CSRLab studies how digital platforms and artificial intelligence are transforming conflict, identity and social vulnerability. At the same time, it develops and validates computational methods for social research. AI is both an object of study and a research tool.
Research areas
1Artificial intelligence and social change
Generative artificial intelligence is accelerating social change in unprecedented ways. We study its effects from sociological, anthropological, political and legal perspectives.
- Everyday uses of generative AI and changes in work, relationships and communication
- AI, young people and vulnerable groups: opportunities, risks and new inequalities
- AI, institutions and democratic participation
- Regulation, accountability and rights: the AI Act and personal data protection
2Online hate, misogyny and radicalisation
Hate speech, the manosphere and digital subcultures; who produces them and how they spread across networks.
- Hate speech, fake news, and information and disinformation processes
- Digital ethnography, virtual communities and online subcultures
- Hackers, crackers and different kinds of hackerism
- Cybersecurity and online terrorism
- Digital crime
3Democracy, institutions and digital political communication
How platforms, data and artificial intelligence are transforming democratic participation, political competition and the functioning of public institutions: from frames and propaganda in the digital public sphere and the polarisation of major public issues, to the digitalisation of public administration and data transparency.
- Analysis of electoral campaigns and electoral observatory
- Polarisation and politicisation of media discourse: climate change narratives in comparative perspective (Italy–United States)
- Climate scepticism and environmental movements online: narratives and scenarios on social media
- Populism, xenophobia and othering in the digital public sphere
- Artificial intelligence and digital public opinion
- Digitalisation and artificial intelligence in public administration
- Open data, transparency and participation: reuse of public data and open welfare systems
4Futures Studies and decision support
The study of possible, probable and preferable futures through foresight methods, scenario building, complexity analysis and Delphi techniques, also supported by artificial intelligence, to inform strategic decisions and public policy.
5Migration, vulnerability and rights
Trafficking and exploitation of migrants, climate migration, protection of minors and vulnerable people, and the growing role of digital technologies and artificial intelligence in migration governance.
- Technology, AI and border control: surveillance, algorithmic management and the governmentality of migration
- Digital technologies and integration: access to services, rights and social networks
- The impact of technology on migration and reception policies
6Law, data and artificial intelligence
The legal dimensions of digital transformation: personal data protection, the security of information processes, the protection of persons and vulnerable people online, and the regulation of and liability for the use of artificial intelligence systems.
- Privacy and protection of personal data
- Online protection of minors and vulnerable people
- Digitalisation of services and information security
- AI law: liability, ethics and regulatory constraints (AI Act)
7Computational methods for social research
We develop and validate computational and mixed methods for studying social phenomena, combining digital data, statistical models and qualitative approaches.
- Web scraping and digital data collection
- Text mining, NLP and topic models
- Social network analysis
- Machine and deep learning
- Bayesian and latent variable models
- LLMs as coding instruments and their validation; synthetic data
- Digital ethnography
- Surveys and Delphi methods