DPhil candidate, Oxford Internet Institute
Hannah is a doctoral candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute and a researcher at the Computational Propaganda Project. Her research focuses on China’s use of state-sponsored digital disinformation. In particular, she focusses on the effect of China’s digital disinformation campaigns on international audiences by assessing how they interact with this disinformation. She employs both quantitative text analysis and social network analysis to explore, for example, China’s use of bots and the ways that external audiences engage with these bots. She holds a BSc in Politics and Philosophy from the London School of Economics, as well as two MScs, in Contemporary Chinese Studies, and in the Social Science of the Internet, both from Oxford University. She has also studied Mandarin at Fudan University (Shanghai). Her DPhil is generously funded by the Oxford Internet Institute’s Shirley Scholarship.
DPhil topic
As the forum for public discourse has moved online, a variety of political actors have adapted their communications strategies to persuade audiences in online environments. Among these actors are authoritarian states, of which the most well resourced and prolific are China and Russia. While much is known about Russia’s online political communications strategies, comparatively little is known about China. Hannah’s DPhil research asks, what does China say in its messaging, and how does this fit with our current understanding of political communication?
