Andrew Chadwick (BSocSc Birmingham, MSc London School of Economics, PhD London School of Economics, FRSA, FAcSS) is Professor of Political Communication and Director of the Online Civic Culture Centre (O3C) in the Department of Communication and Media. He teaches courses on digital media and society, online influence, and data, power, and democracy.
His research explores how the internet and internet and digital media are implicated in social and political power in four broad areas: political mobilisation, political engagement, deception and dis/misinformation, and news and journalism. He invented the concepts of the “hybrid media system,” “hybrid media events,” “organizational hybridity," and the “ontology of hybridity” and introduced them into social science research, where they have become influential in a wide range of fields including political communication, journalism studies, social movement studies, social media analysis, public opinion research, algorithm studies, party and election campaign research, communication theory, social theory, dis-/misinformation research, media audience/reception studies, and analyses of populism.
His work takes a broadly interdisciplinary, sociotechnical, and social scientific approach inspired by some key concepts and methods from communication, political science, sociology, psychology, and science and technology studies.
Andrew’s books and journal articles have won multiple international awards from the American Sociological Association, the International Communication Association, and the American Political Science Association. In addition, The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power (Oxford University Press, 2013; Second Edition, 2017) won the International Journal of Press/Politics Best Book Award (2016), which recognises an outstanding book published in the previous ten years.
Among other projects, he is currently working on his next book (working title Social Media and the Future of Democracy), which will be published by Oxford University Press. Since 2016 he has mostly been writing about online disinformation, misinformation, deception, distrust, and other online harms. This has involved establishing a new research centre and doctoral programme at Loughborough, the Online Civic Culture Centre (O3C), for which he gained funding and founded in February 2018, and the Everyday Misinformation Project, which focuses on the everyday sharing of misinformation on personal messaging platforms and is funded by a large grant from the Leverhulme Trust. From 2020 to 2023 he was a prominent researcher in the multidisciplinary Oxford Coronavirus Explanations, Attitudes, and Narratives Project on misinformation and Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy, to which he brought expertise in online social endorsement. This resulted in an award-winning journal article he led that informed part of the UK government’s response to vaccine disinformation during the Covid vaccine rollout.
Andrew is the founding series editor of Oxford University Press’ book series Oxford Studies in Digital Politics, which launched in 2010 and currently features 46 books. Books in the series have received 25 major international scholarly book awards to date. He also serves on the editorial boards of several journals (all Q1) including Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, Political Communication, Communication Theory, Social Media + Society, and International Journal of Press/Politics,
A Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, a Fellow of the RSA, Andrew is listed in the Stanford University/Elsevier Top 2% of Scientists Worldwide, 1960-2020. In 2019 he became an adviser (unpaid) to Clean up the Internet, an independent organisation tackling the degradation of online discourse and its implications for democracy. He has served as an adviser to the Department of Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) (Counter-Disinformation Policy Forum, 2020-22) and the DCMS/Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Digital Markets Research Working Group.
Media engagement includes BBC Radio Four’s Thinking Allowed, The Moral Maze, The World at One, and Sky News. He has written for the British and U.S. press, including The Independent, the Washington Post, and The Conversation. News organizations in the UK, Finland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, and Spain, among other countries, have covered his research, including in outlets such as The Times, BBC News, the Washington Post, ITV News, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, CNN, the Independent, Bloomberg News, the Telegraph, the New Scientist, First Draft, Campaign, New Statesman, and Stylist.
Andrew has given keynote speeches in in Canada, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom, and invited lectures in Austria, Canada, Italy, Norway, Spain, the United States, at many universities across Britain, and at other public institutions including the Parliament of Canada, the UK Parliament, the UK Cabinet Office, the US Congressional Research Service, the RSA, the US Embassy in London, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), Gresham College, the Cheltenham Science Festival, the Institute of Historical Research, the European Parliament Information Office, the UK Labour Party, and Policy Network.
For more information visit his personal website.
Disclosure and Integrity Statement
Funding Over the Last Five Years
Leverhulme Trust
Loughborough University Adventure Research Programme
Loughborough University Communication and Culture Beacon
Swiss National Science Foundation
University of Oxford Covid-19 Research Response Fund
Advisory Roles Over the Last Five Years (does not include peer reviewing)
UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (unpaid)
Clean Up The Internet (unpaid)
UK Cabinet Office (unpaid)
UK Research and Innovation (unpaid)
UK Economic and Social Research Council (unpaid).
Paid Professional Roles
As the Series Editor for the book series Oxford Studies in Digital Politics (Oxford University Press) I receive a small signing fee from Oxford University Press for each contracted title and a small royalty payment for each book sale. Books are published on the basis of their research quality i.e. the payments I receive are not quota-based or dependent on the publication of a minimum number of new titles per year.
Current PhD Students
- Harvey Dodds: Social class and social media.
- Andrew Ross: public opinion, disinformation, and meta-perceptions of democracy.
Recently Awarded PhD Students
- Dr Catherine R. Baker (2022) “Infrastructures of Male Supremacism: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of the Incel Wiki.” Catherine is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Dublin City University’s Anti-Bullying Centre.
- Dr Simon Collister (2019) “Hybridity, Materiality & Choreography: Towards a Theory of Mediated Power in a Networked Communication Environment.” Following a period as Senior Lecturer in Communication at the University of the Arts, London, Simon recently returned to professional public relations practice with Blackbook London.
- Dr Declan Mcdowell-Naylor (2019) “The Participatory, Communicative, and Organisational Dimensions of Public-Making: Public Engagement and The Development of Autonomous Vehicles in the United Kingdom.” Declan was a postdoctoral researcher on the ESRC-funded project on UK alternative media at Cardiff University and is currently a Research Officer at the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
- Dr Ellen Watts (2018) “Celebrities as Political Representatives: Explaining the Exchangeability of Celebrity Capital in the Political Field.” Ellen is currently an Assistant Professor in Politics at the University of Nottingham.
- Dr Amy P. Smith (2018) “Commodification and control: news media agenda setting during the 2015 United Kingdom general election.” Amy currently works as a Researcher Development Officer at the University of Manchester.
- Dr James Dennis (2015) “‘It’s Better to Light a Candle than to Fantasize About a Sun’: Exploring Social Media and ‘Slacktivism.’” James is currently Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Portsmouth. His dissertation was awarded the American Political Science Association Information Technology and Politics Section Best Dissertation Award, 2017.
- Dr Aaron Bastani (2015) “Strike! Occupy! Retweet!: The Relationship Between Collective and Connective Action in Austerity Britain.” Aaron is the author of Fully Automated Luxury Communism (Verso, 2019), co-founder of Novara Media, and a contributor to the Guardian, the London Review of Books, the New York Times, Vice, and Open Democracy, among many other outlets.
- Dr Christopher Boerl (2012) “A Kingdom Divided: New Media, the Fragmentation of Evangelical Cultural Values, and U.S. Politics.” Dr Boerl currently works for Teach for America, a U.S.-wide educational non-profit.
- Dr Nick Anstead (2009) “Party System Variables and the Impact of the Internet: A US-UK Comparison.” Nick is currently an Associate Professor in Political Communication in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE.
- Dr Yenn Lee (2009) “The Internet and the 2002 Presidential Election in Korea.” Yenn is currently a Senior Lecturer in social science research methods at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
Since 2021
- Hall, N-A., Chadwick, A., Vaccari, C., Lawson, B., & Akolgo, P. (2024). Research Update: Misinformation on Personal Messaging—Are WhatsApp’s Warnings Effective? Online Civic Culture Centre, Loughborough University. 28pp.
— Press release.
— Download pdf. - Hall, N-A., Chadwick, A., & Vaccari, C. (2023). Online Misinformation and Everyday Ontological Narratives of Social Distinction. Media, Culture & Society.
— Download pdf. -
Chadwick, A., Hall, N-A., & Vaccari, C. (2023). Misinformation Rules!? Could “Group Rules” Reduce Misinformation in Online Personal Messaging? New Media & Society.
— Download pdf. - Chadwick, A., Vaccari, C., & Hall, N-A. (2023). What Explains the Spread of Misinformation in Online Personal Messaging Networks? Exploring the Role of Conflict Avoidance. Digital Journalism. — Download pdf.
- Vaccari, C., Chadwick, A., & Kaiser, J. (2023). The Campaign Disinformation Divide: Believing and Sharing News in the 2019 UK General Election. Political Communication, 40(1), 4–23.
— Download pdf. - Ross, A., Vaccari, C., & Chadwick, A. (2022). Russian Meddling in U.S. Elections: How News of Disinformation’s Impact Can Affect Trust in Electoral Outcomes and Satisfaction with Democracy. Mass Communication and Society, 45(6), 786–811.
— Download pdf. - Chadwick, A., Vaccari, C. and Kaiser, J. (2022). The Amplification of Exaggerated and False News on Social Media: The Roles of Platform Use, Motivations, Affect, and Ideology. American Behavioral Scientist, pp. 1–18.
— Download pdf. - Chadwick, A. (2022). Breaking Democracy: Lies, Deception, and Disinformation. Gresham College Lecture—Accompanying Article, May 5.
— Download pdf. - Chadwick, A., Vaccari, C. and Hall, N. (2022). Covid Vaccines and Online Personal Messaging: The Challenge of Challenging Everyday Misinformation. Online Civic Culture Centre, Loughborough University. April. 34pp.
— Download pdf.
— Interview on the Social Media and Politics Podcast. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or the podcast website. - Kaiser, J., Vaccari, C. and Chadwick, A. (2022). Partisan Blocking: Biased Responses to Shared Misinformation Contribute to Network Polarization on Social Media. Journal of Communication, 72(2), 214–240.
— Download pdf. - Chadwick, A. (2022). Covid Misinformation is a Health Risk—Tech Companies Need to Remove Harmful Content, not Tweak their Algorithms. The Conversation. January 21.
— Available here. - Chadwick, A. and Stanyer, J. (2022). Deception as a Bridging Concept in the Study of Disinformation, Misinformation, and Misperceptions: Toward a Holistic Framework. Communication Theory, 32(1), 1-24.
— Awarded the Honourable Mention for the International Communication Association’s Kaid-Sanders Award for the Best Article in the field of political communication.
— Download pdf. - Ross, A., Chadwick, A. and Vaccari, C. (2021). Digital Media and the Proliferation of Public Opinion Cues Online: Biases and Vulnerabilities in the New Attention Economy. in Morrison, J., Birks, J. and Berry, M. (eds) The Routledge Companion to Political Journalism (Routledge), pp. 241-251.
- Freeman, D., Lambe, S., Yu, L-M, Freeman, J., Chadwick, A., Vaccari, C., Waite, F., Rosebrock, L., Petit, A., Vanderslott, S., Lewandowsky, S., Larkin, M., Innocenti, S., McShane, H., Pollard, A., & Loe, B. S. (2021). Injection Fears and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy. Psychological Medicine. June 15. pp. 1–11.
— Download pdf. - Chadwick, A. (2021). Why COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy should fall as more people get the jab. The Conversation. June 14.
— Available here. - Freeman, D., Loe, B. S., Yu, L-M., Freeman, J., Chadwick, A., Vaccari, C., Shanyinde, M., Harris, V., Waite, F., Rosebrock, L., Petit, A., Vanderslott, S., Lewandowsky, S., Larkin, M., Innocenti, S., Pollard, A. J., McShane, H., & Lambe, S. (2021). Effects of Different Types of Written Vaccination Information on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in the UK (OCEANS-III): A Single-blind, Parallel-group, Randomised Controlled Trial. The Lancet Public Health, 6(6), pp. 416-427.
— Download pdf. - Chadwick, A., Kaiser, J., Vaccari, C., Freeman, D., Lambe, S., Loe, B. S., Vanderslott, S., Lewandowsky, S., Conroy, M., Ross, A. R. N., Innocenti, S., Pollard, A. J., Waite, F., Larkin, M., Rosebrock, L., Jenner, L., McShane, H., Giubilini, A., Petit, A., & Yu, Ly-Mee (2021). Online Social Endorsement and Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in the UK. Social Media + Society, April 2, pp. 1–17.
— Download pdf.
— Winner, Paul Lazarsfeld Best Paper Award, American Political Science Association Political Communication Section. We have donated the Award prize money to the WHO Foundation’s Go Give One fundraising campaign and we encourage you to also donate to this cause. - Baker, C. R. and Chadwick, A. (2021). Corrupted Infrastructures of Meaning: Post-truth Identities Online.’ in Tumber, H. and Waisbord, S. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Media Disinformation and Populism (Routledge), pp. 312–323.