level of a lifetime’s work.
McKenzie is Professor and Western Teaching Fellow in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS) at The University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. From 2020-2022, she held the Western Faculty Scholar Award, which recognizes significant recent scholarly achievements. In 2025, she won the FIMS Award for Excellence in Teaching, which acknowledges a variety of contributions to teaching that support the intellectual development and well-being of students at all levels.
In nominating McKenzie, Alison Hicks, Associate Professor at University College London, wrote that Hicks’ nomination is “based on her outstanding and pioneering research into human information practices. Professor McKenzie’s sustained programme of research into what she refers to as ‘the lived, contingent, messy, material, embodied, and relational’ world of practices has produced a rigorous body of theory, empirical findings, and testimony that documents the complexity of how humans engage with information. Her research has stimulated generations of scholars across the world to engage with the social constructs that shape how people engage with information. ... It is impossible to overestimate the impact of Professor McKenzie’s scholarship. Introducing a discursive focus to a field that had previously been characterised by systems and users, Professor McKenzie is also credited with moving the field beyond a focus on information seeking. ... Information practices now form a viable and a vibrant field of study (Huvila & Gorichanaz, 2022) and the global reach of her work, including research published in Chinese and Portuguese, further highlights her unparalleled contributions. To this, McKenzie adds a track record of generous mentorship alongside long-standing and ongoing leadership in the field. Professor McKenzie is a pioneer of a rich area of information scholarship, and we cannot think of a more appropriate recipient of this distinguished award.”
Upon learning of her selection as winner of the Research in Information Science Award, McKenzie responded, “It was a surprise and delight to be nominated for this award. ASIS&T has brought me into contact with a wonderful worldwide group of scholars and ideas over the years and has sparked many of my most fruitful partnerships and research directions. It is an absolute honour to receive this award.”
McKenzie will receive the award during the 2025 meeting of ASIS&T which will be held 14-18 November 2025 in Crystal City, VA.
About ASIS&T
ASIS&T is the pre-eminent professional association for thousands of researchers, developers, practitioners, students, and professors in the field of information science and technology from 50 countries around the world. For more than 80 years, ASIS&T has been leading the search for new and better theories, techniques, and technologies to improve access to information.