People

Michelle Abigan

MSc Student

Michelle is an MSc student in Social Data Science. She holds a BSc in Economics and Business Analytics. Prior to her postgraduate studies, she gained experiences in online marketplaces and consulting.

James Ahn

MSc Student

James is an aspiring student from Korea with an Economics background. He previously worked in the financial service industry, and also served in the Korean Army as a Squad Leader.

Adriano Belisario

MSc Student

Adriano uses data science in human rights investigations. He is a journalist, educator and researcher with a master's degree in Communication from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Tom Bennett

MSc Student

Thomas has studied Data Science, Finance, Economics, and Commercial Law at the University of Sydney. He is interested in using big data and designing data system flows to improve social outcomes.

Danit Berger Zalmanson

MSc Student

Danit's research focuses on developing an NLP algorithm to understand international relations comprehensively. She has an extensive background in Tech and the Israeli government.

Matthew Bone

MSc Student

Matthew is interested in developing computational models to better understand complex communication ecosystems. He studied mathematics and philosophy at Calvin University and worked as a software engineer in California for two years.

Cheryl Chiang

MSc Student

Cheryl has a background in Computer Science and Management. She is currently a student at the OII and part of the Oxford Strategy Group with her most recent project covering AI content moderation.

Asanilta Fahda

MSc Student

Asanilta Fahda holds a BSc in Informatics/Computer Science and worked for 5 years as a software engineer in several international companies ranging from e-commerce, data analytics, to FP&A software. She joined the OII as a Jardine Scholar.

Ariana Gamarra

MSc Student

Ariana is interested in the social impact of technology. She previously worked as a product consultant for an asset management firm and holds a BA in Information Science and Sociology from Cornell University.

Kobi Hackenburg

MSc Student

Kobi’s research combines natural language processing with network science and graph machine learning to study macro-trends in political language.

Milko Hristov

MSc Student

Milko researches the gig economy and its potential as a vehicle for economic development. He is a sustainable business owner who majored in economics at the University of Warwick.

Kevin Hu

MSc Student

Kevin is interested in human-AI interaction and the intersection of computation and society. He studied applied mathematics, computer science and anthropology at Dartmouth College.

Khyati Khandelwal

MSc Student

Khyati has completed her Bachelor’s in Statistics and Mathematics from the University of Mumbai. She has full time, as well as internship experience in text Analytics, NLP and Machine Learning.

Karolina Korgul

MSc Student

Karolina holds a BA from the University of Warsaw, in Economics, Computer Science, and Data Science. She is particularly passionate about customer behaviour, education, psychonometrics, state digitalisation, and trust and safety in digital products.

Polina Kuznichenko

MSc Student

Polina Kuznichenko is an MSc Social Data Science student at the University of Oxford. She holds a BSc in Economics and an MSc in Financial Risk Management from the University of Dublin, Trinity College.

Jabez Magomere

MSc Student

Jabez graduated from Strathmore University with a BSc in Informatics and Computer Science. He has research interests in explainable AI, algorithmic fairness, and bias in fintech machine learning models.

Alexander Mann

MSc Student

Alex is studying for an MSc in Social Data Science at the OII. He holds a BSc in Economics and Politics from the University of Bristol.

Harry Mayne

MSc Student

Harry is interested in health data science as well as the application of machine learning in economics. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

Henry Roberts

MSc Student

Henry holds a BA in PPE from the University of Oxford. He is interested in using data science methods to understand the media's influence on politics, voting for radical parties, and elite behaviour.

Jorge Ruiz Reyes

MSc Student

Jorge is a political scientist from Mexico City. He researches on grave human rights violations in Latin America using data and technology. He joined the department as an OII Shirley Scholar.

Jonathan Rystrøm

MSc Student

Jonathan has a background in cognitive science from Aarhus University and has worked as a data scientist in consulting and a start up. His main research focus is on creating broadly beneficial artificial intelligence.

Ajai Sreevatsan

MSc Student

Ajai is a former investigative journalist and long reads editor. He has previously worked with USA Today, The Hindu and WSJ-Livemint. Ajai holds an MS in Journalism from Northwestern University.

Errin Tijssens

MSc Student

Errin holds an MSc in Global Business & Sustainability from Erasmus University and studied Governance, Economics and Development during his Bachelor’s. Prior to joining the OII, he worked for a multinational corporation in the FMCG industry.

Zeeshan Ali

MSc Student

Zeeshan is interested in how online platforms can propagate Islamophobia and foster far-right extremism.

John Artunkal

MSc Student

John holds a BA in International Relations and Modern Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He is interested in digital marketing, psychographics, and election campaigns.

Asmita Bakshi

MSc Student

Asmita is interested in the anthropology and politics of digital access, disruption and assertion. She holds an LL.B and worked as a journalist, reporting on current affairs, conflict and tech policy.

Ben Bariach

MSc Student

Ben is a part-time MSc student at the OII with an interest in AI ethics. He currently works on social impact partnerships at Google, and has previously worked on various tech policy topics at Google's Public Policy and Legal teams.

Adam Bein

MSc Student

Adam is a corporate lawyer alongside his part-time studies at the OII. His academic pastimes include digital ethics, data protection and cultural heritage protection. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Birmingham.

Sudeep Bhargava

MSc Student

Sudeep received his BA in Communication from the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania. He studies digital archiving, online expressions of citizenship, and the shifting Global South.

Sarah Chen

MSc Student

Sarah Chen is a wargamer with a focus on cyber, influence, and narrative game design. She holds a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College in a dual degree of International Relations and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

Miranda Cross

MSc Student

Miranda is interested in consumer financial data regulation and governance, specifically privacy and portability issues. She holds a BA in Public Policy from Vanderbilt University, and previously worked at the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Cassie Crowley

MSc Student

Cassie is interested in the regulation of political speech online. She manages digital voter persuasion and turnout programs for U.S. political campaigns and holds a BA from Vanderbilt University.

Margaret Cunliffe

MSc Student

Margaret joined the OII as a Clarendon Scholar. She holds a BA in History from Columbia University. Her research interests include activism and intra-community conflict on social media.

Grace Elcock

MSc Student

Grace works full-time at the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology alongside her part-time MSc studies at the OII. With a BA (Hons) in Anthropology, she is interested in the role of culture in the creation and use of new technologies.

Ingrid Epure

MSc Student

Ingrid has more than a decade of experience as a software engineer and has worked on high-scale systems such as advertising platforms and cloud computing. She is interested in ways of determining social networks' impact on society.

Silja Erholtz

MSc Student

Silja is a part-time MSc in Social Science of the Internet student and works in UX design. She holds degrees in social services and early childhood education from Finland and fine art from India.

Ben Gilburt

MSc Student

Ben is interested in the effects of bias on academic research. Ben founded and runs the meetup community 'AI Ethics London', the largest ethical AI community in the UK.

Fernanda Gomez Balderas

MSc Student

Fernanda holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. She obtained her LL.B. from the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) in Mexico. She is interested in AI, content moderation, digital diplomacy, and digital rights.

Wenqian Guo

MSc Student

Wenqian holds a BA in Applied Linguistics and Asian Humanities from UCLA. She is keen to explore the social reflections of people’s online languages and to make online technology accessible to more.

Licinia Güttel

MSc Student

Licinia is interested in analysing how digital technologies become political issues. She holds a dual BA in political and social sciences from Freie Universität Berlin and Sciences Po Paris.

Aurora Hawcroft

MSc Student

Aurora holds a BA from SciencesPo Paris and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney. Aurora is interested in the social and political implications of AI in social sectors such as education, health, and disability services.

Zoe Hawkins

MSc Student

Zoe has worked on technology policy in think tanks, politics, industry, and as a diplomat. She is undertaking an MSc in Social Science of the Internet, researching the relationship between content moderation and international relations.

Julian Hazell

MSc Student

Julian is interested in researching how to ensure that transformative AI benefits humanity. He works as a research assistant for the policy team at the Centre for the Governance of AI.

Tyrique King

MSc Student

Tyrique King's primary research interests include the use of AI and data for Education and Psychometrics (Intelligence & Personality), and the ethics regarding the development and deployment of AI, and other nascent technologies, for social good.

Fiona Knäussel

MSc Student

Alongside her part-time MSc at the OII, Fiona works as a Research Associate for peace data applications and data ethics during violent conflict. She is a graduate of the London School of Economics and the University of Edinburgh.

Joanna Kramer

MSc Student

Joanna is interested in equitable design, from cities to the Internet. She holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from Brown University and has spent the past four years working as a UX writer.

Nitya Kuthiala

MSc Student

Nitya is interested in exploring digital relationships and health, while focusing on young girls and women from low resource areas. Previously, she was a Senior Design Researcher at a human-centred design consultancy working across emerging markets.

Pete Marcus

MSc Student

Pete is interested in contemporary policy and regulatory approaches to the impact of technology, especially in the UK, EU, US and China. He holds an MA in English from the University of Cambridge.

Barani Maung Maung

MSc Student

Barani was born and raised in Myanmar and completed her secondary and higher education in Singapore and the United States. After her undergraduate degree, she joined Meta in Ireland for three years as a Project Manager before arriving at the OII.

Rachael Merritt

MSc Student

Rachael has worked with journalists and think tanks to promote freedom of speech and combat media capture. With a BA in Russian, Rachael has enjoyed researching and backpacking in Moscow and Kyrgyzstan.

Sara Minaeian

MSc Student

Sara Minaeian is interested in the intersection of data ethics, AI and quantum computing. Prior to joining OII, Sara was Chief of Staff in the Government of Canada.

Yolanda Mlonzi

MSc Student

Yolanda holds a BA (Hons) Degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She is passionate about the positive impact having access to technology and the internet could be for development, especially in regions like Africa.

Albi Nani

MSc Student

Albi Nani graduated from Western University with an HBA in Business Administration, and BA in Media Studies. He has worked as a Strategy Analyst at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Zi Ling Ng

MSc Student

Zi Ling is interested in the impact of big data and predictive algorithms on patterns of citizen participation in the context of her native Singapore, particularly the impact on attitudes towards environmental activism and sustainability.

Brittany O’Duffy

MSc Student

Britt studies Social Science of the Internet while working as a Director of Social Intelligence Analytics at Ipsos. She holds a BA in English from Notre Dame and an MA in Consumer Psychology from NYU.

Temilorun Olanipekun

MSc Student

Temilorun is a research and business professional working in the digital technology space, and has professional experience working across four tech sectors: civic-tech, Proptech, Edtech, and Blockchain/Web3.

Jey Ou

MSc Student

Jey holds a BSc in Psychology from University College London. She is interested in digital propaganda and its influence on political behaviour & radicalisation. She previously worked at a polling company.

Hannah Perry

MSc Student

Hannah is a researcher, educator and Shirley Scholar focusing on education policy and practice to support resilience to misinformation. She has a Classics MA Cantab, Diaspora Studies SOAS MA and PGCE.

Lusine Petrosyan

MSc Student

Lusine holds a BA in Communication from UIUC, and has four years of professional experience in the FinTech sector. She is interested in the critical themes of data privacy, AI ethics, and digital literacy within social technologies.

Harvey Pitt

MSc Student

Harvey holds a BA in Politics and International Relations from the University of Exeter. He also consults social media platforms on how to reduce the harms that platforms may generate.

Henry Portman

MSc Student

Henry joins the OII as a part-time student while working in the field of machine learning. His research interests relate to natural language processing (NLP) and interpretability in AI.

Trisha Prabhu

MSc Student

Trisha is a Rhodes Scholar interested in building tech and policy to counter harmful online speech. She is the inventor of ReThink, an anti-hate app, and holds a BA in Gov & Tech Science from Harvard.

Philipp Riederle

MSc Student

Philipp Riederle is a management consultant, keynote speaker, and book author on Digital Generations. He is a passionate programmer and holds a degree in Sociology, Politics & Economics.

Wanjun Shang

MSc Student

Wanjun has a background in program management and business strategy across Tech, E-commerce, and Finance. Having earned a BSc in Management and an MBA, Wanjun comes to Oxford with a curiosity in the intersection of technology and sociology.

Saanjh Shekhar

MSc Student

Saanjh completed her undergraduate degree in sociology from the University of Delhi, in 2022. Using the lens of digital sociology and anthropology, she is interested in making emerging digital ecosystems more democratic, and inclusive.

Divya Siddarth

MSc Student

Divya is the co-founder of the Collective Intelligence Project, which advances collective intelligence capabilities for the effective governance of transformative technologies.

Mia Speier

MSc Student

Mia is a Shirley Scholar at the OII studying digital governance, news media and global media freedom. She holds a BA in International Relations and an MA in Public Diplomacy from the University of Southern California.

Rebecca Stringer

MSc Student

Rebecca holds a BSc in Psychology and is the Research Director at KidsKnowBest. Leading research in the key behaviours that impact children's development, Rebecca helps brands understand and support family audiences.

Tiffany Teng

MSc Student

Tiffany is interested in relationships that are formed over social media and how these relationships impact mental well-being. She holds an HBSc in Psychology Research from the University of Toronto.

Jack Van Cooten

MSc Student

Research Team Manager at Consultancy, Oliver Wyman. Previously Digital Research at OW and African Bank, Ecobank. Also worked in the Humanitarian sector (Save the Children and UN). For over a decade, Jack has run music events under Banana Hill.

Samantha Washington Wilcke

MSc Student

Zijian Ye

MSc Student

Zijian is a graduate of Nanjing University and the University of Pennsylvania. An educational start-up founder and independent researcher, Zijian is interested in technology-enhanced social control, digital propaganda, and recommender algorithms.

Leia Yen

MSc Student

Leia is interested in how education on digital and media literacy can be used to counter misinformation. She has an MA in Digital Humanities as a Marshall Scholar at King's College London, and a BA in English from the University of California.

Livia Yeung

MSc Student

Livia is a MSc Social Science of the Internet student at OII. She holds a BSc in Psychology from University College London (UCL) and worked on the Equity & Impact team at Spotify.

Xuan Zhu

MSc Student

Xuan has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto. She is interested in the intersection of business, technology and policy and impactful interdisciplinary projects advocating emerging technologies’ use for good social targeting.

Roland Chen

MSc Student

Roland is interested in digital culture. Specifically, in the aesthetic experience in light of emerging technologies. He also hopes to explore creative forms of scholarship.