Research topic

Data, Knowledge Production and Power Asymmetries

Sebastian is interested the politics underlying the increasing relevance of data and algorithms in social life, combining insights from science and technology studies (STS) with decolonial theory. His doctoral research focuses on the geopolitics of knowledge in the context of datafication, exploring the ways in which the collection, archiving, transmission and processing of big amounts of data can challenge or reproduce global social hierarchies. Sebastian's fieldwork will investigate practices and discourses associated with the ‘deluge’ of astronomical data taking place in the Atacama Desert, Chile.

Supervisors: Professor Nick Couldry and Dr Alison Powell

Biography

Sebastian is research assistant at Virt-EU, an EU-funded project looking at the ethics in the Internet of Things. The initiative has five European research partners, and Dr Alison Powell heads the team based at the LSE. In relation to his background, Sebastian studied Journalism at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and graduated with Distinction in MSc in Media and Communications at the London School of Economics. He has professional experience in digital communications for media and governmental organisations in Chile.