It is with both celebration and sadness that we announce that the Social Media Collective, our research team of critical, humanistic social sciences at Microsoft Research’s New England lab, is coming to a close. Since 2008, the Social Media Collective has had the opportunity to critically examine the power dynamics of social media, the shifting …
Continue reading The Social Media Collective Comes to a Close
Hey SMC friends and family (and lookyloos!) I’m sharing some personal news—and an invitation. After many (like, many) years at Microsoft Research, working alongside amazing colleagues in the New England Lab, I’ll step away on July 1 to launch a new initiative. For the past five years, I’ve focused on a core gap exacerbating the …
We are delighted to have two interns joining us this summer. Spencer Kaplan is a PhD Candidate in sociocultural anthropology at Yale University. He is currently writing an ethnography of AI researchers and engineers in the San Francisco Bay Area. Drawing from time spent in an AI agents startup and an AI safety lab, his research …
Much love to Elena, to Fobazi’s family, and to everyone who was moved by Fobazi as a scholar and a person. For SMCers who know and love Elena (our brilliant SMC postdoc and intern alum) and want to support Fobazi's family, learn more here: Honoring the life of Fobazi Ettarh
Microsoft Research New England is looking for advanced Ph.D. students who are bringing sociotechnical perspectives to analyze critical issues of our time, to apply for our summer internship. They will join a team of social scientists who use qualitative or quantitative, empirical or critical methods to study the social, political, and cultural dynamics that shape …
Microsoft Research New England is looking for a postdoctoral researcher interested in bringing sociotechnical perspectives to analyze critical issues of our time. They will join a team of social scientists who use empirical and critical methods to study the social, political, and cultural dynamics that shape technologies and their consequences. Our work draws on and …
Continue reading Apply for our sociotechnical systems postdoc position, for July 2026
Huge news: we may have the chance to hire a new, full-time Principal Researcher for the SMC! We haven’t grown our permanent research team in more than a decade, even as the questions we study feel like they change about every hour and half. So this is exciting news for us, and may be exciting …
It's that time again. Summer brings us four new SMC interns, a new SMC postdoc, and a new pre-doc research assistant! In their work, you'll see reflected our shift towards AI and data, but also many of the persistent concerns of the SMC: the implications for media, discursive imaginaries around new technologies, data and justice, …
Continue reading Meet the new SMC interns, postdoc, and pre-doc!
Apply here: https://webportalapp.com/sp/login/2025_msr_predoc_sts (NOTE: Application Portal opens February 3, 2025) Deadline: March 3, 2025. (Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.) NOTE: Unfortunately, applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S. to accept the position. Microsoft Research New England is hiring a predoctoral research assistant to work with Nancy Baym, Tarleton Gillespie, and …
Continue reading Seeking a Sociotechnical Systems Research Assistant (aka “Pre-Doc”)
Microsoft Research and the Viva product group are looking for an advanced PhD student for a 12-week paid internship bridging Viva’s user research team and Microsoft Research’s Cambridge, Massachusetts-based group of sociotechnically-oriented social scientists (that's us!). The internship will be in-person, based in Cambridge, MA. This intern will work with a Microsoft Research mentor and the …
Continue reading Ph.D. Internship Opportunity studying Organizational Copilot Adoption
