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, Media, Culture & Society, Telecommunications Policy, Global Policy, and Geopolitics, and has been featured in media outlets such as The Economist. His research has been funded by the European Commission, the UN Refugee Agency, the European AI & Society Fund, Luminate, European Parliament, and the Robert Bosch Foundation.

Martin received his Ph.D. in information systems and innovation from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he also earned a Master of Science in new media, information and society. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society in the Netherlands (2018-2023), and before moving to UVA he led Maastricht University’s Humanitarian Action Program in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross. Martin has held tech policy positions at JPMorgan Chase and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

In addition to joining the Arts & Sciences faculty, where he will teach a course on media policy in the fall, Martin will hold a joint appointment in UVA’s School of Data Science.