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How are we using energy in lockdown?
Things have changed a lot over the past few months – including, for many of us, our daily routine. But how has this impacted our energy usage? In this week’s episode of the Big Questions podcast, we chat to Dr Philipp Grünewald from Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute about his ‘JoyMeter’ survey, which has given a fascinating insight into...
Can data find me a date?
Looking for ‘The One’, or maybe just a date for Valentine’s Day? The dating scene has changed significantly over the past ten years, not least because of the increasing popularity of online dating websites and dating apps. In this special ‘Valentine’s’ edition of the Big Questions podcast, we’re asking Patrick Gildersleve from the Oxford...
Grant Blank
I am a sociologist who studies the social and cultural impact of the Internet. The Internet is one of the most important innovations to emerge in the past half century. It is causing wide changes in British society and culture. I use data from the Oxford Internet Survey to understand how the Internet...
Anjuli R. K. Shere
My doctoral research centres on emerging threats to journalists from new internet-connected technologies, which seems natural given that I’ve always been fascinated by both investigations and sci-fi scenarios. My on-going DPhil in Cyber Security here, at Oxford, follows an MA in Science and International Security from King’s College London, a...
Tom Hart
My research centres around how to monitor penguins and other marine predators in difficult environments such as Antarctica. Many of the most important environments on the planet are too data deficient to understand the changes occurring there, and the implications for global change, which in turn stalls effective management. I spend a lot of...
How is technology being used to track Black Lives Matter protestors?
We've probably all heard the phrase 'Big Brother is watching you' (a reference to the fictional character in George Orwell's dystopian novel '1984') - but are we really under constant surveillance? Is it actually possible to be a fully functioning member of modern society without being tracked by some sort of surveillance system? And how is...
Keeping Social Media Social
Social media has become a huge part of many of our lives. But do we really know where all that information goes? In this animation we look at the ways that research can help us understand the world on and offline through the lens of social media, and some of the questions it raises.
How tricky is it to make a COVID-19 tracing app?
As we search for a way out of the global coronavirus crisis, there’s been plenty of discussion surrounding a potential COVID-19 tracing app. Many of us carry a mobile phone with us wherever we go, so it seems logical to use this pre-existing infrastructure in the transition towards a ‘new normal’. But how tricky is it to make such an app? What’...
Patrick Gildersleve
I am in my 8th year of study in Oxford, having started with a 4 year undergrad Masters in physics, before making a jump to the social sciences at the Oxford Internet Institute. I’m now working towards a DPhil and am interested in applying mathematical methods from physics to model and make predictions on social systems. In particular, I’m...
