Bertram Vidgen
DPhil Alumnus and Research Associate
Profile
Bertie Vidgen is a post-doctoral researcher within the Alan Turing Institute’s public policy programme and a Research Associate at the OII. His main research focuses on detecting, analysing, and countering online hate speech, examining it in the context of both news and social media. He primarily uses computational social science methods, including machine learning, natural language processing, and statistical modelling.
Before he joined the Turing, Bertie studied for a DPhil at the OII, where he researched Islamophobic hate speech among followers of UK political parties on Twitter. He is particularly interested in understanding how Islamophobia manifests across the political spectrum (including both mainstream and far right parties) as well as its temporal dynamics. He is actively interested in the use of computational methods in social science, the ethical challenges of using social media data, and the role of social media within politics. He holds a BA from the University of Warwick in History and Politics and an MA from the University of Essex in Ideology and Discourse Analysis. Bertie’s other work includes consulting, advising, and teaching.
Keywords: Islamophobia, online politics, computational social science, machine learning
Positions held at the OII
- Research Associate, October 2019-
- DPhil student, October 2015 – July 2019
Supervisors at the OII
Videos
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A New Approach To Defining Extremism
Recorded: 31 March 2016
Duration: 00:16:46
Bertie Vidgen argues that current definitions of extremism are severely limited. They are posed as certainties rather than probabilities, and this makes them incapable of capturing the complexity of social reality.
Blog
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Detecting East Asian Prejudice on Social Media
28 May 2020
Authors: Bertram Vidgen
Researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute have contributed to research led by The Alan Turing Institute’s Hate Speech: Measures & Counter-measures project to create ...
Read More Detecting East Asian Prejudice on Social Media -
Applying for a DPhil? How to Craft a Great Research Proposal
21 January 2019
Authors: Bertram Vidgen
I’ve just come to the end of my DPhil at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), so it seems fitting to now offer some advice ...
Read More Applying for a DPhil? How to Craft a Great Research Proposal -
Exploring the Ethics of Monitoring Online Extremism
23 March 2016
Author: Bertram Vidgen
(Part 2 of 2) The Internet serves not only as a breeding ground for extremism, but also offers myriad data streams which potentially hold ...
Read More Exploring the Ethics of Monitoring Online Extremism -
Assessing the Ethics and Politics of Policing the Internet for Extremist Material
18 February 2016
Author: Bertram Vidgen
The Internet serves not only as a breeding ground for extremism, but also offers myriad data streams which potentially hold great value to law ...
Read More Assessing the Ethics and Politics of Policing the Internet for Extremist Material