Dr. Mark Wong is a Senior Lecturer (also known as, Associate Professor) in Public Policy & Research Methods and Deputy Head of Urban Studies, which ranked joint-1st in the UK Research Excellence Framework [REF] 2014. He is also the incoming (joint-)Lead for the new Social and Urban Policy subject group. 

Mark is an expert in digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy, his work focuses on three key intersecting areas:

1) Responsible AI & racial bias,
2) Anti-racism & racial justice, and
3) Innovative co-design methods - to amplify adversely racialised people's voice and expertise in tech development, e.g. AI, data, and video games. 

Mark's research tackles racial discrimination and bias in AI/data, highlighting how they perpetuate systemic racism, racialisation, and historical patterns of inequities. He is also an expert in co-design/participatory methodologies and social data science analytics, including Social Network Analysis (SNA). 

Mark holds a PhD in Social Policy from the University of Edinburgh. He has a substantial track record publishing in top-ranked international peer-review journals (e.g. New Media and Society, Information, Communication and Society), giving invited talks/panels/seminars at international conferences and events, regularly interviewed by media (e.g. BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Scotland, The Sunday Times), and substantial research funding and external engagement. 

Mark has strong experience of developing responsible AI and data innovations, ensuring they are co-designed in equitable and sustainable ways, in the public sector as well as games and creative industries.

He's given expert advice for the Scottish Government, public health, and industry. Most notably, he was appointed by the Scottish Ministers as a member of the Scottish Government’s "Interim Governance Group on Developing an Anti-Racist Infrastructure”, and he is currently the Co-Chair of the Design Advisory Group. His research and expert advice have had a significant impact on informing the design of the future Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland (AROS), announced by the First Minister in the Programme for Government in Sept 2023. In addition, Mark has served in other advisory roles for the Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland, and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, offering advice on racism/anti-racism and co-design of digital infrastructure at a national Scottish level. 

Mark's research has examined issues of algorithmic harm in data/AI transformations. He's also developed  innovative co-design methods for equitable digital service, responsible AI (e.g. participatory AI auditing), and sustainable game development with adversely racialised people. 

RESEARCH FUNDING

Mark has been the Principal Investigator/Co-investigator of several interdisciplinary research projects funded by the UKRI, including Responsible AI UK, EPSRC, NERC, and ESRC, and other funding bodies, e.g.:

- "Participatory Harm Auditing Workbenches and Methodologies (PHAWM)" (£4.43 million, CI and Chair of Partners and Stakeholders Engagement Committee, RAI UK); 
- "Protecting Minority Ethnic Community Online" (£3.34 million, CI and UofG institutional-lead, UKRI Strategic Priorities Fund);
- "Multilayer Algorithmics to Leverage Graph Structure" (£766K, CI, EPSRC); 
- "Innovators Assemble: Using Gaming and Game Development to Accelerate Business Engagement, Commercialisation, and Innovation in SHAPE" (£10K, PI, Research England / Aspect Network + £3K, PI, ESRC IAA + £14.7K, PI, Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund); 
- "Sustainable Screens Scotland", RSE research network grant (£20K, CI, RSE); 
- “Decarbonising Music Industry: A Survey on Music Fan Attitudes on Sustainability” (£9K, CI, NERC),
- "Music Sector Systems Map for Just and Green Urban Transition" (£19K, CI, NERC), and;
- "What Data Means to You" (£5K, PI, ESRC IAA).

Mark was a co-investigator of the NERC-funded “Decarbonising Music Industry: A Survey on Music Fan Attitudes on Sustainability” project, promoting change in the music industry to address the climate and ecological emergency. The project report received >50 news/media outlets attention, including Sky news. He is also a co-investigator of the RSE-funded "Sustainable Screens Scotland" Network. 

MEDIA APPEARANCE & INTERVIEWS

Mark has had regular media appearance and radio interviews for >7 years, e.g. the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme and BBC Radio 5 Live.

His research has been reported in major news media, e.g. The Sunday Times, The Times Scotland, Vice UK. He's also provided interviews for media and journalists (e.g. the Herald, Future Scot, and online documentaries). Examples of his appearance ranges from live radio, live recorded podcasts (e.g. UofG Spotlight, Disrupting the Doughnut of Doom), and videos (e.g. workshop, short film). Mark was selected for the College of Social Sciences external engagement first cohort and received external media training. 

He has provided interviews on how data and algorithms deepen social inequalities and the changing era of social media. He has also been interviewed for a UofG Spotlight podcast (Ep. 30 - 18:32) discussing the importance of data in policymaking and how to avoid biases. 

For media enquiries, please email or call Mark directly and he will respond as quickly as he can within the day if possible. 

CURRENT RESEARCH, PROJECTS & AWARDS

Mark has a strong track record of publishing single-authored articles in top peer-review journals in his field, e.g. New Media and Society (one of the top-2 journals in media and communication studies, Impact Factor: 8.061) and Housing Studies (top-3 journal in housing research, Impact Factor: 3.516). He has also published several co-authored articles in other high-impact journals. 

Mark is actively involved in leading interdisciplinary research and innovations.

RESPONSIBLE AI and CODESIGN DIGITAL SERVICES:

Mark is the Co-investigator and chair of the partners and stakeholders engagement committee for the £4.43-million "Participatory Harm Auditing Workbenches and Methodologies (PHAWM)" project, funded by the Responsible AI UK/UKRI. He is also work package lead for the £3.34-million "Protecting Minority Ethnic Community Online" (PRIME) project, funded by the UKRI strategic priorities fund. 

RESPONSIBLE GAMES AND SUSTAINABILITY:

Mark was the Principal Investigator of the "Innovators Assemble" project, which developed a video game, "SEvEN: Seven Voices, One Future", to amplify Minoritised Ethnic's people's voices and traditional ecological knowledge in Scotland's sustainable futures.

SEvEN was nominated for the Scottish Games Awards 2023 ("Spirit of Scotland" category), one of the most prestigious awards in the Scottish games industry. 

The game provides a thought-provoking narrative about a future of Scotland where the voice and actions of Minoritised Ethnic people are centred. The game highlights real-life climate actions that are Minoritised Ethnic-led and is set in a virtual replica of the Western Scottish Highlands using satellite images. 

The project (funded by Research England/Aspect Network, £10.1K) promoted gaming and game development as a pathway for innovation for social science and arts/humanities research.

The project developed a toolkit, providing a beginners guide for those interested in game development for research innovation and academic-industry-community partnership. The project partners include Education Evolved Ltd., Ethnic Minority Environmental Network (EMEN), the Floating Designer, and was hosted by the UofG Games and Gaming Lab. 

In 2024, Mark was part of the organising committee/Conference Chair of the highly-acclaimed International Social Media and Society Conference 2024.  

In 2020-21, Mark served as the Co-Chair of the University Shadow Board, which contributes to the University strategy and Senior Management Group decision-making, and it influenced change in the University through ideas, actions, and diverse voices.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE, IMPACT & EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT

Methodologically, Mark is interested and has been involved in several research projects working with innovations in social data science methods, including "big data" analytics, Social Network Analysis (SNA), network visualisations, social media data (e.g. twitter data), and linked data.

Mark has worked with several external partners, including providing consultancy for the Scottish Government in developing a new methodology for one of the National Indicators in the Scottish Government's National Performance Framework, a flagship policy measuring Scotland's outcomes against the UN Sustainable Development Goals, using Social Network Analysis (SNA).

Mark was a member of the Public Health Scotland's Scottish Migrant and Ethnic Health Research Strategy Group. He was also an external advisor and member of several working groups in the Scottish Government, e.g. the Data & Intelligence Network, Primary Care Data, Vaccination Ethnicity Data Collection, and currently Race and Ethnicity Data in Health and Social Care. 

He has provided expert advice on the collection of ethnicity data in the COVID-19 vaccination programme, making a distinct contribution to close Scotland’s ethnic data gap. He was also invited to provide advice to improve the data infrastructure on protected characteristics of the Scottish population. This work has helped transform the practice, policy, and data system design of how ethnicity and protected characteristics data are collected and used in public sectors to tackle health and social inequalities in Scotland. 

Digital society, data & AI, and social networks in the "digital age"

• Impact of technology, data/AI, and digital transformation on society and inequalities 
• Equitable, Inclusive, and Responsible AI and data
• Bias of AI/data on adversely racialised people
  
• Relationship between technology and fairness, equity, sustainability and welfare and wellbeing
• Young people, online social networks, and the climate emergency
• Use of AI and data-driven innovation in public sector and governments (e.g. algorithmic decision-making)

Social Data Science / Co-Design

• Social data science methods, "big data" analytics, automation and APIs (particularly in R)
• Social Network Analysis and network visualisations
• Participatory/co-design approach to AI and algorithm design and development, co-production 

Research groups

• Social & Urban Policy

List by: Type | Date

• RAI UK/UKRI, "Participatory Harm Auditing Workbenches and Methodologies (PHAWM)", £4.43 million, CI and Chair of Partners and Stakeholders Engagement Committee, 2024-2028. 
• UKRI Strategic Priorities Fund (EPSRC/ESRC/AHRC), "Protecting Minority Ethnic Community Online" (PRIME), £3.34 million, CI / work package and UofG institutional-lead, 2022-25. EP/W03235X/1
• EPSRC Standard Grant, "Multilayer Algorithmics to Leverage Graph Structure" (MultilayerALGS), £766K, CI, EP/T004878/1. 
• RSE Research Network Grant, "Sustainable Screens Scotland", £20K, CI, with Inge Sorensen (PI), 2021-23.
• Research England (Aspect Network), "Innovators Assemble: Using Gaming and Game Development to Accelerate Business Engagement, Commercialisation, and Innovation in SHAPE", £10.1K, PI, 2022-23
  + ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (£3K, PI), 2022-23. 
• ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (User Engagement) Grant, “What Data Means to You”: a short film project on public imaginings and lived realities of data futures, £5K, PI, with Inge Sorensen (Co-I) and Bishakha Chaudhury
• NERC Disciplinary Hopping Funds, "Decarbonising Music Industry: Survey on Music Fan Attitudes on Sustainability", £9K, CI, with Matt Brennan (PI)
• NERC Disciplinary Hoping Follow-on Funds, "A music sector systems map to plan for a just and green urban transition: Connecting Glasgow’s ‘UNESCO City of Music’ and ‘COP26 Legacy City’ identities through mapping and social network analysis", £19K, CI, with Matt Brennan (PI). 
• ESRC Festival of Social Science 2021, "SMART Climate Action: Inclusive Youth Engagement and Sensing & 5G Technology for Net Zero" (£1,000)
• ESRC supervisor-led studentship competition (with Prof. Sharon Wright), for a doctoral project on "Young people's lived experiences of welfare conditionality over time"
• UofG Research Reinvigoration Grant, "Project Gamestorm: Using Gaming to Address Global Challenges", £22K, CI, with Dr. Tim Peacock (PI), Dr. Matthew Barr, Prof. Kezia Dugdale
• UofG Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund, £14.7K, PI
• UofG Learning and Teaching Development Fund 2020 x 2 (£3,000 x 2, on technology and gamification (lead applicant) and feedback and assessment literacy, with Dr Craig Gurney, Prof Susan Deeley, Prof Rebecca Madgin, Dr Alasdair Stewart)
• UofG Urban Studies Research Incentivisation Funds 2021-22 (£1000 + £630); 20-21 (£1,470); 18-19 (£780); 17-18 (£1,700, organised the "Researching Youth and Inequalities in the Digital Age" Workshop Series, and organised a mini-symposium including academics and youth practitioners/third sector organisations)

Dissertation Supervision

PGT in Urban Studies (including Public Policy, Urban Analytics); UG Social and Public Policy

PhD/PGR Supervision

Topics interested to supervise include:

• Digital society, social networks, and social connections in the "digital age"
• Impact of technology, data, and algorithms on society and inequalities
  • Limitations and bias of technology, e.g. racial, gender, and class biases
  • Inclusive, equitable, and fair AI and algorithmic processes
  • Relationship between technology and social inclusion, equality and wellbeing
  • Innovation, data, and AI for "social good"
• Social data science
• Social Network Analysis and network visualisation
• Young people and online social networks
• Youth policies, welfare, wellbeing (particularly in Hong Kong and UK/Scotland)

PGR students currently supervising: 

• Du, Haitao
  Understanding the Residential Expectations, Aspirations, and Outcomes of Skilled Migrants in China-the Case Study of Guangzhou, Foshan, and Zhongshan
• Jayaraj, Anee
  Lecturer in Media Policy
• Jordan, Daniel
  Organising game workers: Towards better conditions in the Scottish video game industry
• Wang, Dajun
  Family and state intervention in children’s gaming behaviours and its effect on family relationship

TEACHING AWARDS

Teaching Excellence Award 2020, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow

Outstanding Teaching Award, Social Policy Association UK - awarded to the Undergraduate teaching team in the Social and Public Policy programme led by Mark Wong, 2020

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Mark has an extensive range of experiences in teaching social policy (particularly youth policy), social data science, quantitative methods, social network analysis, and data visualisation for various UK institutions and international academic networks.

Mark was the Undergraduate Convenor in Urban Studies in 2018-2021, and he was the Programme Director of the award-winning MA (Hons) in Social and Public Policy programme. 

Mark successfully led the UG teaching team, which won the UK-wide Social Policy Association Outstanding Teaching Award 2020, and the programme was joint-first for Social Policy in the UK in NSS 2019 and 1st in the Complete University Guide Subject League Table 2022. 

He is also one of the VR App Champions for Project Mobius, funded by Innovate UK (£1 million), in developing cutting-edge innovations in Virtual Reality (VR) in teaching and learning. He contributed in co-designing a new VR application and the co-development of a new VR platform for teaching, Edify, with industry partner Sublime and reached commericialisation in Feb 2021.

The "Data Landscape" VR lesson he co-developed allows learners to visualise data and learn about data analytics in a new immersive environment in VR. 

Semester 1

• UG Quantitative Research Methods in the Social Sciences (Course Convenor, 2019-2022)
• Youth, Policy and Welfare: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (Designed by Mark Wong, Co-Convening with Kezia Dugdale, Director of John Smith Centre, 2020-22)

Semester 2

• Big Data, Policy, and Power (New Course Designed by Mark Wong, Convenor 2020-23)

Learning and Teaching Innovation

Mark was a co-lead in a team in Urban Studies, which won two awards from the University Learning and Teaching Development Fund 2020 (LTDF, £6000) to explore embedding technology in active and blended learning as well as promoting feedback literacy. 

He also previously served as the Deputy UG Convenor of the School of Social and Political Sciences (2019-2021) and was part of the School's Learning and Teaching Committee. 

Mark was appointed to the University Learning and Teaching Committee's working group, Re-imagining Learning Encounters, and contributed to addressing challenges in learning and teaching in University of Glasgow during the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the College representatives. 

Other Awards & Experiences

• Best paper award, housing studies association/chartered institute of housing, housing studies association conference 2017 
• Sue grant service award, University of Edinburgh (2012)
• Kiwanis international service award (2003)

Mark was the deputy theme lead of the Advanced Research Centre (ARC), a university strategic initiative for interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaborations and external engagement. he was the deputy lead of the creative economies and cultural transformations theme, contributing his expertise in inclusive and sustainable digital transformation. 

in addition, Mark has co-convened the Scottish cross-institutional research network, social network analysis in Scotland (SNAS) group for over 10 years. he has served as a member of the editorial advisory board of the sage doing research online. 

He has been invited to be a peer reviewer for several national funding bodies, including the UKRI MRC/GCRF, the Dutch research council, and for top international academic journals, such as new media and society, journal of social policy, sociological review, social network analysis and mining, and information, communication and society.

He has also had success in winning funding in the ESRC supervisor-led PhD studentship competition (with Prof. Sharon Wright) for a project on "young people's lived experiences of welfare conditionality over time". 

Mark was an external collaborator for a project funded by the European Research Council, "medical translation in the history of genomics". he developed original applications of SNA methods and data linkage and developed a large open-access dataset (using application programming interface and over 30 million automated API queries in R), to map networks of scientific collaborations from the 1980s to 2000s. 

He led a public engagement event in the UofG COP26 programme and the ESRC festival of social science 2021, "smart climate action: inclusive youth engagement and sensing & 5G technology for net zero"