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| Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science | |
|---|---|
| Name | Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science |
| Established | 2017 |
| Type | Research center |
| Location | Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Affiliations | University of Copenhagen |
Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science
The Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science is a research center based in Copenhagen affiliated with the University of Copenhagen and oriented toward interdisciplinary analysis of digital trace data from platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, TikTok, Wikipedia. The center engages with scholars from institutions including Harvard University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and interacts with policy actors such as the European Commission, Danish Parliament, UNESCO, OECD, NATO to inform debates on algorithmic transparency, social media regulation, data ethics and civic technology.
The center focuses on computational social science methods drawn from practitioners at University of Copenhagen, Oxford Internet Institute, Yale University, Columbia University, New York University, combining techniques from researchers at Facebook AI Research, DeepMind, OpenAI, Microsoft Research, IBM Research to study phenomena across platforms like Twitter and YouTube and contexts such as the United States presidential election, Brexit referendum, European Parliament elections, 2016 United States presidential election and events like the Arab Spring and the COVID-19 pandemic. Its remit spans applied projects for stakeholders including European Central Bank, World Health Organization, World Bank, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch.
Founded amid policy and academic interest in digital trace analysis following high-profile incidents involving Cambridge Analytica, Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, the center emerged as part of broader initiatives at the University of Copenhagen and in dialogue with entities such as the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science, Danish Data Protection Agency, European Data Protection Board and research networks like the Alan Turing Institute and the Max Planck Society. Early development involved contributions from scholars associated with Princeton University, London School of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, ETH Zurich and collaborations with platforms including Twitter (now X), Google, Meta Platforms.
The center hosts research strands addressing misinformation, polarization, computational propaganda and digital publics with projects that draw from methods used at MIT Media Lab, Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford Internet Observatory and employ tools and standards referenced by organizations such as IEEE, ACM, Association for Computing Machinery SIGCHI and American Political Science Association. Research outputs intersect with themes examined by Pew Research Center, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Bertelsmann Stiftung and contribute to policy reports for European Commission, Council of Europe, United Nations Development Programme.
The center delivers graduate courses, workshops and MOOCs in collaboration with departments across the University of Copenhagen, and partners such as Coursera, edX, FutureLearn and industry programs run with Google AI, Microsoft AI School, IBM SkillsBuild to train students in methods employed at Harvard Kennedy School, Kellogg School of Management, INSEAD and executive education for officials from institutions like the European Parliament and Danish Agency for Digitisation.
Formal partnerships link the center with academic partners including Aarhus University, Technical University of Denmark, Karolinska Institutet, University of Oslo, Uppsala University and research infrastructures such as NordForsk, Horizon Europe, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions as well as civil society and industry partners like Access Now, Mozilla Foundation, ProPublica, The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian and tech companies including Meta Platforms, Google, Twitter/X.
Governance structures reflect oversight from the University of Copenhagen and advisory boards with members from institutions such as European Commission, Danish Ministry of Finance, Nordic Council, and experts from Harvard University, Stanford University, Oxford University; funding sources have included grants from European Research Council, Carlsberg Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, VELUX Foundations, Danish Innovation Fund and competitive awards from Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe.
The center is housed on premises associated with the University of Copenhagen and leverages computational infrastructure provided by national facilities such as Danish National Supercomputer for Life Sciences, regional data centers connected to EuroHPC, and collaborates with digital archives like Danish National Archives and data repositories run by Zenodo, Dataverse Project to enable reproducible research comparable to practices at Harvard Dataverse and ICPSR.
Notable projects include large-scale analyses of disinformation during the 2016 United States presidential election, tracking of health misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic, audits of recommender systems akin to studies by Mozilla Foundation and investigations into political microtargeting inspired by the Cambridge Analytica controversy; outputs have informed policy deliberations at the European Commission, interventions by Danish Parliament and reports cited by BBC, The New York Times, Financial Times, Politico Europe and advocacy by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.