Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow
Dr Scott A. Hale is an Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow, and Turing Fellow. He develops and applies computer science techniques to the social sciences focusing on increasing equitable access to quality information.
From finding the best local restaurant to seeking medical advice, the information we consume shapes our choices. However, high-quality information is not equally accessible to all people online. Language barriers, socio-economic factors, digital literacy, misleading information, and personal attacks all contribute to growing inequalities in our online information ecosystem.
The Equitable Access to Quality Information Lab (eaqilab) at the Oxford Internet Institute is dedicated to researching and addressing these disparities. Our work explores how people navigate the digital landscape, what influences the visibility of information, and how misinformation, bias, and hate speech impact decision-making across different communities.
For too long, efforts to bridge the digital divide have focused solely on internet connectivity. In an age of information overload, access alone is not enough. Communities need tools to evaluate, organise, and make sense of the vast amounts of information they encounter daily. Our research helps design these tools, ensuring they are inclusive, effective, and relevant for diverse populations.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence hold incredible potential for improving access to quality information, but current AI advancements are largely designed for the global north. As AI, social media, and messaging apps increasingly mediate how people access news and knowledge, we must ensure these technologies work for everyone, especially communities in the larger world (aka global south).
Our research goes beyond theory. It drives policy, informs technology development, and supports civil society organizations worldwide. By developing research-driven solutions, we aim to create a more equitable digital world – one where everyone has the tools and knowledge they need to navigate, evaluate, and trust the information they consume.
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Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow
Dr Scott A. Hale is an Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow, and Turing Fellow. He develops and applies computer science techniques to the social sciences focusing on increasing equitable access to quality information.
DPhil Student
Andrew holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Yale University and an MSc in Social Data Science from the OII. He is a Clarendon Scholar and was previously a Thouron Prize winner at the University of Cambridge (Pembroke College).
Casa Grande University
Gabriel Brito is a digital anthropologist with wide experience in social media analytics in the private and public sector. He is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute.
Research Associate
Dr Chico Camargo is an interdisciplinary researcher who develops and applies computational tools to study complex systems, collective human behaviour, public opinion dynamics and culture change.
DPhil Student
Calvin is a PhD student in computational communication research. His works centre around misinformation diffusion and mutation in multilingual contexts and applying LLMs to measure human values.
Research Assistant
Julia is a Research Assistant for the Digital Good Network, where she is researching the digital good people want when using generative AI on private messaging apps.
DPhil Student
Kobi is a PhD candidate in Social Data Science and Clarendon Scholar at the OII. Kobi’s doctoral research evaluates the capabilities of artificial intelligence systems to influence human attitudes, behaviour, and cognition.
DPhil Student
Jude’s research focuses on building computational and machine learning models that can acquire and demonstrate social cognition skills by borrowing from principles in Psychology, Social Sciences and Cognition.
DPhil Student
Hannah is a 3rd year DPhil student in Social Data Science at the OII. Hannah's research centres on the role of granular and diverse human feedback for aligning large language models.
DPhil Student
Jabez is a DPhil student in Social Data Science at the OII. His research focuses on misinformation and developing automated fact-checking methods for misinformation in multiple modalities and across multilingual contexts.
DPhil Student
Amy is a DPhil candidate. She researches empathic communication with digital audiences.
DPhil Student
Manuel is a second-year DPhil student in Social Data Science and a Shirley Scholar at the OII. His research is focused on the cross-geographic study of harmful online content moderation.
Research Assistant
Tedi is a data scientist researching NLP algorithm benchmarking with LLMs, as well as graph-based methods for link prediction and change-point detection in ecological temporal multiplex networks.
The Digital Good Network (DGN) delivers an interdisciplinary, social science-led research programme centred on the urgent, neglected question of what the digital good should look like and how it can be achieved.
Media narratives on migration are perceived to have a significant impact on policy decisions and public attitudes toward migration. The project applies tools and methods to enable practitioners to make more effective policy decisions.
This project seeks to quantify trends and changes in the volatility of public opinion before and after widespread use of social media, and to study how social information can drive public opinion.
