Social Computing

The integration of theories and models from informatics and the social sciences makes it possible to detect, analyze, and interpret human and social behavior.

The integration of theories and models from informatics and the social sciences makes it possible to detect, analyze, and interpret human and social behavior. The work in the Social Computing Group integrates theories and models from ubiquitous computing, social media, machine learning, and social sciences, to sense, analyze, and interpret human and social behavior in everyday life, and to create devices and systems that support interaction and communication. Current research includes methods for urban computing from phone and mobile social network data, behavioral analysis of social video, ubiquitous sensing of face-to-face interaction, and crowdsourcing.

Group News

AI for Democracy: Strengthening Switzerland’s Information Ecosystem

institute — Nov 19, 2025

The Idiap Research Institute, in collaboration with the Universities of Lausanne and Neuchâtel, and cross-sectorial impact partners including the Initiative for Media Innovation (IMI), the public broadcaster RTS, Nagravision/Kudelski, and SICPA, have received support from the Hasler Foundation and the Mercator Foundation for an interdisciplinary project designed to reinforce the resilience of democracy in Switzerland as part of the "Digitalisation and Democracy" Program.

A study about the generalization of mood inference models distinguished by an award

research — Oct 17, 2023

Idiap researchers and their colleagues worldwide are investigating the generalization and personalization of models using mobile sensor data to infer people’s mood. A Distinguished Paper Award at the Ubicomp/ISWC conference recognized the scientific publication presenting this research.

How urban crowdsourcing platforms draw a world map of citizen contributions

research — Sep 26, 2023

In a systematic review, Idiap researchers analyzed urban data crowdsourcing platforms around the world. Their work highlights the growing role of these platforms to inform urban policies and shed light on the state of development of these tools.

“Today’s challenges call for human-centered approaches”

research — Jan 20, 2023

Head of the Social Computing research group, Daniel Gatica-Perez has contributed to Idiap’s vision of Artificial Intelligence for Society since 2002. Last year, he received two awards recognizing his long-term impact at the interface between technology and society.

Daniel Gatica-Perez receives ACM ICMI Sustained Accomplishment Award 2022

research — Nov 14, 2022

The award was presented at the ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction in Bengaluru, India, on November 9, 2022.

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Group Job Openings

Our group is regularly posting job openings ranging from internships to researcher positions. To check the opportunities currently available or to submit a speculative applications use the link below.Our group is regularly posting job openings ranging from internships to researcher positions. To check the opportunities currently available or to submit a speculative applications use the link below.