As a mid-doctorate candidate at the School of Sociology in The Australian National University (ANU), Nicholas Corbett’s research concerns the emergence of the alt-right in relation to algorithmic platform infrastructure.

With a background in international relations, political science and sociology, Nicholas is driven by an interest in how forms of extremism are evolving in relation to platform affordances, including the spread of ideology and processes of radicalisation. This research also relates to the emerging field of studies that seek to generally understand how platform affordances impact online behaviour.

Nicholas also shares an interest with his primary supervisor, Professor Robert Ackland, in making computational sociology and so-called big data methods more accessible for other researchers. As part of the VOSON Lab, Nicholas is currently developing a reproducible workflow for collecting and analysing social media data on platforms like Reddit to be used in other future research projects.