Dr Bruna Távora de Sousa Martins: Decoding Data for Social Change
Hello! My name is Bruna Távora, and I am a social science researcher with a passion for understanding social and environmental issues through the lens of data and communication studies. I was born in Recife, a city in the northeast of Brazil, known for its vibrant culture and music, such as frevo and forró. Along my journey, a perspective focused on social change has driven me to work closely with social movements and local communities in both urban and rural areas across Brazil. Internationally, I have had the opportunity to collaborate with activists and researchers from countries such as Germany, Argentina, Greece, Mexico, Ghana, and Tanzania. My research interests lie in political science, communication, and land-use movements and conflicts. After completing my PhD at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, I developed an interest in large-scale data projects and began exploring how disinformation is used to confuse public opinion and advance private interests. Specifically, I focus on conflicts between social movements and far-right politicians with political interests in land use in Brazil. To investigate this, I apply computational social science (CSS) methods to analyze data from public online communication. I am excited to continue exploring how data and research can drive social change and strengthen our democracy at the University of Münster.
Host Institute: Faculty of Education and Social Sciences
Scientific Host: Prof. Dr. Thorsten Quandt