Rachel Gibson. 2014. ‘Introduction’ In The Internet and Democracy in Global Perspective: Voters, Candidates, Parties and Social Mov
Humanities Lecturer at Manchester University
I am a Professor of Politics at the University of Manchester and my research focuses on how digital technologies are changing the way in which election campaigns are fought and won. My work is comparative in nature with a particular focus on developments in the UK, the U.S., Germany, Australia and France. I completed my PhD on the rise of anti-immigrant parties in Europe at Texas A&M University in the US in 1996. Since then I have published a wide range of articles and books, many of which are listed on this site, so please feel free to browse through. I have just completed a five year study of Digital Campaigning and Electoral Democracy (DiCED) funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and I am Principal Investigator of the UKRI Smart Data Research (SDR) project DIGISURVOR that is examining the methodological and ethical challenges of linking individual level survey and digital trace data. Prior to my ERC grant, I was the Director of the Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research between 2016-19 at the University of Manchester, and Deputy Director of the ACSPRI Centre for Social Research in the Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS) at the Australian National University (2002-6). I have been a Principal Investigator of the Australian Election Study from 2001-19. Outside work I enjoy the delights of country living, dog walking and the odd spot of hill running in North Wales.