Simona Frenda

Simona Frenda serves as a Research Associate in the Department of Computer Science at Heriot-Watt University's School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences. Her work bridges computer science and social sciences through natural language processing applications targeting racial stereotypes and dangerous speech in social media, contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goals for inclusive digital environments.

Her research focuses on Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics, and Social Media Analysis with specialized expertise in stereotype detection, multilingual corpus development, and psychology-NLP integration. Key projects include creating annotated resources for racial hoaxes across languages and analyzing Italian social media dynamics to develop countermeasures against harmful content.

Analysis of her 2023-2025 publications reveals a cohesive trajectory applying computational methods to societal challenges, particularly in Italian contexts. Her work consistently merges linguistic analysis with psychological frameworks to build detection systems and annotated datasets, advancing both technical NLP methodologies and social understanding of online discourse.

Dr. Frenda maintains extensive international collaborations across disciplines, as evidenced by co-authorship with institutions in Italy and beyond, fostering interdisciplinary approaches to combat online hate speech and bias through shared resources like multilingual corpora and annotation frameworks.