Announcing the 2020 Social Data Research and Dissertation Fellowships
The Social Data Research and Dissertation Fellowship program, supported by the Omidyar Network, seeks to encourage multifaceted pathways for the collection and analysis of social data, with the larger aim of cultivating robust research on technology and society. In the initial grant cycle, fellows were asked to focus on the forthcoming 2020 election in the United States, while thinking creatively about possible approaches to gathering and analyzing relevant data.
Visit the full award announcement for further information about the context for the program, an overview of the selection process, and a discussion of the awardees.
The following are awardees from the Social Data Research and Dissertation Fellowship program:
Leveraging User-Generated Social Media Content to Understand Misinformation in American Politics
Principal Investigator

Taylor Carlson
Assistant Professor, Washington University in St. Louis
Social Data Research Fellowship
The 2020 US Elections Post-GamerGate: Political Discourse among Iranian and Iranian-American Gamers on Social Media
Principal Investigator

Melinda Cohoon
PhD Candidate, University of Washington
Social Data Dissertation Fellowship
Historical Analogy, Covid-19, and the 2020 US Election: How Historical Misinformation Undermines Democratic Institutions
Principal Investigator

Jennifer Evans
Full Professor, Carleton University
Social Data Research Fellowship
Reconsidering the Connections between New Media, (In)Equality, and Political Participation in the United States
Principal Investigator

Brooke Foucault Welles
Associate Professor, Northeastern University
Social Data Research Fellowship
Solidarity and Strife: Democracies in a Time of Pandemic
Principal Investigator

Marion Fourcade
Professor of Sociology; Director of Social Science Matrix, University of California, Berkeley
Social Data Research Fellowship
Longitudinal Investigation of Algorithmically Curated Content for Misinformation on Social Media Platforms
Principal Investigator

Prerna Juneja
PhD Student, University of Washington
Social Data Dissertation Fellowship
Visualizing a Pandemic: Epistemological Conflicts over Covid-19 Data on Social Media
Principal Investigator

Crystal Lee
PhD Candidate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Social Data Dissertation Fellowship
Theorizing Social Media Skepticism: How Two Distinct Types of Skepticism Impact Information Behaviors and Election Legitimacy
Principal Investigator

Jianing Li
PhD Candidate and Knight Scholar of Communication and Civic Renewal, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Social Data Dissertation Fellowship
Social Media Incivility and Candidate Gender during the 2020 US Election
Principal Investigator

Ashley Muddiman
Associate Professor, University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc.
Social Data Research Fellowship
Does Demand Create Its Own Supply?: YouTube Politics during the 2020 Presidential Campaign
Principal Investigator

Kevin Munger
Assistant Professor, Penn State University
Social Data Research Fellowship
Some Politics Are Still Local: Strategic Position Taking in Modern Campaigns for Congress
Principal Investigator

Rachel Porter
PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Social Data Dissertation Fellowship
Voter Education in the Digital Age: State and Local Election Official Use of Social Media
Principal Investigator

Mara Suttmann-Lea
Assistant Professor, Connecticut College
Social Data Research Fellowship
Community Partisanship: How Local Processes Produce National Politics
Principal Investigator

Stephanie Ternullo
PhD Candidate, University of Chicago
Social Data Dissertation Fellowship
Infodrought and Infodemic: Conceptualizing Information Vulnerabilities on Social Media
Principal Investigator

Kjerstin Thorson
Associate Professor, Michigan State University
Social Data Research Fellowship
Online Identity and Political Speech in Social Media
Principal Investigator

Hye Young You
Assistant Professor, New York University
Social Data Research Fellowship