Dr Hugo Leal is a Teaching Associate at CDH for the MPhil in Digital Humanities. He is also the Research Associate at the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy (MCTD) based in CRASSH. He previously worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the internet branch of the project “Conspiracy and Democracy” and as a methods fellow and coordinator of the Cambridge Data Schools at CDH.
Hugo combines research and teaching activities at the intersection of collective action and digital technologies. He has been looking at the networked diffusion of social movements and ideas. His investigation on misinformation and conspiracy theories intends to trace the lifecycle of viral narratives, their strategic use and societal impacts in a variety of areas, from the emergence of nativism to science denial. At the MCTD, focuses on the technological threats and opportunities to democracy and public health. He will also continue his outreach efforts to equip NGOs, journalists and the general public with tools to better handle and interrogate technology.
