He is the W. K. Kellogg Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information[1][2] and author of Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology.

[6][7][8] Together with AnnaLee Saxenian and Raj Reddy, he co-founded the International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development, a global platform for rigorous, academic, interdisciplinary research in ICT4D.

[8] Toyama's research spans several disparate areas, including ICT4D, development studies, computer vision, human-computer interaction, geographic information systems, and multimedia.

[21] Toyama was named to the 2022 class of ACM Fellows, "for contributions to the innovation and critique of digital technology for socio-economic development and social justice".

[22] A paper he co-authored with Andrew Blake was awarded the Marr Prize at the 2001 International Conference on Computer Vision.