Vijaykumar, Santosh

Santosh Vijaykumar is Associate Professor of Health Communication and Director of the Cognitive and Health Infodemics Research Programme (CHIRP) at Northumbria University, UK. His current research focuses on identifying and tackling vulnerabilities to online misinformation and conflicting information especially in the contexts of health and climate crises.

Documented in research articles, book chapters, podcasts and international media writing, Santosh’s work integrates theories and methods from public health, communication and data science and spans the US, UK, Brazil, ASEAN and India. He serves as Expert Fellow for the Security, Privacy, Identity, Trust in the Digital Economy (SPRITE+) network and is a member of the North East North Cumbria Integrated Care Board Digital Inclusion Steering Group.

During his (virtual) Visiting Research Fellowship at UNU-CRIS, Santosh will work with Nidhi Nagabhatla as part of the Nature, Climate and Health Cluster. He will advance a programme of interdisciplinary research broadly situated at the intersection of digital communications, global health and climate change. Building on his theoretical and empirical work on the role of social media in infectious disease outbreaks, the proposed programme will generate new perspectives on strengthening trust in regional and multilateral institutions in the context of future risk communication and health and climate emergency preparedness.