Find Academic Supervisors

• Health Policy
• Medical Sociology
• Disease Advocacy
• +3 more

Rachel Best is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the intersections of politics, culture, inequality, and health, with a particular emphasis on disease advocacy, disability discrimination, and the sociological implications of medical policy. She directs the Sociology graduate program and leads computational studies on disease stigma, advocacy strategies, and ADA litigation outcomes. Her work bridges medical sociology, legal studies, and public health, addressing how societal structures shape health outcomes and policy responses. Her research interests include analyzing how disease campaigns influence health policy, the political consequences of overestimating individual health control, and the role of stigma in disability rights litigation. Notable projects use computational methods to trace policy advocacy impacts and explore visibility dynamics in disability cases. Recent publications (2022–2025) highlight her focus on disease stigma’s societal effects, legal interpretations of invisible disabilities, and the evolving nature of advocacy in health policy. Her earlier works, such as Common Enemies: Disease Campaigns in America , critique single-disease advocacy frameworks and their unintended policy consequences. Rachel Best advises on graduate studies and collaborates with interdisciplinary teams. Her research has been supported by grants focusing on sociological methods in health policy analysis. She is affiliated with the University of Michigan’s Sociology Department and the LSA College, contributing to discussions on inequality and institutional sociology.

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Computer Mediated Communication
• Personal Information Management
• +11 more

Steve Whittaker is Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of social science and computer science, focusing on how technology affects human memory, communication, and personal information management. His current research explores human-centric AI systems, mental health technologies, and digital identity. His research interests center on designing interactive systems that support human needs in digital environments. He investigates how people manage digital information, remember personal experiences through lifelogging, and interact with conversational agents and social robots. His work emphasizes computational well-being, affective computing, and the social implications of technology use. He has made foundational contributions to the fields of personal information management (PIM), computer-mediated communication (CMC), and human-robot interaction. The recent publications reflect a strong trend toward mental health technology, human-AI interaction, and digital well-being. His work spans from theoretical models of emotion and memory to practical systems for mental health apps, chatbots, and immersive visualization. He frequently publishes in top-tier venues such as CHI, CSCW, and IUI, often in collaboration with researchers across disciplines. Lifetime Research Achievement Award from SIGCHI Fellow of the Association for Computational Machinery (ACM) Member of the CHI Academy Lasting Impact Award from ACM CSCW Best Paper Award at CSCW10 Best Paper Award at CHI07 Honourable Mention at ACM CHI 2020 Multiple best paper nominations at CHI, CSCW, and IUI MIT Siegel Prize Steve Whittaker has supervised numerous PhD and Master’s students, though specific names are not listed in the provided text. His research has been funded by major grants from NSF, NIH, and industry partners, enabling long-term studies on digital behavior and system development. He is Editor of the journal Human Computer Interaction and has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications. His most recent book, The Science of Managing Our Digital Stuff (MIT Press), co-authored with Ofer Bergman, synthesizes decades of research on personal information management. He leads a vibrant research lab at UC Santa Cruz that focuses on human-centered computing, where students and collaborators work on projects involving AI, mental health, digital memory, and social interaction. The lab has produced influential work on lifelogging, email management, telepresence robots, and algorithmic transparency. The team employs mixed methods, combining qualitative studies with system design and evaluation.

Carolyn ParkinsonView profile

Associate Professor

• Social Neuroscience
• Affective Neuroscience
• Social Psychology
• +4 more

Carolyn Parkinson is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), holding the Bernice Wenzel and Wendell Jeffrey Term Endowed Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience. Her research integrates social psychology with computational neuroscience to explore how the human brain represents, navigates, and shapes social environments. University: University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Academic Rank: Associate Professor Research Focus: Social and Affective Neuroscience, Social Network Analysis, Neural Mechanisms of Psychological Distance At the Computational Social Neuroscience Lab , Parkinson investigates: Neural encoding of social network structures Shared mechanisms for spatial, temporal, and social distance perception Computational modeling of social cognition Functional MRI analysis of social relationships Her work reveals that: Resting-state brain connectivity predicts social proximity Multivoxel patterns decode social knowledge representations Old cortical structures repurpose spatial processing for social cognition Neural population coding transcends historical phrenology-based approaches Notable awards include the Bernice Wenzel and Wendell Jeffrey Term Endowed Chair. She employs machine learning and social network theory to analyze distributed brain activity patterns, advancing understanding of human social behavior and cognition.

Heejung ChungView profile

Professor

• Human Resource Management
• Work and Employment
• Gender Inequalities at Work
• +18 more

Professor Heejung Chung is Professor of Work and Employment at King’s College London and Director of the King's Global Institute for Women's Leadership. She is based in the HRM & Employment Relations department within King’s Business School. Her research focuses on flexible working, gender and racial inequalities, work-life balance, and comparative labour market policies. Institution: King’s College London School: King’s Business School Department: HRM & Employment Relations Role: Professor and Director Her research interests include human resource management, gender inequalities at work, remote and hybrid working, work-family conflict, division of domestic labour, and advanced quantitative and qualitative methods. She employs large-scale longitudinal datasets and digital diaries to examine how flexible working affects marginalized groups and shapes social policy. The most recent articles reflect a strong trend toward investigating the social implications of remote and hybrid work, particularly focusing on gender and racial equity, flexibility stigma, and policy impacts. Her work increasingly emphasizes intersectionality, national policy contexts, and organizational change. Short-listed for the Rosabeth Moss Kanter Awards for Excellence in Work-Family Research Long-listed for the Cambridge University Press Excellence in Social Policy Research Named in Onalytica’s Top Voices in Future of Work 2023 Named in HR Magazine's 'Most Influential' list Professor Chung has secured over £10 million in research funding as PI or Co-I from ESRC, ERC, Nuffield, NORFACE, and others. She actively supervises PhD students and contributes to editorial boards of journals such as Gender & Society and Work, Employment & Society. She is a member of the executive boards of the European Social Policy Analysis Network and the Work and Family Researchers Network. She leads the King's Global Institute for Women's Leadership, where she promotes research and policy initiatives on gender equality, including the Gender Equality Index UK. Her work has directly influenced the European Commission’s Work-Life Balance Directive and ongoing discussions about the 'Right to Disconnect'.

Leah K VanWeyView profile

Professor

• Social Demography
• Environmental Social Science
• Land Use Change
• +7 more

Leah K VanWey is Professor of Environment and Society and Sociology at Brown University, where she also serves as Dean of the School of Professional Studies. She holds affiliations with the Department of Sociology, Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Population Studies and Training Center, Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences, and Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies. Previously, she served as Senior Deputy Director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Associate Director of the Population Studies and Training Center, and Associate Provost for Academic Space. VanWey completed her education at the University of North Carolina, earning a BA (1996), MA (1999), and PhD (2001). Her research focuses on social demography and environmental social science, particularly examining household responses to reforestation programs in Brazil's Atlantic Forest and the social/environmental impacts of frontier settlement in the Amazon. Her research interests include agricultural intensification, land use change, migration patterns, population-environment interactions, household dynamics, intergenerational support systems, and remittance economies, with a geographic focus on Brazil. She employs interdisciplinary approaches, collaborating with anthropologists, geographers, ecologists, and other social scientists. VanWey has secured significant research funding including grants from NSF, NIH, and NASA totaling over $2.5 million. Major projects include studying agricultural expansion in Brazil, climate variability impacts, land use change dynamics, and population-environment linkages. She mentors graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, including Trina Vithayathil. She teaches courses on human-environment interactions and research methods, including: Feeding Ten Billion, Methods for Interdisciplinary Environmental Research, Multivariate Statistical Methods, Fields and Methods of Social Research, and Professional Development seminars.

• Media Economics
• Communication Science
• Digital Media Transformation
• +3 more

Prof. Dr. M. Bjørn von Rimscha is a full-time Professor of Media Economics at the Department of Social Sciences, Media and Sport, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. He serves as Prodekan for Studium und Lehre since 2023 and previously held leadership roles including Geschäftsführender Leiter of the Institute for Journalism. His research focuses on media economics, digital transformation, advertising markets, and cross-border media management. Positions: Professor (2015–present), Prodekan (2023–present) Education: Freie Universität Berlin, University of Ulster Key Collaborations: Co-edited De Gruyter Handbook of Media Economics (2024), Handbuch Medienökonomie (2021) His recent work examines digital disruption in media industries, payment models for journalism, and the economic value of creativity. He advises PhD students like Robin Riemann and holds editorial roles at the Journal of Media Business Studies . Contact: b.vonrimscha@uni-mainz.de

Duncan AstleView profile

Professor

• Developmental cognitive neuroscience
• Brain connectivity and network organization
• Neurodevelopmental disorders
• +5 more

Duncan Astle is the Gnodde Goldman Sachs Professor of Neuroinformatics at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge. He serves as a Programme Leader at the Medical Research Council's Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (MRC CBU) and is a Fellow of Robinson College. Astle heads the 4D Lab (Development, Dynamics, Disorders, Data Science), which provides a research home for approximately 15 Early Career Researchers working at the intersection of developmental cognitive neuroscience and advanced data science methodologies. Astle's research focuses on understanding childhood development through innovative analytical approaches. His work employs transdiagnostic methods to study children with attention, learning, and memory difficulties, moving beyond traditional diagnostic categories. He investigates how neural systems develop in childhood, how they relate to developmental disorders, and how they respond to intervention. His research integrates network science, machine learning, and generative modeling to capture the complexity of neurodevelopmental diversity, examining how cognitive skills, literacy, numeracy, and mental health interrelate over developmental time. His publication record reveals a strong focus on brain connectivity and organization across development. Recent work explores structural and functional neurodevelopmental trajectories, brain wiring economics, and the impact of environmental factors on neural development. Astle's research frequently employs advanced data science techniques to identify sub-populations of children with different cognitive or brain profiles, regardless of diagnosis, and to map non-linear relationships between brain organization and cognitive difficulties. His work has increasingly focused on transdiagnostic approaches to understanding developmental disorders and the application of computational models to developmental neuroscience. Astle actively supervises PhD students and has built a substantial research group that contributes to major projects including the Centre for Attention Learning and Memory (CALM) and Resilience in Education and Development (RED). His work has been supported by prestigious funding bodies including the Royal Society, the British Academy, the Medical Research Council, and the Economic and Social Research Council, as well as multiple charitable foundations. The 4D Lab, under Astle's leadership, utilizes state-of-the-art facilities at the University of Cambridge, including on-site magnetic resonance imaging and magnetoencephalography scanners. The lab contributes to building specialist cohorts such as CALM (800 children with cognitive difficulties plus 200 comparison children) and RED, which study children's development, resilience, and educational outcomes. Astle's team explores how growing up in adverse environments affects children's brains, behavior, and mental health, with the aim of identifying early markers of risk and resilience.

• Behavioral Genetics
• Leadership
• Artificial Intelligence in Management
• +7 more

Zhaoli Song is an Associate Professor at the Department of Management and Organisation within NUS Business School, Singapore. His research bridges behavioral genetics with organizational behavior, focusing on leadership, AI in the workplace, cross-cultural management, and work-family dynamics. PhD in Human Resources and Industrial Relations (2004), University of Minnesota Master in Statistics (2004), University of Minnesota Master in Applied Psychology (1999), Chinese Academy of Sciences Bachelor in Optics (1995), Sichuan University Dr. Song pioneered molecular genetics applications in management research, achieving media recognition in Economist and Washington Post . His work spans AI strategy formulation, pandemic scenario modeling, and team innovation across Asia. He has taught organizational behavior, HRM, and research methods at undergraduate, Master's, EMBA, and executive levels. Recent publications analyze AI adoption frameworks, emotional dynamics in leader-member exchanges, and genetic determinants of creativity. He served as Academic Director for NUS Asian Pacific EMBA (Chinese) program (2013-2017), demonstrating educational leadership alongside scholarly contributions.

• Comparative Politics
• Political Communication
• Media Effects
• +3 more

Toril Aalberg is a Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. She was previously Head of the same department from 2017-2021 and serves as Guest Professor at Mid Sweden University in 2024-2025. Aalberg is a member of the research networks NEPOCS (Network of European Political Communication Scholars) and EVPOC (Elections, Values and Political Communication). Her research interests include comparative politics , election campaigns , media effects , public opinion , and stereotypes in political contexts. She has led major projects like the COST Action IS1308: Populist Political Communication in Europe (2014-2018). Toril Aalberg has authored or co-authored 9 books, including Populist Political Communication in Europe (2016) and Communicating Populism (2019). Her recent articles focus on misinformation during crises , media’s role in political efficacy , and cross-national disinformation studies , often analyzing data from 17-19 democracies. She has conducted extensive research on media polarization , immigrant attitudes , and news consumption patterns . Aalberg has held visiting appointments at institutions including the University of California, Berkeley , Stanford University , and University of Oslo , with current affiliations at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Oslo and Mid Sweden University . Her work spans political communication theory , media sociology , and democratic processes .

Christine EckertView profile

Professor

• Marketing Analytics
• Quantitative Modeling
• Consumer Financial Decisions
• +4 more

Christine Eckert is a Professor of Marketing Analytics at the TUM School of Management (Technische Universität München). She holds a doctorate in economics from Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and has previously held academic positions at University of Technology Sydney and EBS University of Business and Law. Education: Mathematics (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Christian-Albrechts University Kiel); Economics (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main) Her research focuses on quantitative modeling of market participants' decisions, spanning consumer financial behavior, strategic innovation decisions, and corporate social responsibility. She also explores methodological advancements in management research, particularly causal inference techniques. Notable contributions include serving as co-editor for Big Data and Business Analytics (Journal of Business Research) and receiving an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (2019-2021). Her work has been recognized with the Center for Financial Planning's Best Paper Award (2021). Key journals: Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Management, Journal of Marketing Research She contributes to academic governance through roles like Panel Member for New Zealand's Performance Based Research Fund (2018) and advisory board membership with Super Consumers Australia (since 2022).

Brandon M. StewartView profile

Associate Professor

• Quantitative Methods
• Statistical Methods
• Text Analysis
• +5 more

Brandon M. Stewart is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Princeton University with extensive interdisciplinary affiliations. He serves as Director of the Statistics Core at the Office of Population Research and maintains formal connections with the Politics Department, Princeton Institute for Computational Science and Engineering, Center for Information Technology Policy, and Center for the Digital Humanities. Stewart holds editorial leadership as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Political Analysis and Associate Editor at Sociological Methods & Research . His educational background includes: Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University (2015) Master's degree in Statistics from Harvard University (2014) Stewart's research pioneers innovative quantitative methods for social science applications, specializing in automated text analysis and modeling complex heterogeneity in regression. His methodological frameworks enable researchers to uncover hidden structures in large datasets that were previously too costly or impossible to analyze. While his recent work has focused on using newspaper archives to study propaganda mechanisms in contemporary China, his tools are deliberately designed for broad applicability across diverse domains including education, human trafficking, forced migration, international relations, constitutional law, and psychology. His publication record demonstrates consistent innovation at the intersection of statistics, machine learning, and social inquiry. Stewart's work shows a clear trajectory from foundational methodological development to practical implementation across numerous substantive areas, with recurring themes of enhancing causal inference with textual data, developing robust topic modeling techniques, and creating accessible computational tools for social scientists. Stewart's scholarly excellence has been recognized through multiple prestigious awards: 2024 Leo Goodman (Early Career) Award from the Methodology Section of the American Sociological Association 2023 Emerging Scholar Award from the Political Methodology Society Edward R Chase Dissertation Prize Gosnell Prize for Excellence in Political Methodology Political Analysis Editor's Choice Award Recognition for Excellence in Mentoring Graduate Students As a mentor, Stewart has guided several successful graduate students to faculty positions at institutions including UCLA and Georgetown. His collaborative approach is evident in numerous multi-author projects spanning disciplines from political science to computational linguistics. His leadership extends to the Sociology Statistics Reading Group, which he founded to foster interdisciplinary methodological exchange, and his summer methods camp that trains social scientists in advanced quantitative techniques.

• Political Economy
• Media Economics
• Information Economics
• +7 more

Julia Cagé is a Full Professor of Economics at Sciences Po Paris since 2024, having joined the Department of Economics in 2014 and receiving tenure in 2021. She is affiliated with the Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Evaluation of Public Policies (LIEPP), the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) where she leads the CEPR Research and Policy Network on 'Media Plurality,' and the CESifo Research Network. Her research spans political economy, media economics, and economic history with a focus on democracy, information economics, and political participation. Cagé's research interests center on the intersection of media, politics, and economics, particularly examining how media structures influence democratic processes, political participation, and information provision. Her work combines historical analysis with contemporary economic methods to understand the relationship between media markets, campaign finance, and political representation. She has pioneered research on media ownership models, the economics of digital journalism, and the long-term effects of historical institutions on contemporary political behavior. Her publications reveal a consistent focus on the economics of information and democracy, with particular attention to media markets, campaign finance, and electoral systems. Her work spans both theoretical and empirical approaches, often using historical data to inform contemporary policy questions. The research demonstrates increasing interdisciplinary integration, connecting economics with political science, history, and media studies to address fundamental questions about democratic representation and information markets. European Research Council Starting Grant (2021) for the PARTICIPATE project Best Young French Economist Award (ex aequo) by Le Cercle des économistes and Le Monde (2023) Yrjö Jahnsson Award (2025) Special Jury Prize for Best Book on Media (2016) Prix Pétrarque de l'essai by Le Monde and France Culture (2019) Cagé has supervised numerous PhD students and early-career researchers through her ERC grant and other research projects. She has secured substantial funding including the European Research Council Starting Grant and McCourt Institute grants in 2022 and 2023. Her research group at LIEPP has produced influential policy recommendations on media pluralism and democratic representation. She has also been involved in practical applications of her research through her board membership at Agence France Presse (2015-2022) and her policy engagement with French and European institutions. Cagé leads the PARTICIPATE research project funded by the ERC, which studies campaign finance, information, and political influence using individual-level data and computer science tools. Her work connects with broader research initiatives at Sciences Po focused on democratic innovation and the political economy of information. She frequently collaborates with interdisciplinary teams including economists, political scientists, historians, and computer scientists to address complex questions about democracy in the digital age.

• Development Economics
• Applied Econometrics
• Development Aid
• +6 more

Henrik Hansen is a Professor and Head of Department at the Department of Economics , University of Copenhagen , where he has held various academic and administrative roles since 1995. He is associated with the Development Economics Research Group (DERG) and affiliated with the Copenhagen Center for Disaster Research (COPE) network. Education : MSc in Economics (1991) and PhD in Economics (1995) from University of Copenhagen. His research focuses on development economics , with emphasis on development aid effectiveness , applied econometrics , and education research . He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Myanmar and Vietnam , analyzing enterprise surveys, household data, and policy impacts. Recent publications highlight productivity in manufacturing sectors, gender wage gaps, and credit access determinants. He teaches "Applied Research Methods" in the Global Development program and supervises development economics and applied econometrics students. Professional roles include editorial positions at Review of Development Economics and Asia & The Pacific Policy Studies , alongside advisory work for Statistics Denmark and Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences . He has organized international conferences and contributed to 25+ media discussions on topics like corruption in Africa and development financing .

Laura A. MeekView profile

Assistant Professor

• Pharmaceuticals and Counterfeit Drugs
• Antimicrobial Resistance
• Medical Anthropology
• +10 more

Laura A. Meek is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia Okanagan , specializing in Medical Anthropology , Decolonial Science and Technology Studies , and East African research . She holds affiliations with interdisciplinary networks like the UBC-O Science and Technology Studies Collective and co-directs the Storying Otherwise: Creative Ethnographic Writing Hub . PhD, MA in Anthropology (University of California, Davis) MA in Women’s Studies (George Washington University) Honors BA in Comparative Human Development (University of Chicago) Her research examines counterfeit pharmaceuticals and bodily epistemologies in Tanzania, framed through feminist , decolonial , and anti-racist lenses . She investigates leprosy elimination campaigns and fugitive science practices across Africa and Hong Kong, with recent work focusing on creative ethnographic prose and critical disability studies . Her publications span high-impact journals like Social Science & Medicine and Medical Anthropology Quarterly , addressing themes of radical uncertainty and world-making practices . Laura’s 15 most recent articles (2021–2025) analyze: pharmaceutical counterfeits in East Africa, the temporal politics of leprosy , anti-colonial global health , and creative writing as research . Her work bridges Indian Ocean connections and STS frameworks to critique neocolonial health governance. 2025 Collaborative Research Mobility Award 2024 Wenner-Gren Workshop Grant 2023 MAE–MAT Early Career Paper Award 2021 Society for Humanistic Anthropology Creative Ethnographic Prose Prize 2018 Wenner-Gren Dissertation Grant 2013 NSF Doctoral Dissertation Grant She supervises M.A. and Ph.D. students in UBC-O’s Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies programs, particularly in global health , African politics , and STS . Her professional service includes co-chairing the 2026 Cascadia Medical Anthropology Seminar and serving on the American Anthropological Association Nominations Committee .

Christoph StadtfeldView profile

Associate Professor

• Social Network Analysis
• Dynamics of Social Networks
• Statistical Methods for Network Data
• +2 more

Christoph Stadtfeld is Associate Professor of Social Networks at ETH Zurich's Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences and co-director of the ETH Social Networks Lab. His research examines social network dynamics, focusing on tie formation processes, network effects on individuals, and advanced statistical methodologies for longitudinal network analysis. Education: PhD from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (2011) Postdoctoral researcher and Marie-Curie fellow at University of Groningen, University of Lugano, and MIT Media Lab (2011-2014) His work bridges sociology, statistics, and computer science to address fundamental questions about how social structures evolve and influence behavior. Key interests include relational event modeling, co-evolution of networks and attributes, and applications in mental health, political polarization, and scientific collaboration. He develops innovative methods for analyzing dynamic networks using cutting-edge computational approaches. Recent publications reveal strong emphasis on methodological rigor in temporal network analysis, with significant contributions to relational event modeling and dynamic network actor frameworks. His work increasingly addresses societal challenges including political polarization, mental health impacts of social isolation, and innovation dynamics in healthcare. Scientific awards: Raymond Boudon Award of the European Academy of Sociology (2017) Freeman Award of the International Network for Social Network Analysis (2021) As co-director of the ETH Social Networks Lab, Stadtfeld leads interdisciplinary research teams developing novel network methodologies. His work has been supported by prestigious fellowships including Marie-Curie funding, and he actively mentors graduate students in network science methodology and applications across diverse domains. The ETH Social Networks Lab serves as a hub for advancing network theory and methodology, with ongoing projects examining student networks during crises, scientific collaboration dynamics, and innovation ecosystems through the lens of network science.