SOAS Digital Research Network

The SOAS Digital Research Network, established in May 2023, unites the diverse expertise across SOAS’s three colleges to explore the profound impacts that digital technologies have had around the world on an interdisciplinary basis.

The scope of this exploration includes disruptive technologies such as generative AI, cryptocurrencies, VR, gaming and social media, but also questions around digitisation, archiving, social movements and surveillance.

In line with SOAS’s primary areas of expertise, the network is oriented towards the social, political, cultural and economic effects of these digital advancements. By bridging and combining these academic disciplines, the network provides a forum for engaging holistically with how digital technologies and their developers affect, and are shaped by, the complex cultural and geopolitical landscapes of SOAS’s focus regions.

Open to all staff and PGR students, the goal of the network is to facilitate critical discussions build research culture, gather new information, submit and research bids, and generally foster intellectual collaboration in respect of digital technologies and their global institutions, networks, implications, especially regarding the SOAS regions. The network also brings SOAS scholars together with external researchers, guest speakers and international partners, through a variety of events and workshops for both internal and external audiences.

Register to join the network (login required).

Image: Derek Gavey via Flickr (CC-Attr)