DATALAB – Center for Digital Social Research is an interdisciplinary research center established in 2016 under the School of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University, Denmark. Led by Professor Anja Bechmann, the center conducts forefront research on citizens, collectives, and populations in algorithmic communication spaces and datafied societies. The center focuses on AI-powered platforms, associated socio-technical actors, patterns of agency and influence, and effects on communication flows. 

DATALAB hosts fundamental and mission-driven research projects that are theoretically based, empirically tested, and often including large-scale trace data. Our mission-driven research contributes to informing decisions on policy and regulatory frameworks (e.g. in relation to platforms and AI). The projects at the center utilize a wide range of methods from computational social science often combining learning models with experiments, surveys, digital ethnography, and interviews.   

DATALAB researchers and projects share a vision and fundamental interest in creating novel methods and reinterpreting theories to better understand the techno-modern social fabric. Our projects provide novel knowledge on algorithmic and data-driven agency and societies with a particular sensitivity towards principles of democracy, human rights, and ethics.