Kira Lussier is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Gender and the Economy. She is also jointly appointed at the Institute for Management and Innovation, University of Toronto Mississauga. Trained as a historian of science and technology, she is committed to using rigorous historical analysis to illuminate pressing contemporary issues related to work, gender, and psychology in the economy. At GATE, Kira’s research project examines historical and contemporary uses of implicit bias in organizational diversity efforts. By tracing the history of the Implicit Association Test and implicit bias training, her project aims to uncover the benefits and pitfalls of implicit bias as a framework to address persistent economic inequalities.
Her peer-reviewed research has been published in Business History Review, History of Psychology and the Journal for the History of the Behavioral Sciences. Her writing for the popular press have appeared in Slate, The Conversation, and The National Post. Her research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Association for Computing Machinery, the Canadian Business History Association, the Institute for New Economic Thinking, and the Harvard Business School. Kira has been awarded the Best Early Career Panel award from the Society for the History of Technology as well as the Best Critical Management Learning & Education Paper award from the Academy of Management.
Kira holds a PhD and MA in history of science & technology from the University of Toronto and a BA (Honours) in history and political science from McGill University. Her dissertation and current book manuscript, “Personality, Incorporated,” examines how corporations use personality tests as tools to measure and invest in the human capital of their workforce.