Helen Margetts — SPARQNOW

At-a-Glance

Serves as Professor of Society and the Internet at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, since 2004.
Was Director of the Oxford Internet Institute (2011-2018) and Director of the Public Policy Programme at The Alan Turing Institute (2018-2025).
Author of books including 'Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action' (2016), which won the Political Studies Association W.J. Mackenzie Prize in 2017.
Specializes in digital governance and politics, examining the interplay between technology, politics, government, and public policy.
Sits on the Home Office Scientific Advisory Council and the board of the Ada Lovelace Institute.
Awarded the OBE for services to social and political science in 2019 and elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in July 2019.
Holds a PhD in Government from the London School of Economics.

Biography

Helen Margetts OBE FBA is a distinguished Professor of Society and the Internet at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, a position she has held since 2004. She also serves as a Visiting Professor and Senior Adviser in the LSE Data Science Institute from 2025. A political scientist by training, Professor Margetts specializes in digital governance and politics, focusing her research on the complex relationships between technology, politics, government, and public policy.