Daniel C.S. Wilson

Dr. Daniel C.S. Wilson is a Lecturer in Cultural Analytics & Knowledge Systems at University College London's Department of Information Studies, with an additional appointment as Honorary Research Fellow in UCL's Department of Science & Technology Studies. He holds a current Turing Research Fellowship at the Alan Turing Institute (2023-2025) and previously served as Senior Research Associate on the 'Living with Machines' project, a major collaboration between historians, curators, and data scientists exploring British industrialization through digital methods.

Wilson's research focuses on the culture and politics of data and machines from the nineteenth century to the present, combining traditional archival study with computational techniques. His primary areas include digital history, British history, history of science and technology, and computational humanities, with specific interests in language, infrastructure, and analysis of large text and map collections. His current projects employ language models and computer vision to examine historical datasets including British Library newspaper collections and Ordnance Survey maps, with attention to bias, provenance, changing language, economic history, and spatial infrastructure development.

Wilson's recent publication record demonstrates consistent output in digital humanities methodology, particularly in text and map analysis. His work shows a clear trajectory toward developing computational approaches for historical research, with increasing focus on addressing representativeness and bias in digitized collections. His research bridges humanities scholarship with data science, creating new methodologies for historical inquiry while critically examining the assumptions embedded in both historical sources and contemporary analytical techniques.

Professional activities include Fellowship in the Royal Historical Society (since 2022), membership in the Association of Digital Humanities Organisations (since 2019), and the British Society for the History of Science (since 2009). He has served as a reviewer for ACM FAccT since 2022, demonstrating engagement with ethical considerations in algorithmic systems.

Wilson teaches techniques and theory of text analysis for large collections 'as data,' metadata systems, and digital humanities to MA/MSc students. His educational background includes a PhD from the University of London, with additional research experience at institutions including the Science Museum Group, University of Cambridge (CRASSH), and EHESS in Paris. He is fluent in French and maintains active collaborations across academic and cultural heritage institutions.