VOX-Pol’s 2015 – 2016 Research Fellow is Dr. Matti Pohjonen. Matti joined VOX-Pol partner the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH) at the University of Hamburg at the start of November 2015.
Matti’s research focuses on different kinds of conflict mediation mechanisms through which social media communities across the world have tried to counter and mitigate hate speech and violent political extremism online, focusing especially on the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe as a case study.
He will be based for six months at IFSH developing the conceptual framework for the research, and six months at UvA developing methods of data analysis.
Prior to joining the IFSH, Matti worked on a project mapping online political discussions in Ethiopia for the Programme on Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCLMP) at the University of Oxford, and was a Senior Teaching Fellow in Digital Culture at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
VOX-Pol’s 2014 – 2015 Research Fellow was Dr. Nico Prucha who was based at VOX-Pol partner ICSR at King’s College London.