Ben is a public interest technologist and masters candidate in Swinburne’s Social Innovation Research Institute. He has 10+ years experience in trying to help communities build technology that supports their self-identified aims and flourishing, and is now investigating how information seeking and retrieval are impacted by the places we live, our mental health, and the imperatives of the platforms we use.

Thesis Title
Find me something to do: Searching for social connection when times are tough

Research Description
Ben’s thesis will explore how people experiencing mental health challenges (and their supporters) use technology to locate and access social events (such as clubs, interest groups etc) and the challenges that arise due to dimesions of access, ability, and the algorithmic imperatives of different search and content providers.

Supervisors
Prof Anthony McCosker, Swinburne University
Dr Milovan Savic, Swinburne University
Prof Jane Farmer, Swinburne University