The Jovana Karanovic Impact Award

The award is established in memory of Dr. Jovana Karanovic, who passed away on December 18, 2025, at the age of 35.

Jovana was Assistant Professor at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and earned her PhD from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Despite her short career, Jovana was an original and influential voice in the study of digital platforms, platform governance, and the future of work. Her research examined how digital platforms reshape power relations, governance structures, fairness, and working conditions in the digital economy, particularly within platform-mediated labor and the gig economy. Her work appeared in leading outlets including the Journal of Management Studies and MIT Sloan Management Review.

Beyond her academic contributions, Jovana was deeply committed to ensuring that research informed real-world debates and societal progress. She founded Reshaping Work, a pioneering multi-stakeholder initiative that brought together scholars, policymakers, platform companies, labor organizations, and workers to engage in evidence-based dialogue on the future of work and the governance of digital technologies. Through this work, she helped shape broader public and policy discussions surrounding platform labor, fairness, algorithmic governance, and the regulation of digital work — including conversations informing the EU Platform Work Directive and wider European policy debates.

Jovana was also widely recognized for her ability to bridge academia and society: as a public intellectual, TEDx speaker, advisor, community builder, and mentor. She combined scholarly excellence with generosity, courage, and an uncommon capacity to bring people together around difficult but important questions concerning technology, work, and human dignity.

The Jovana Karanovic Impact Award honors her spirit, intellectual curiosity, and unwavering belief that rigorous research can contribute meaningfully to a fairer and more inclusive society.

The award will be presented during the EU-DPRN 2026 Summit, hosted by Aalto University, Finland, on June 11–12, 2026.