Oxford Disinformation & Extremism Lab

The Oxford Disinformation & Extremism Lab (OxDEL) is an interdisciplinary hub of researchers, academics, graduate students, and practitioners working to understand and prevent online harms such as disinformation, misinformation, and extremism. Bringing together researchers from Oxford and beyond, the OxDEL hub helps to facilitate collaboration and connection for a diverse group of experts. Our mission to is produce leading academic research, policy recommendations, training for early-career researchers, conferences and workshops, as well as an inclusive and supportive community for all lab members. We make every effort to share and amplify the work of lab members with the wider community of researchers and practitioners working on online harms. ​ The OxDEL was started in response to the scattered nature of research on online harms in Oxford with researchers working in silos around the institutes, centres, libraries, and universities in Oxford. Researchers working on disinformation, misinformation, extremism, terrorism, algorithmic bias, machine learning, and generative AI benefit from inter-disciplinary sharing; however, the existing structures isolate researchers within their immediate communities and prevent collaboration. Researching extremism, disinformation, and online harms can also expose researcher to distressing content, especially when prolonged exposure is necessary for the research. Interaction with other researchers working on similar topics and who have developed best practices for dealing with distressing content can help mitigate the mental health challenges associated with research on online harms. The lack of support and community for early-career researchers and graduate students examining extremist content and disinformation are most acute as universities often fail to provide adequate methodological training for how to collect and analyze data on online harms. The OxDEL is our response to these issues and an attempt to build a more connected and better trained community of researchers. While most lab members are based in Oxford or southern England, we welcome new members from outside the city and around the world who are working on online harms. We believe the best research comes from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines. We welcome applicants from all ethnic, religious, gender, and socio-economic backgrounds. Similarly we are methodologically neutral and welcome members from all disciplines, including computer science, political science, economics, sociology, and mathematics. Open to researchers from any university in Oxford and the surrounding area, the OxDEL is not affiliated with any university, company, or government. The OxDEL is a non-partisan and non-profit initiative with free membership. Learn more and join the network at https://www.oxdisinformationextremismlab.com/ Steering Committee: Kye Allen (Oxford) Broderick McDonald (Oxford / Kings College London) Guy Fiennes (Oxford / ISD) Ana Diamond (London Library) Juhi Kore (Oxford)