Research

I am an anthropologist and my research centers on human rights and technology.

I began studying the aftermath of genocide and the forensic exhumations of mass graves in Latin America during my PhD at Stanford University.

My current research at the University of Cambridge explores the human rights impacts of artificial intelligence technologies, for example how facial recognition is used for mass surveillance.

Below are some recent projects:

  • Forensic Use of Facial Recognition Technology to Identify the Dead in Ukraine

    The use of facial recognition technology to identify the dead in human rights contexts raises complex ethical questions about a technology that also poses threats to human rights.

    Read about this research in my recent piece on WIRED.

  • Algorithmic Expectations: Foresight and Predestination in a Predictive Model for Teenage Pregnancy

    This research examines an algorithmic system designed to predict adolescent pregnancy and investigates public reaction to its deployment. I collaborate with Argentine journalist Diego Jemio and feminist activist Florencia Aranda on this project.

    You can read more about this here.

  • Mapping AI Activism: Resistance, Refusal & Reimagination

    This project explores geographically and strategically diverse forms of social resistance to AI systems, documenting a range of strategies including collective action, street protests, political art, and acts of micro-resistance like “gaming the system.”

  • Test, Trace, Trust? Contact tracing in a London Borough

    A well-established public health practice, contact tracing rapidly emerged as a critical response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Countries around the world looked to digital contact tracing to manage the first pandemic of the algorithmic age, raising questions about surveillance and trustworthiness. Co-led by Dr Alexa Hagerty and Dr Richard McKay, University of Cambridge.

  • Automating Vulnerability: Rights, Access, Refusal

    A lab project investigating the vexed connections between AI technologies and disability justice. Part of the JUST AI Network of the London School of Economics and the Ada Lovelace Institute. Co-led by Dr Louise Hickman and Dr Alexa Hagerty, University of Cambridge, Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy.

    Learn more about JUST AI here.

  • The Emojify Project

    “Emojify” is an interactive website designed to encourage public conversation about how emotion recognition technology is used in high-stakes applications including policing, job hiring, and education. Winner Nesta Collective Intelligence Grant.

    You can visit Emojify here and see coverage of this research here.