Multimodal AI for Political Communication
Computational Methods to Study Polarisation in Australia and Chile
Published on the 08 October 2026 by UNSW Scientia PhD Project
This project is part of the UNSW Scientia PhD Scholarship Scheme
Successful applicants will receive an annual stipend and a one-off Global Mobility Grant to conduct international engagement activities.
Can AI understand a political video? Politicians increasingly reach voters through short, emotionally charged clips, yet most research tools were built for text. In this PhD, you will develop multimodal AI methods that integrate images, sound, speech and platform metadata to detect how political videos build identities, stir emotions, cast opponents as enemies and mobilise audiences. A central challenge is generalisation: will models trained on Australian content still work in Chile, with its different language, party system and media culture? You will validate automated measures against human coding to ensure results are accurate, interpretable and meaningful.
You will join an interdisciplinary media and computer science team at UNSW Sydney and PUC Chile, with a funded research placement in Santiago. We welcome applicants from communication, political science, data science, computer science or computational social science who are curious about both code and meaning, and care about democracy.
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- Residency: Domestic applicants only.
- Degree program: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
You must meet the minimum requirements below to apply:
- An appropriate Bachelor degree with first or upper second class Honours from UNSW: OR
- A completed Master by Research, with a substantial research component and demonstrated capacity for timely completion of a high-quality research thesis; OR
- a qualification from another tertiary institution at a level considered equivalent by the Faculty Higher Degree Committee (HDC)
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Eligible applicants must contact the Primary Supervisor, Mathias Felipe de Lima Santos - z3550198@ad.unsw.edu.au. If he agrees to supervise you, you will be invited to submit a formal application to UNSW.
Your email should include:
- CV
- Official academic transcripts
- A brief introduction about you and why you are qualified for this project.
- What interests you about this project and the supervisor(s) expertise.
Research project overview
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Scholarship value
$39,991 per annum (2027 rate) stipend for 3.5 years
$25,000 Global Mobility Grant (one-off) -
Supervisory team
Dr Mathias Felipe de Lima Santos (UNSW, Primary Supervisor)
Associate Professor Gustavo Batista (UNSW, Co-Supervisor)
Dr Javier J. Amores (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Co-Supervisor)
Associate Professor Magdalena Saldaña (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Co-Supervisor)
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Global research partner
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Candidate residency
Domestic
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Degree program
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
UNSW School | Research area
Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture | School of the Arts and Media
Impact focus area
Pillar 9: Strengthen societal resilience, security and cohesion
Learn more
Supervisors
Do you have questions?
The UNSW Graduate Research School manages all postgraduate research applications and scholarships. Get in touch with our team to discuss your research interests and the next steps.