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Sara H Wilford

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Associate Professor, School of Computer Science and Informatics, De Montfort University

Dr Wilford is Associate Professor and Interim Co-Director of the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. She is an ethics expert and project evaluator for the European Commission, and was Science Technology Public Policy fellow in the Kennedy School of Government, at Harvard University. She led on a number of research projects whilst a research fellow at the University of Warwick. Her background is multi-disciplinary with expertise in computer ethics, surveillance, privacy, responsible research and innovation and public policy.

She is also an experienced teacher and lecturer, and is programme leader for BSc Applied Computing, Business Information systems and Business Data Analytics at De Montfort University. She has a degree in Public Administration and Management, and a PhD in Computing Ethics and Public Policy.

Dr Wilford is currently leading a three-year EU project EU project ‘Social Media narratives: addressing extremism in middle age.’ (SMIDGE).
Conspiracy theories, misinformation and extremism online is a growing concern to governments. Extreme political narratives have been rising across Europe and these narratives influence mainstream political discourses and policies. This is having a direct impact on perceptions of democratic institutions, trust in science, and leads to calls for direct action (Jan 6th incursion in USA) to overthrow or disrupt democratically elected governments. Those in middle age (45-65) may be both susceptible to extremist narratives and also influential as decision-makers. This group is under-researched, but the impact of them being drawn into extremist content may have significant consequences on political discourse, democratic processes and institutions.

SMIDGE will analyse the various forms of extremist discourses and narratives across Europe through social network analysis, textual and content analysis of extremist discourse, and will consider national and demographic specifics through survey, focus groups and interviews in 6 countries (UK, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Kosovo, Cyprus). From this in-depth examination of the current state of the art, SMIDGE will produce counter-narratives, education and training resources aimed at promoting reflexivity, alongside multi-level policy recommendations and evidence-based tools and training for journalists and security professionals. The counter-content will be created through collaboration with stakeholders during co-creation exercises in the focus groups. SMIDGE takes the theory of responsible research and innovation (RRI) as its core conceptual approach to ensure that the project adheres to the highest ethical and quality standards. The outputs from SMIDGE will provide evidence-based content, tools and resources that will directly help to counter extremist narratives from multiple perspectives, thereby providing greater understanding of the specificities and characteristics of those in middle-age and their vulnerability to extremism online.

Experience

  • 2007–present
    Associate professor, De Montfort University

Education

  • 2004 
    De Montfort University , PhD

Publications

  • 2024
    Social Media Narratives: Addressing Extremism in Middle Age, Lee J., Wilford S., Hamzoui R, Bhalla N
  • 2021
    PRECEPT-4-Justice: A bias-neutralising framework for digital forensics investigations., Renaud K, Bongiovanni I, Wilford S, Irons A
  • 2021
    The Digital Network of Networks: Regulatory Risk and Policy Challenges of Vaccine Passports, Wilford et al
  • 2020
    PRECEPT: a framework for framework for ethical digital forensics investigations, Ferguson, R.I., Renaud, K., Wilford, S.H., Irons, A
  • 2019
    Responsible Research and Innovation: Using the Requirements Tool for Stakeholder Engagement in Developing a Universal Design for Learning Guidelines for Practice, Wilford, S.H.
  • 2018
    First Line Steps in Requirements Identification for Guidelines Development in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), Wilford, S.H

Grants and Contracts

  • 2023
    European Core Technologies for the next generation communication computing hardware
    Role:
    Ethics Advisor
    Funding Source:
    European Commission
  • 2023
    Social Media narratives: addressing extremism in middle age
    Role:
    Scientific Coordinator
    Funding Source:
    UKRI
  • 2018
    Progressive Standards around ICT for Active and Healthy Ageing
    Role:
    Co-investigator
    Funding Source:
    European Commission
  • 2018
    Secure Big Data Processing in Untrusted Clouds (SecureCloud)
    Role:
    Ethics Advisor
    Funding Source:
    European Commission
  • 2016
    Governance of Responsible innovation
    Role:
    Principal investigator
    Funding Source:
    European Commission