Deepak John Reji

Computational Sociology • Media Sociology • Societal Attitudes Toward Immigration • Agentic Simulation • Critical Events Analysis • Emotions and Public Discourse • Quantitative & Mixed-Methods Social Research • AI Ethics and Responsible Technology

I am a Computational Social Science researcher and Senior Data Scientist, based in Ireland, known for my interdisciplinary work at the intersection of sociological inquiry, natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning. I have over nine years of experience in developing and implementing data-driven solutions spanning digital trace data, AI systems, and social research applications, with a particular emphasis on social dynamics in digital environments, ethical AI, and bias mitigation. 

My research integrates computational methods with social science perspectives, applying advanced NLP, temporal network analysis, and machine learning to better understand phenomena such as public attitudes toward immigration, bias in media and language models, and human-community interactions in digital and environmental domains. I advocate for responsible and inclusive AI systems and contribute actively to open-source software, sharing models and tools in platforms like Hugging Face and PyPI to support reproducibility and wider community engagement. 

I have a podcast channel called D4 Data, where I explore insights from leading experts across data science, sustainability, and the humanities. My work has been recognised in the Irish AI community, including nominations related to ethical AI and bias research.

PhD in Computational Sociology (Ongoing)                                                                                                            2023 - Present

University of Limerick

Department of Sociology | Supervised by Dr. Brendan Halpin & Dr. Emily Murphy

• Dissertation: Agentic simulation of societal attitudes towards immigration, focusing on critical events, media framing, and emotional dynamics in Irish public discourse
• Methods: Agent-based modelling, Computational text analysis, Emotion analysis, Sentiment analysis, Network analysis
• Developed a Python package that uses LLM-powered agents to simulate how public attitudes shift across a social network after a critical real-world event (package link)
• Work in progress papers: LLM Agent-based Social Simulation for Attitude Diffusion, How Crisis Emotions Spread & Fade. (paper link)
• Presented research at PyCon Dublin (Agent-Based Simulation), Social Dynamics Lab (Social Psychology, UL), PGR Showcase, UL & Sociological Association of Ireland (SAI) Annual Conference
• Upcoming presentation at ECSR Conference and Challenging Hate, ECSH Conference 2026

• Computational Social Science topics
• Data Science & AI

Teaching Assistant - Introduction to Sociology - Part 1 & 2

Volunteer Teaching - Disability Services