MediaLab explores collaboration with ARCOS research group for large-scale TikTok study

The MediaLab research group recently hosted a collaboration meeting with the computer architecture, communications and systems (ARCOS) research group, UC3M, to explore interdisciplinary approaches to combating the spread of misinformation. The meeting focused on strengthening the group’s current health communication project by integrating big data and analytics expertise to generate insights through MediaLab’s access to large-scale TikTok datasets, while also identifying opportunities for future joint research.

The meeting brought together eight researchers from both groups who exchanged perspectives on how social science and humanities approaches can be strengthened through advanced analytics and big data methodologies. The discussion emphasised shared goals around mitigating misinformation and enhancing the societal impact of health communication research.

The ARCOS team was represented by David E Singh PhD, the coordinator of the epigraph project, and Alberto Cascajo PhD, professionals in big data analytics from the UC3M Leganes campus. MediaLab was represented by senior team members, Professors Daniel Catalan Matamoros and Carlos Elias Perez, principal investigators of the health communication project, along with other members of MediaLab.

The meeting concluded with strong interest from both teams to work together complementarily to enhance the impact of their studies. Both teams viewed the meeting as a productive step toward a sustained interdisciplinary partnership aligned with MediaLab’s mission to advance impactful research in health communication and beyond. After the positive experience in a previous collaboration under the PREDCOV project, these new joint efforts will reinforce this partnership.