Professor Matthew Williams FAcSS was conferred to the Fellowship of the Academy in spring 2026. He is Chair in Criminology and Director of HateLab at Cardiff University. Widely considered one of the world’s leading experts on contemporary forms of hate and cybercrime, Matthew’s multidisciplinary research blends social science and computer science expertise to understand and tackle hate crime, hate speech and online extremism.
Professor Matthew WilliamsFAcSS
Matthew has been involved in over 40 research projects, and has received in excess of £14 million of funding from various funding bodies including ESRC, EPSRC, US National Institute for Justice and Welsh Government among others. He led the 2010-13 ‘All Wales Hate Crime Project’ which remains the largest and most comprehensive dedicated academic study of hate crime conducted within the UK. This and his subsequent research has been instrumental in contributing to the Welsh Government’s national Framework for Action on Tackling Hate Crime and the UK National Cyber Hate Crime Hub, resulting in supporting improved response times, better support for victims, and more effective allocation of resources.
Matthew authored the popular science book, The Science of Hate, and he is a member of the ESRC’s Peer Review College and sits on the Editorial Boards for British Journal of Criminology, EPJ: Data Science and Journal of Computational Social Science. He has ongoing advisory roles with practitioner and policy networks, including the Crown Prosecution Service’s External Hate Crime Consultation Group, HMG’s Commission for Countering Extremism Academic Expert Group, Ofcom Wales’ Advisory Committee and Welsh Government’s Hate Crime and Community Tension Board and Academic Expert Group on Social Cohesion.
Matthew is also the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Nisien.ai, a spin out from HateLab which uses the latest AI algorithms to accurately detect and classify online harms across platforms in real time and provides users with guidance on how to respond and counter online harms effectively.
Find out more about Professor Matthew Williams
You can also find out more about Matthew’s work and his feelings on being elected a Fellow of the Academy in this video by Cardiff University.
Why do the social sciences matter?
The social sciences have a strong history of interdisciplinary work, bringing together insights from across fields to address the grand challenges of our times. For me, criminology, a true liaison discipline, helps us understand deviant forms of social organisation, social change, and social identity as we move through institutional and technological transformation. Some of the biggest challenges we face are socio-technical, and they require flexibility and adaptability in thought and method to understand and address. The social sciences are well placed to rise to this challenge.
What do you enjoy most about your work and what inspires you about your work?
I enjoy turning difficult social problems into something we can measure, test, and improve. Online hate and hostility often feel abstract until they spill into offline harm, and then police, politicians, and the public suddenly want answers. The part of the work I find most energising is building the bridge between rigorous research and practical tools, so that decision-makers can act earlier and proportionately. That is also where I see the most potential for impact. I am motivated by the idea that social science should help institutions, platforms, and communities make better choices, and it should do so in ways that protect rights and keep public debate open.
What is the most urgent issue social scientists need to tackle today and over the next three years?
The urgent issue is social cohesion under conditions of rapid technological change. We have information systems that can amplify fear, polarisation, and dehumanisation at scale, while governance and public understanding lag behind. Over the next three years we need better evidence on what reduces harm without eroding trust, as well as clearer standards for measurement so we do not mistake noise for signal or short-term spikes for long-term change. We also need to understand how AI-driven content, recommender systems, and new forms of persuasion shape attitudes and behaviour. The risk is a further erosion of trust in democratic institutions and a weakening of shared reality, which reduces our collective capacity to address the ‘wicked problems’, from inequality to climate change.
What does being a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences mean to you?
Fellowship feels like a responsibility to keep doing the hard work of translation between research, policy, and practice. I value the Academy’s role as a voice for the social sciences and as a convenor across academia, learned societies, and practitioners. For me, it also validates a model of impact that includes commercialisation, in the sense of taking robust evidence and building it into tools and services that organisations can use responsibly. I see it as a platform to strengthen partnerships between researchers, government, and industry, while keeping public benefit at the centre of the work.