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Faculty
Aaron Martin
Assistant Professor of Data Science
School of Data Science
Additional Roles
Assistant Professor of Media Studies
College of Arts and Sciences
Email: xqt3xa@virginia.edu
A social scientist specializing in technology policy and data governance, Aaron Martin studies how regulation can facilitate just, inclusive, and secure digital societies. In addition to focusing on how transnational policy is established by international bodies and humanitarian organizations, he explores how users in historically marginalized communities, including refugees and other vulnerable people, understand and shape technology and its regulation.
Martin's work has appeared in Big Data & Society, Law, Innovation and Technology, IEEE Privacy & Security, Telecommunications Policy, Global Policy, and Geopolitics, and has been featured in media venues like The Economist. His research has been funded by the European Commission, UN Refugee Agency, European AI & Society Fund, Luminate, European Parliament, and Robert Bosch Foundation.
Martin received his Ph.D. in information systems and innovation from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society in the Netherlands (2018-23), and before moving to UVA he led Maastricht University’s Humanitarian Action Program in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross. He has held tech policy positions at JPMorgan Chase and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In addition to serving on the faculty of the School of Data Science, Martin holds a joint appointment in the Department of Media Studies.
Selected Publications
“Digital Identity and Inclusion: Tracing technological transitions”, with E. Schoemaker and K. Weitzberg, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 24(1): 36–45, 2023 [ISSN 1526-0054]
“Aidwashing Surveillance: Critiquing the corporate exploitation of humanitarian crises”, Surveillance & Society 21(1): 96–102, 2023 [ISSN 1477-7487]
“Digitization and Sovereignty in Humanitarian Space: Technologies, territories, and tensions”, with G. Sharma, S. de Souza, L. Taylor, B. van Eerd, S. McDonald, M. Marelli, M. Cheesman, S. Scheel & H. Dijstelbloem, Geopolitics 28(3): 1362–1397, 2023 [ISSN 1557-3028]
“(Re)making Data Markets: An exploration of the regulatory challenges”, with L. Taylor, H. Mukiri-Smith, T. Petročnik & L. Savolainen, Law, Innovation and Technology 14(2): 1–40, 2022 [ISSN 1757-9961]
“Governing Data and Artificial Intelligence for All: Models for sustainable and just data governance”, with J. Lopez Solano, S. de Souza & L. Taylor, Report for the European Parliament’s Panel for the Future of Science and Technology, 2022 [ISBN-13: 978-9-284696-23-9]
“Between Surveillance and Recognition: Rethinking digital identity in aid”, with K. Weitzberg, M. Cheesman & E. Schoemaker, Big Data & Society (January–June): 1–7, 2021 [ISSN 2053-9517]
“Aadhaar in a Box? Legitimizing digital identity in times of crisis”, Surveillance & Society 19(1): 104–108, 2021 [ISSN 1477-7487]
“Exclusion and Inclusion in Identification: Regulation, displacement, and data justice”, with L. Taylor, Information Technology for Development 27(1): 50–66, 2021 [ISSN 1554-0170]
“Introduction: What does the COVID-19 response mean for global data justice?”, with L. Taylor, G. Sharma & S. Jameson, in Data Justice and COVID-19: Global Perspectives, edited by L. Taylor, G. Sharma, A. Martin & S. Jameson, Meatspace Press: 8–17, 2020 [ISBN-13: 978-1-913824-00-6]
“Mobile Money Platform Surveillance”, Surveillance & Society 17(1/2): 213–222, 2019 [ISSN 1477-7487]