Sian - Oxford
DPhil in Computational Sociology - University of Oxford
I am a final year Doctoral (PhD) candidate at the University of Oxford. Prior to Oxford, I studied for my Bachelors in International Relations, Politics, and Sociology at the University of Portsmouth. During my BA I focused on a wide range of topics, from Political Philosophy to the Sociology of War and Violence. I received several University Essay Prizes for my papers on Masculinity in the Arab Israeli Conflict as well as Post-Colonial Constitutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. I wrote my final year thesis on gender and interaction on geosocial dating apps and was awarded the School’s Dissertation Prize. I received a full scholarship for my Masters in Research in the Social Sciences (MRes) and wrote my thesis on identity in anonymous online spaces, focusing on what memes can tell us about the culture and users who engage with them.
My Doctorate is at the Oxford Internet Institute, and examine barriers to women’s participation in cultures associated with technology. My thesis embraces a range of methods, including statistical modelling, computational text analysis (NLP), and ethnography. My doctoral research is funded by the Clarendon Scholarship Fund, Economic and Social Research Council, Pontigny Award and the Emden Doctorow Award at St Edmund Hall.
I have previously developed curricula for and taught five Computational and Social Research Methods courses at the Oxford Internet Institute, which focus on Social Science and Data Science respectively. In social science courses, my teaching focused on social research methods design, providing students with a practical guide to conducting real-world research. In addition, I have taught several programming courses in Python, which have been aimed at a diverse audience – from Computer Scientists to Historians. Across the subjects I have taught, I exceed the departmental teaching average rating, achieving a near-perfect score. Supplementary to my teaching, I have been a Research Assistant on a range of projects in the Social Sciences, drawing on my skills as a qualitative researcher as well as my Computational skills in R and Python.
Beyond my teaching in my own department, I have worked in outreach teaching Politics and Governance at a Secondary School level, developing content to engage students who would not otherwise be interested in the topic. Moreover, I also have convened a course entitled Politics, Knowledge, and Power at the Oxbridge Academic Programmes. I taught at Pembroke and Corpus Christi College using new media, such as Instagram, to teach students Social Theory. Overall, I have a varied and established background in teaching in the Social Sciences, including novel and accommodating approaches to teaching.
If you have any questions about my experience, please feel free to contact me at support@doxa.co.uk
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