Matti Pohjonen, Ph.D.

Matti Pohjonen works at the intersection of digital anthropology, philosophy and data science. For the past 10 years, he has developed critical research approaches for understanding digital cultures globally. This has included, among other things, work on international news and blogging in India, mobile technology in East Africa, comparative research on online extremism and hate speech in Ethiopia and Europe, and exploring new methods in “big data” analysis and artificial intelligence for digital media research. He received his MA and PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where he also worked as a Lecturer in Global Digital Media (2018-2020), Senior Teaching Fellow (2006-2009) an AHRC-funded Post-Doctorate Research Fellow (2013). He was also previously a Researcher for the Programme for Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCLMP), at the University of Oxford (2013-2016), a Research Fellow (2015-2016) for the VOX-Pol Network of Excellence, and a Visiting Research Fellow (2017) at the Centre for Media and Communication (ZeMKI), at the University of Bremen. His work as a Senior Researcher (2016-2017) for Africa’s Voices Foundation, a not-for-profit research organisation launched out of University of Cambridge, was dedicated to developing innovative research and data analysis methods for hard-to-reach populations in East Africa. He currently works for the Finnish Academy-funded project, "Media platforms and social accountability: Dynamics, practices and discourses (MAPS)"