Samantha Vilkins

Samantha Vilkins is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at QUT's Digital Media Research Centre, working on Professor Axel Bruns's ARC Laureate project "Determining the Drivers and Dynamics of Partisanship and Polarisation in Online Public Debate".

Samantha researches how evidence and expertise are distributed and discussed online, especially their role in the dynamics of political polarisation. Drawing on a background in mathematics and an ungodly fascination with bureaucracy, her previous research at the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science focused on the uses of statistics in political rhetoric and public debate in Australia. Her visual design work has been on display at the National Museum of Australia and the National Library of Australia, and was part of the Science Gallery Melbourne's 2018 PERFECTION exhibit.