New status, new leadership, new achievements!
We are delighted to announce that in May 2025, we were granted our “established” status. Our membership has expanded, and leadership team has grown, too: the group co-leads Adi Kuntsman and Daniel Joseph are now joined by a new deputy, Jessica Elias.
DISC was initially launched in 2021, when we first became a research group, bringing together research activities and conversations between staff members in Arts and Humanities and across the university. Drawing on the “Digital Transformations” research group established by Adi Kuntsman in 2015, and developing the work carried out by Tom Brock and Adi Kuntsman to promote digital sociology research in 2016-2020, in 2021 DISC has received a substantial financial investment from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities to bring together “all things digital” and showcase social science research of digital technologies. Despite the difficult post-Covid rebound that had affected all staff and students at MMU, in 2021-22 Adi and Tom put together an impressive festival of digital society research. Since then, the group has grown substantially from a handful of staff to a vibrant cohort of early career and established researchers and international collaborators. In 2024, Tom Brock stepped down as DISC co-lead, and Daniel Joseph took on Tom’s role, helping shape the group’s successful expansion and enhancing DISC’s social and academic sustainability. As both our membership and our leadership grow, we look forward to new activities and achievements in 2025-26.
In the meantime, join us in looking back at our very successful year, and celebrate our success.
• 2024-25 in review: our international visitors
• 2024-25 in review: our public engagement
• 2024-25 in review: showcasing our research
• 2024-25 in review: our series of “Seeing AI”
• DISC research activities 2021-2025: read the full report
To stay in touch with us and ensure you are informed about our new activities and initiatives, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter
