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Matthew Williams

Professor Matthew Williams

Chair in Criminology - School of Social Sciences, Director - ESRC Social Data Science Lab, Director - ESRC HateLab

School of Social Sciences

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Media commentator
Users
Available for postgraduate supervision

Overview

I am Director of HateLab and the Social Data Science Lab, and Professor of Criminology in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. My main areas of research activity are:

  • Hate Crime, Hate Speech and Extremism Online
  • Computational Social Science
  • Cybercrime / Human Factors in Cybersecurity

Hate Crime, Hate Speech and Extremism Online

My popular science book, The Science of Hate, was published by Faber & Faber in 2021.  I have a long-standing interest in hate crime and the migration of all forms of hate to the Internet.  In 2013 the 'Hate Speech and Social Media' project (funder: ESRC, partner: Google) extended my work in this area to social media, with papers including 'Tweeting the Terror: Modelling the Social Media Reaction to the Woolwich Terrorist Attack', Social Network Analysis and Mining and ‘Cyberhate on Social Media in the Aftermath of Woolwich’, British Journal of Criminology. In 2017 I formed HateLab with a £1.8 million Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) grant.  HateLab acts as a global hub for data and insight into online and offline hate crime.  In addition to this core grant that supports our methods and infrastructure work, HateLab is funded to conduct empirical work. Recent grants include 'Hate Crime After Brexit' (funder: ESRC Governance After Brexit Programme, partner: Behavioural Insights Team) and 'Understanding Online Hate Speech as a Motivator for Hate Crime' (funder: US Department of Justice, partner: Rand Corporation). In total HateLab has generated circa £3 million in research income since 2017.  HateLab publications appear in both criminology and computer science journals. I was lead author on the major report on regulating online hate speech published by law firm Mishcon de Reya.

HateLab's research has received significant media attention and has been featured in: The LA Times, The Observer, The Independent (and here), The Guardian (also here), The Times (also here and here), The Financial Times, Telegraph (also here), The Sunday Express, The Sun, New York Post, The Metro, Tortoise, New Scientist, The Big Issue, Psychology Today, Politico, BBC News, The Register, ComputerWeekly, Verdict, Sky News, TechWorld and Police Professional. On TV and radio our research has underpinned many documentaries, including BBC One's Panorama, ITV's Exposure, BBC Two's David Baddiel: Social Media, Anger and Us, CBS’s Murder: First on Scene, an ITV NEWS special report, BBC Radio 4's Today Programme and File on 4, BBC World Service's Deeply Human, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio London and Times Radio.

The HateLab programme of work emerged out of the 2010-13 'All Wales Hate Crime Project' (funder: Big Lottery, partner: Race Equality First). This remains the largest and most comprehensive dedicated academic study of hate crime conducted within the UK, surveying over 1800 respondents, interviewing over 60 victims across all recognised strands (race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and gender identity) and reaching out to over 5000 community members via a dedicated project officer.  This project built upon my previous two studies into homophobic hate crimes in Wales (Stonewall Cymru Counted Out! Survey 2003 & Counted In! Survey 2007). The Big Lottery project achieved outstanding impact.  The findings were received by the Wales Minister for Communities at the project launch in the National Assembly for Wales and formed the key source of evidence for the Welsh Government's Framework for Action on Tackling Hate Crime. The key findings from the project were published in the British Journal of Criminology.  

Computational Social Science

I am Director of the Social Data Science Lab that forms part of the £64M ESRC Big Data Network for the Social Sciences.  The Lab core team and Research Fellows are supported by the grant 'Social Data Science Lab: Methods and Infrastructure Development for Open Data Analytics in Social Research' (£1.4M ESRC), and a new large grant, 'Understanding [Offline/Online] Society: Linking Surveys with Twitter Data', (£900K ESRC) extends our work until 2023.  I was a lead on the Cardiff Online Social Media Observatory (COSMOS) programme of work (2011-2015).  Both the Lab and COSMOS represent the largest investment in social media research in the UK (funded by ESRC, EPSRC, JISC, DoH, Supercomputing Wales, Welsh Government, Metropolitan Police Service, Airbus and Admiral Insurance at ~£7M).  I was Principal Investigator on the founding COSMOS grant 'Digital Social Research Tools, Tension Indicators and Safer Communities: A demonstration of COSMOS' (ESRC Digital Social Research Programme) and the follow on grant 'Social Media and Prediction: Crime Sensing, Data Integration and Statistical Modeling' (ESRC/National Centre for Research Methods Methodological Innovation Project).  

Before my computational social science work I was involved in the Cardiff Digital Ethnography and Hypermedia research programme (with Atkinson, Coffey & Dicks) as Co-Investigator on 'Ethnography for the Digital Age' (ESRC) and 'Methods and Issues in Qualitative Online Data Sharing and Archiving' (ESRC Qualitative Archiving & Data Sharing).  On the topic of computational social science I have published in the major social science methodology journals (Sociology, Qualitative Research, International Journal of Social Research Methodology (IJSRM), Sociological Research Online, and Methodological Innovations) and have edited a special issue of IJSRM on Computational Social Science: Theory, Method and Data.  I have also written the Digital Social Research chapters in the leading methodology textbooks in criminology including 'Doing Criminological Research' (Jupp: Sage); 'Doing Research on Crime and Justice' (King & Wincup: Oxford) and 'Online Social Research: Methods, Issues & Ethics' (Chen & Hall: Peter Lang).  In 2013 I was awarded a 12 month Cardiff University Research Leave Fellowship to further develop my work in this area and to establish international links with Rutgers University, Duke University and Twitter US.

Cybercrime and Human Factors in Cybersecurity

I have applied my significant amount of digital methodology work to the study of cybercrime. In 2010 I was successful in capturing a ground-breaking research grant 'e-Crime Reduction Partnership Mapping Study' (with Levi) from Nominet Trust. The project was championed by the Rt. Hon. Alun Michael MP and the findings were launched at Westminster to MPs and industry. Our recommendations highlighted the need for a UK cybercrime reduction partnership and in 2013 HMG's Cybercrime Reduction Partnership was formed and I was invited to join as one of only two academics. The research was presented at a keynote address, and at conferences in Europe and Australia and published as two journal papers and one book chapter.  In 2013 I was a key player in the successful capture of the RCUK Global Uncertainties Consortia for Exploratory Research into Cyber Security grant 'Identifying and Modelling Victim, Business, Regulatory and Malware Behaviours in a Changing Cyberthreat Landscape' (£1.2M).  In 2018 I was part of the core team that won a large grant under the ESRC PaCCS Transnational Organised Crime call: How Online Technologies are Transforming Transnational Organised Crime (Cyber-TNOC).  I have published extensively in this area in high profile international journals including: British Journal of Criminology, Deviant Behavior, Criminology & Criminal Justice, Policing & Society, Security Journal, Journal of Sexual Aggression, Information Management & Computer Security and International Review of Law, Computers & Technology. Recently I edited the special issue of Policing and Society entitled: Policing Cybercrime: Networked and Social Media Technologies and the Challenges for Policing.  I have written chapters in several key criminology textbooks and edited collections on the topic, including 'Criminology' (Hayle et al.: Oxford); 'Handbook of Crime' (Brookman et al.: Willan); 'Handbook of Internet Crime' (Jewkes & Yar: Willan); and 'Crime & the Internet' (Wall: Routledge). My book, Virtually Criminal published by Routledge was short listed for the British Sociological Association's Philip Abrams Memorial Book Prize in 2007.  In 2013 I was invited by James Brokenshire, then Minister for Security, and David Willets, Minister for Universities and Science to join, as one of only two academics, HMG's Cyber Crime Reduction Partnership. In 2014 I was invited by Professor Sir Alan Wilson, Chair of the Home Office Science Advisory Committee, to join HMG's Costs of Cybercrime International Expert Advisory Group. I am currently conducting an analysis of fear of cybercrime for the Home Office.  I also currently act as an expert reviewer for the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Board of Physical Sciences Cyber Security Programme.  I have been an academic reviewer on HMG's Office for Science Foresight project 'Future of Identity', an academic advisor to the ACPO/College of Policing project 'National Assessment on threats and opportunities posed by the use of Global Digital Communication Technologies', and an academic advisor to the DTI foresight programme and the eCrime Wales Project.

Interdisciplinarity is a key feature of my research and I have worked with members of staff in the schools of Computer Science, Psychology, Law, Business, Mathematics and Dentistry. I have been successful in gaining grants from the ESRC, EPSRC, AHRC, JISC, Big Lottery Fund, Welsh Government, Nominet Trust, Stonewall Cymru, TUC Wales, Safer Wales, Department of Health, Food Standards Agency, Google, US Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, High Performance Computing Wales/Fujitsu and the Airbus Group. My research income to date is in excess of £14M.

I am member of the ESRC's Peer Review College and I sit on the Editorial Boards for British Journal of Criminology, EPJ: Data Science and Journal of Computational Social Science.

Publication

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

Articles

Book sections

Books

Conferences

Monographs

Websites

Research

To date I have been involved in 40 research projects, amounting to a grant capture of £14.5 million (FEC), with over £7 million of this coming to Cardiff University.

As Principal Investigator

As Co-Investigator

Teaching

Undergraduate Teaching

Current:

  • Police and Policing (Yr 3)

Past:

  • Foundations of Contemporary Criminology (Yr 1)
  • Offending and Victimisation (Yr 2)
  • Responses to Crime (Yr 2)
  • Criminolgical Practice (Yr 3)
  • Diversity, Crime and Criminal Justice (Yr 3)
  • Digital Society: Theory, Method and Data (Yr 3)

Postgraduate Teaching

Past:

  • Researching Crime, Safety and Justice
  • Responses to Crime, Safety and Justice
  • Open Data Analytics with COSMOS (SSRM Workshop)

I am currently external examiner at the University of Edinburgh. I was external at the University of Hull and University of the West of England.

Biography

Employment:

  • 2015 - present: Professor (full), Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
  • 2013-2015: Reader, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
  • 2007-2013: Senior Lecturer, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
  • 2004-2007: Lecturer, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University

Over the last decade I have formed an international reputation for my interdisciplinary research in the fields of Cybercrime, Cyberhate & Computational Social Science.

Summary of Key Achievements:

  • Grant capture totalling 14.5M over 40 projects, 22 of which are from RCUK amounting to over £8M. I was/am currently PI on 15
  • Invited speaker at 50 US, Australian, Asian & European conferences and a delegate at 23 others
  • PI on the HateLab initiative, a £3M ESRC/US DoJ investment
  • PI on the Online Hate Speech Project ($886K) funded by the National Institute for Justice, US Department of Justice
  • PI on the All Wales Hate Crime Project (£570K) that was used as key evidence in the Welsh Government’s Hate Crime Framework 2014 and continues to shape national policy
  • Solely represented the Social Data Science Lab in visits to Rutgers, Duke & Twitter US
  • Invited to speak at Cambridge Institute of Criminology Public Seminar Series in 2015
  • ESRC sponsored delegate at the EU Trans-Atlantic Workshop on Big Data in DC, US
  • Appointed to ESRC’s Peer Review College and Social Media Research Working Group
  • Appointed by Sir Alan Wilson to Home Office Cybercrime International Advisory Group
  • Invited by James Brokenshire, Minister for Security, and David Willets, Minister for Universities to join HMG’s Cybercrime Reduction Partnership in 2013
  • Editor of British Society of Criminology house journal and guest editor of 2 special issues

Contributions to the Field: I sit on the Editorial Boards for British Journal of Criminology, EPJ: Data Science and Journal of Computational Social Science.  I was co-editor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, the international peer-reviewed journal of the British Society of Criminology.  I am a reviewer for many international journals including Criminology (US). I have reviewed grant applications for the ESRC, EPSRC and the Nuffield Foundation and in was invited to act as an expert reviewer for the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. I was also invited to participate as an Expert Evaluator on the Horizon 2020 Digital Security Call and was recently made a member of the ESRC’s Peer Review College and their Social Media Working Group. I have launched findings in the National Assembly for Wales, and in Westminster to MPs, Google, Facebook & Twitter. I was invited by the Ministers for Security and Universities & Science to join HMG’s Cybercrime Reduction Partnership, was appointed by Professor Sir Alan Wilson, Chair of the Home Office Science Advisory Committee to HMG’s Costs of Cybercrime International Expert Advisory Group, and was adviser to HMG’s Office for Science ‘Future of Identity’ project, to ACPO’s ‘National Cybercrime Assessment’, to DTI’s ‘Foresight e-Crime Project’ and to WG’s ‘eCrime Project’. I provided evidence at a WG disability hate crime inquiry, at the EHRC Disability Inquiry, and at HMG’s Parliamentary IT Committee. I have provided interviews to the media (ITV & BBC), to the US public journal Scientific American and my work on big data has appeared in the ESRC magazines Britain in 2015 & 2016.

Honours and awards

  • My book, Virtually Criminal published by Routledge was short listed for the British Sociological Association's Philip Abrams Memorial Book Prize in 2007

Professional memberships

  • Member of the British Society of Criminology
  • Member of the European Society of Criminology
  • Member of the American Society of Criminology

External Engagement

Appointed to ESRC's Peer Review College and Social Media Working Group to shape strategy
ESRC sponsored delegate at the EU Trans-Atlantic Workshop on Big Data in DC, US
Editor of British Society of Criminology house journal and guest editor of 2 special issues
Invited to participate as an Expert Evaluator on the Horizon 2020 Digital Security Call
Appointed by Prof. Sir Alan Wilson to Home Office Costs of Cybercrime International Advisory Group
Appointed to organising committee for Web Science Trust (WST) Singapore Summer School and asked to present and represent COSMOS by Prof. Dame Wendy Hall
Reviewer for the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Cyber Security Programme
Invited by James Brokenshire (Minister for Security) and David Willets (Minister for Universities) to join as one of only two academics HMG's Cyber Crime Reduction Partnership in 2013
Adviser to HMG's Office for Science 'Future of Identity' project
Adviser to ACPO's 'National Cybercrime Assessment'
Adviser to DTI's 'Foresight e-Crime Project'
Adviser to WG's 'eCrime Project'
Adviser to WG disability hate crime inquiry
Adviser to Equality and Human Rights Committee Disability Inquiry
Adviser to Equality and Human Rights Committee Homophobic Hate Crime Reporting Programme
Adviser to HMG's Parliamentary IT Committee

Supervisions

I am interested in supervising postgraduate degrees in the following areas:

  • Hate Crime and Hate Speech
  • Social Media
  • Computational Social Science
  • Cybercrime and Human Factors in Cybersecurity
  • Policing, Equality and Diversity 

Contact Details

Email WilliamsM7@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone +44 29208 74853
Campuses sbarc|spark, Room 1.27, Maindy Road, Cathays, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ
Areas of the UK where more people voted remain saw smaller increases in hate crime following historic Brexit vote

Areas of the UK where more people voted remain saw smaller increases in hate crime following historic Brexit vote

04 October 2022

Research finds much more hope than hate in posts sent to England’s women at Euro 2022

Research finds much more hope than hate in posts sent to England’s women at Euro 2022

24 August 2022

Anti-racism to be explored in new series of talks

Anti-racism to be explored in new series of talks

24 October 2021

External profiles