Faculty of Social Sciences

Computational Social Sciences Laboratory

The Computational Social Sciences Laboratory is an academic research and education center in the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, established with the aim of deeply and systematically understanding social phenomena and socio-cultural changes in Iran and the world. The Computational Social Sciences Laboratory is aligned with the classical CSS laboratories in terms of tools and methods; it uses machine learning, network analysis, and data visualization. However, its fundamental difference lies in its theoretical starting point. In this laboratory, theories from sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies play a guiding role in designing questions; and data is used as a medium for observing complex cultural patterns, not simply as variables for modeling.

Also, special attention to the role of algorithms, platforms, and software in shaping culture distinguishes the laboratory from many CSS examples. This approach allows for the simultaneous analysis of “human action” and “technical logic”; This is something that is either ignored or marginalized in many existing labs. There is also a significant difference in terms of team composition and expertise. Most of the international labs under review are either led predominantly by data science and statistics experts (such as ETH Zurich or Purdue), or are under the faculty of policy and governance (such as Exeter and Sydney). In this lab, contrary to the dominant model, social sciences and theoretical analysis play a central role, and technical expertise serves the formulation of social and cultural questions, not vice versa.

In sum, the lab is neither a repetition of a classic CSS nor simply a digital humanities lab. This lab is located at the intersection of data, social theory, and cultural analysis, filling a gap that is also covered by only a limited number of centers in the international space. This position, based on social theories, can make the lab a credible reference in the study of contemporary social phenomena, especially with regard to the Iranian context.

The Computational Social Sciences Laboratory also focuses on nurturing young researchers and enhancing the country’s scientific capacity as one of its main goals. It contributes to the production of applied and theoretical knowledge by creating a space for interdisciplinary collaboration between sociology, anthropology, communication, demography, psychology, data science, and computational technologies.

Our vision is to transform the laboratory into a leading center in the field of social and cultural analysis in Iran; where researchers can raise innovative questions, analyze real data from a sociological perspective, and present results that are useful for both the scientific community and the country’s social and cultural policymaking. By establishing this laboratory, the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Tehran aims to expand the boundaries of interdisciplinary and applied knowledge, provide a context for researchers to understand and interpret Iran’s social and cultural developments with an analytical and humanistic perspective, and develop methods and tools that will help researchers, designers, and decision-makers deal with large data scales and understand today’s complex social phenomena. This laboratory will be a place for research, education, and innovation, and will serve as a fulcrum for sociological research and cultural studies in the country.

The prerequisite for achieving this vision is to teach concepts step by step and to use practical and applied methods to familiarize students with new tools and methods. This goal is also possible through scientific cooperation and exchanges between educational centers. Hence, the mission of the laboratory has been defined in two main branches: education and research. Helping to carry out micro and macro research in the human and social fields, creating a space and appropriate tools to empower social science students to complete student theses in the field of computational social sciences, helping to make social policies on a macro scale, and optimizing processing models are among the goals pursued in the laboratory's research section. The establishment and operation of this laboratory in cooperation with other domestic and international laboratories, as well as national policy-making institutions, is a step towards solving social crises that have acquired technological and cultural dimensions in modern human life.

The laboratory's main goals are briefly outlined below and are discussed in more detail in the following sections.

Producing Science: Publishing leading-edge articles based on data-driven research in reputable domestic and international journals.
Localizing Tools: Developing Persian-specific Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms for analyzing public opinion.
Training Specialists: Conducting project-based training courses based on crises and complexities of social conditions.
Solving National Issues: Collaborating with policy-making institutions to analyze challenges such as social capital, crisis management, and public welfare.