As part of The Future of Democracy Conference, two optional, in-person workshops (3 hours each) will run on Wednesday 24 June 2026, in Iași, Romania.
Please Note:
- Places are limited and separate (free) registration is required.
- Priority will be given to accepted presenters and doctoral researchers.
- Travel and accommodation support is not available.
Download The Pre-Conference Workshop Brochure or visit the Conference webpage for more information.
Workshop 1: Data Science Applications in the Social Sciences (3 hours)
Hands-on workflows for scalable text and network analysis relevant to disinformation, polarisation, and influencer ecosystems. Includes data collection, cleaning, reproducible analysis in R/Python, and transparent reporting.
Workshop Speaker
Dr John Betts is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University, specialising in data science, computational modelling, and simulation. His research applies scalable text analysis, network analysis, and agent-based modelling to complex social phenomena, including online polarisation, disinformation dynamics, and influencer ecosystems. He has extensive experience developing reproducible workflows in R and Python for collecting, cleaning, analysing, and transparently reporting large-scale social data. In this workshop, Dr Betts will lead hands-on sessions demonstrating practical data science pipelines for social science research, with a focus on methodological rigour, interpretability, and responsible analysis of digital traces.
Workshop 2: Doing Research with Cultural Humility (3 hours)
Interactive training on reflexivity, positionality, ethics, and community-engaged practice. Focus on designing studies that recognise power dynamics and minimise harm in cross-cultural and conflict-adjacent settings.
Workshop Speaker
Associate Professor RoseAnne Misajon is a behavioural scientist and researcher at The Cairnmillar Institute (www.cairnmillar.org.au) with expertise in subjective wellbeing, health-related quality of life, chronic illness and disability, and the wellbeing of diverse and marginalised populations. She takes an interdisciplinary approach, integrating psychology, health economics, public health and cultural studies to understand how discrimination and social determinants affect mental health and quality of life. Her research has contributed to the development of internationally used measures of life quality and informed evidence-based practice on inclusivity and diversity. She will lead a practical session on cultural humility, exploring its relevance for reflective practice, inclusive engagement and enhancing democratic participation in diverse societies.
Organisers
Ihsan Yilmaz (Deakin University)
Ana-Maria Bliuc (The University of Dundee)
Daniela-Muntele (“A.I. Cuza” University of Iași)
John Betts (Monash University)
Matthew Belanger (Stirling University)
Funder
These programmes are supported by the Australian Government – Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project (DP230100257) 2023-2026.