The Social Data Science Lab at Cardiff University is an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Data Investment and forms part of the £64 million Big Data Network for the social sciences. An ESRC Capability Methods and Infrastructure Grant provides the Lab's core funding, and brings together crime, social, computer, and statistical scientists to study the empirical, methodological, theoretical and technical dimensions of New and Emerging Forms of Data in social, policy and business contexts. This empirical social data science programme is complemented by a focus on ethics and the development of new methodological tools and technical solutions for the UK academic, public and private sectors.
We develop and support the COSMOS software that provides ethical access to social media data for social science researchers. The Lab’s mission is to democratise access to big social data among the academic, private, public and third sectors, and to support real-time social data analytics for research, policy & practice. The Lab's research falls within the five themes below.
Lab Wins New £450,000 ESRC Cybercrime Grant
24th October 2018 How online technologies are transforming transnational organised crime. Experts from Cardiff University are leading on a major new research project which will assess how new technologies are influencing transnational organised crime (Cyber-TNOC). Professor Mike Levi, Dr Luca Giommoni and Professor Matthew Williams, criminologists at the School of Social Sciences, along with Professor … Continue reading Lab Wins New £450,000 ESRC Cybercrime Grant
Rise in Brexit related Hate Crime to be Focus of New Research Lab
13th December 2018 Researchers at Cardiff University have been awarded grants totalling £1 million for the new HateLab, tasked with assessing the impact of national events on levels of hate crime and speech. It is hoped that any spikes seen on a newly-developed Online Hate Speech Dashboard will allow police and the government to pre-empt … Continue reading Rise in Brexit related Hate Crime to be Focus of New Research Lab
Social Data Science Lab Publish Ethics Guide for Using Social Media Data
7th January 2018 The journal Sociology publishes Lab’s work on ethics . Communications and connections harvested from social media networks are becoming part of the social scientist’s data diet. Since 2011 the Social Data Science Lab at Cardiff University has been collecting tweets posted around national and global events using the in-house developed COSMOS software. … Continue reading Social Data Science Lab Publish Ethics Guide for Using Social Media Data
7 November 2017 Lab Directors Professor Matt Williams and Dr. Pete Burnap recognised for excellence in Innovation and Enterprise. The Social Data Science Lab is a finalist in the 2017 Cardiff University Celebrating Excellence Awards. The awards recognise groups and individuals who go the extra mile, and acknowledge the contributions made by colleagues from across the … Continue reading Social Data Science Lab is a Shortlisted Finalist in the 2017 Cardiff University Celebrating Excellence Awards
10 October 2017 ESRC funded Lab research forms key evidence in Panorama’s ‘Hate on the Streets’ BBC One’s Panorama programme ‘Hate on the Streets‘ takes a hard look at the rising tide of hate since the referendum on the UK’s future in the EU. Producers made contact with the Social Data Science Lab to get … Continue reading Professor Matt Williams Presents Exclusive Lab Brexit-related Hate Crime Findings on BBC One’s Panorama