Professor Jo Bates
BA (Keele), MA (Nottingham), MA (Manchester Metropolitan), PhD (Manchester Metropolitan)
Information School
Professor of Data and Society
Full contact details
Information School
Room C223
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
91直播
S10 2AH
- Profile
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My academic background is in Politics and American Studies, which I studied before training to be a librarian and from there developing my academic career in data studies. I joined the Information School at 91直播 as a lecturer in 2012, shortly before completing my PhD on the politics of Open Government Data in the UK.
More recently, my research has explored cultures of data science practice; the social, cultural and political economic shaping of data flows 鈥 particularly climate data flows; and labour issues in crowdwork platforms. I have received a range of funding to work on these topics, including two AHRC grants as PI (Secret Life of a Weather Datum 2014-15 and Patterns in Practice 2021-24). My 2017 paper on 鈥楧ata Friction鈥 published in Journal of Documentation was awarded a highly commended Emerald Literati Award.
I have been co-organiser of the international Data Power conference since it began in 2015, and I am currently part of the conference management team. I am also on the Editorial Advisory Board for the journal Big Data and Society and a member of the AHRC鈥檚 Peer Review College.
My research interests inform my teaching practice. Over recent years, I have led efforts to embed data politics and ethics teaching into the Information School鈥檚 Data Science degrees, and led research on this topic that I presented at ACM FAccT 2020.
You can find out more about my work on my website:
University responsibilities
- Information School REF Co-ordinator
- Head of Digital Societies Research Group
- Research interests
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My research is in the field of Critical Data Studies. Critical Data Studies is an interdisciplinary field that uses critical social theory to examine the social drivers, implications and power relations of emergent forms of data and algorithmic practices.
My recent research broadly breaks down into four thematic areas: data cultures, data journeys & friction, climate and environmental data, and digital labour. You can read more about my research in each of these areas on .
I am currently working on the following projects, which involve collaborations with a variety of organisations including GSK, JISC, BBC and DWP:
- Patterns in Practice (Principal Investigator). AHRC funded.
- Living with Data (Co-investigator). Nuffield funded.
- Climate data-sharing scoping study (PI). Internally funded.
I am interested in supervising PhD projects that advance the critical study of emerging data and algorithmic practices and flows. By critical I mean projects that in some way grapple with issues of power, ethics and justice as they relate to topics of data, automation, data science and AI. I tend to use qualitative research methods, including ethnographic methods and (policy) document analysis. There is a wide range of potential projects in this area. Applicants are advised to check out recent papers in key journals such as to get a sense for emerging topics.
- Publications
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Show: Featured publications All publications
Featured publications
- Edited books
- Journal articles
- Chapters
- Conference proceedings papers
- Reports
- Website content
- Theses / Dissertations
- Working papers
Edited books
Journal articles
Chapters
Conference proceedings papers
Reports
Website content
Theses / Dissertations
Working papers
All publications
- Edited books
- Journal articles
- Chapters
- Conference proceedings papers
- Reports
- Website content
- Theses / Dissertations
- Working papers
- Presentations
Edited books
Journal articles
Chapters
Conference proceedings papers
Reports
Website content
Theses / Dissertations
Working papers
Presentations
- Research group
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I am Head of the Digital Societies Research Group
Current PhD students
- Hadley Beresford: Algorithmic bias: patterns, consequences and alternatives
- Ian Widdows: Secondary school accountability measures in England - their effectiveness, effects and an exploration of alternative approaches.
- Anajoyce Katabalwa: agricultural research data management in Tanzania
- Grants
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Research projects
Arts and Humanities Research Council Principal Investigator 拢458,454 August 2021 - February 2024 Nuffield Foundation Co-Investigator 拢286,543 September 2019 - March 2022 European Commission - Horizon 2020 Advanced Partner 拢999,965 October 2018 - September 2021 Arts and Humanities Research Council Principal Investigator 拢80,185 January 2014 - March 2015
- Teaching interests
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I currently teach on the MSc Data Science programme and the BA Digital Media and Society programme.
I developed the 鈥楧ata and Society鈥 core Data Science module and have co-ordinated and taught that module since 2016. In its current form, the module covers topics such as informational power, bias and discrimination, epistemology, public and artists engagements with data science, legal constraints on data processing, and applied ethics.
I was the Deputy Programme Co-ordinator for the MSc Data Science programme from 2017-2020. As part of this role, I did a lot of work around how best to integrate ideas from critical data studies into Data Science curricula. I presented some of this work at Data Power conference 2017, and more recently led a research project in the Information School exploring our evolving approach to integrating FATE (fairness, accountability, transparency and ethics) and Critical Data Studies into our MSc Data Science. I presented our paper on this research at ACM FAccT 2020. I am continuing to work on this topic with the School鈥檚 Data Science teaching team.
With Helen Kennedy in Sociological Studies, I developed the Faculty of Social Sciences degree BA Digital Media and Society, which we launched in 2017. The core modules of the degree are jointly delivered by the department of Sociological Studies and the Information School, with pathways currently offered by Journalism and Education. We began with a cohort of around 20 in 2017, and this has increased to 115 in 2020. I developed the core first year module 鈥楧igital Media and Society鈥, which I co-ordinated and taught from 2017 to 2021. The module is a large 40-credit module that integrates both social science and web design teaching and assessment. I have now handed the co-ordination of the module over to my colleague Kate Miltner.
- Teaching activities
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INF204 - Ethical Data Management and Governance
INF6033 - Data and Society
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Data Power Conference Management Team (2015 - )
- Big Data and Society Editorial Advisory Board (2015 -)
- AHRC Peer Review Council member (2020 - )
- Member of Association of Internet Researchers
- External examiner at University of Warwick
- Member of ASIS&T