I am a WISERD Research Associate based in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. Since 2015 I have worked across the Civil Society research centre, exploring the relationship between engagement with social media and civil society. This has included research into the use of social media by social movements and during instances of collective and industrial action. Presently I am leading research on the platform economy - including an ethnographic study of cycle couriers in Cardiff - and alternative kinds of work and organisation in the form of platform cooperativism.
I am also drawing on an interest in developing innovative methodologies to examine the potential that social media and digital research methods can bring to this field. This has included content and social network analysis of Twitter data using Gephi, COSMOS and NodeXL and mobile digital methods such as GPS mapping and photography.
Broadly, my research interests centre around digital society and the impact of new technologies on people and places. My PhD thesis explored the changing landscape of digital surveillance and resistance and developed theories of social control and nodal governance. I have a background in criminology and sociology and prior to taking up my current position in WISERD, worked on ESRC/EPSRC-funded research investigating business-related cybercrime in the UK.
