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Research

Research

New technologies, data, and algorithms impact every aspect of daily life. It takes multidisciplinary research to investigate how we design, build and adapt to new innovations.

It takes many kinds of qualitative, quantitative, and computational methods, crafted ethically, to understand how we socialise, how we learn, and how we can solve social problems. Our faculty are the global leaders in this research.

Strategy

A significant proportion of social, economic, and political activity across the world has moved online, and our mission is to understand this transformation. Our research draws on many different disciplines: we believe this combined approach is essential to tackle society's 'big questions'.

Professor Brent Mittelstadt
Director of Research, Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow

Every day, more of the world’s cultural, economic and political activity takes place online. The Oxford Internet Institute’s (OII) mission is to understand  this transformation. Our research draws on many different disciplines,  essential to tackling the major challenges of the 21st century. From digital politics to the ethics of artificial intelligence, we aim to address the societal implications of life online to inform public policy, advise industry and enhance daily life for people around the world.

Our research excellence strategy involves a comprehensive program for conducting original research, recruiting the world’s top researchers, and advancing both the scientific and humanistic understanding of the impact of the internet, data, and information technologies on society.

We have a consolidated agenda – across our research and teaching activities — that addresses important questions for public life, develops our strengths in key domains of inquiry, emphasises methodological innovation, and engages in international and collaborative research.

Impact

Our research contributes both to academic knowledge and debates as well as to policy and practice, and we have had a significant impact on policy debate, formulation and implementation around the globe, as well as a secondary impact on people’s wellbeing, safety and understanding.

Our impact in scholarly publishing is significant, but we go beyond this with methodological innovations, tool building, engagement with industry, and active participation in wider debates about the role of technology in public life.

A lecture.