The first Friedrich Schiedel Prize for Politics & Technology at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) will be awarded to Professor Helen Margetts for her groundbreaking research in the field of digital-era government and politics.

Helen Margetts is Professor of Society and the Internet at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, and Programme Director for Public Policy at the Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence. Her research investigates political behavior and institutions in the age of the Internet, social media and data science. She has published over one hundred books, articles and major research reports in this area.

Her most recent book ‘Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action’ (with Peter John, Scott Hale and Taha Yasseri) uses data science and experimental methods to reveal the underlying patterns of political behavior. The book won the 2017 W.J. Mackenzie Prize from the UK Political Studies Association. From 2011 to April 2018, she was Director of the Oxford Internet Institute, which investigates the relationship between Internet-related technologies and society. She is editor-in-chief of the journal Policy and Internet, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and sits on the UK government’s Digital Economy Council and Home Office Scientific Advisory Council.

The prize will be awarded at the TUM Awards Dinner on 3 December 2018. Professor Margetts’ guest stay at TUM is scheduled for November and December 2018. She will also participate in the Munich Politics Network’s inaugural event ‘Disruptive Politics & Technology’ on 22 and 23 November.

New award for groundbreaking research

The newly-established prize will be awarded to outstanding individuals who contribute to inter- and transdisciplinary projects linking politics and technology. The prize is endowed with 30,000 euros and will be awarded annually by the Friedrich Schiedel-Stiftung.

The Friedrich Schiedel-Stiftung honors entrepreneur and philanthropist Friedrich Schiedel (1913-2001) and supports both social and scientific causes. Friedrich Schiedel was one of TUM’s Honorary Senators. His Foundation supported TUM from the very beginning by establishing the Friedrich Schiedel Endowed Chair of Neuroscience and the Friedrich Schiedel Endowed Chair in the Sociology of Science, among other things.

The award enables a guest stay at the TUM School of Governance. Lectures, participation in TUM’s academic life, and discussion with students and researchers will allow for insights into the scientist’s research achievements.