Automatic methods for cyberhate detection in social media

Applications are invited for a three year full-time (or up to six year part-time) PhD to commence in October 2023.

The PhD will be based in the School of Computing and will be supervised by Dr Linda Yang.

The work on this project could involve:

• Pre-processing and analysis of datasets. 
• Experiment with deep learning models using publicly available datasets
• Develop automatic detection method using transfer learning approach
• Evaluate the proposed approach

Project description

The detection of hate speech in social media is a crucial task. Offensive language targeted at individuals and social groups has been frequently posted and rapidly circulated via the social media, which has the potential to severely damage our society and harm people or groups. Automatic cyberhate detection is important for observing and understanding community and regional societal tension.

This project aims to develop a novel automatic method based on deep learning models to effectively detect hate speech in social media while identifying the impactful features and linguistic characteristics within social media texts. The project will apply and evaluate the proposed method in the practical settings, expecting to deliver exploitable services.

General admissions criteria

You'll need a good first degree from an internationally recognised university or a Master’s degree in an appropriate subject. In exceptional cases, we may consider equivalent professional experience and/or qualifications. English language proficiency at a minimum of IELTS band 6.5 with no component score below 6.0.

Specific candidate requirements

Knowledge of machine learning and text processing.

How to Apply

We encourage you to contact Dr Linda Yang ([Email Address Removed]) to discuss your interest before you apply, quoting the project code below.

When you are ready to apply, please follow the 'Apply now' link on the Computing PhD subject area page and select the link for the relevant intake. Make sure you submit a personal statement, proof of your degrees and grades, details of two referees, proof of your English language proficiency and an up-to-date CV. Our ‘How to Apply’ page offers further guidance on the PhD application process. 

When applying please quote project code:COMP7340423