David Zendle
Senior Lecturer
Profile
Biography
David is a data scientist whose work deals with the impact of technology on society. He is the author of several key references on this topic, including the world’s most highly cited paper on the policy-critical topic of loot boxes. He is involved in building evidence-based policy into digital behaviour and potential harm across video games, social media, and gambling. His most recent work has focused on the collection and leveraging of large-scale datasets of digital behaviour to address questions regarding such harms. David a member of the statutory body which advises the UK Gambling Commission regarding harm reduction (The Advisory Board for Safer Gambling).
I lead the Digital Observatory at the University of York.
Career
- 2024-Now - Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University of York
- 2019-2023 - Lecturer, Department of Computer Science, University of York
- 2018-2019 - Lecturer, Department of Computer Science, York St. John University
- 2016–2018 - Associate Lecturer, Department of Computer Science, University of York
- 2012-2016 - PhD in Human-Computer Interaction, University of York
- 2011-2012 - MSc Information Technology, University of York
- 2009-2011 - MA English Literary Studies, University of York
- 2005-2008 - BA(Hons) English Literature, University of Sheffield
Research
Overview
- Convergence of video games and gambling
- Impact of video games and social media on mental health
- Collection and utilisation of big digital data for addressing online harms
Grants
- 2023, National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence Online. GAME-SHIELD:A data-driven video game rating system for the prevention of online harms in video games, £85,000.
- 2022, Major Exploratory Research Grant from the Association for the Study of Gambling. RETRO: The Retrospective Spending Observatory, Association for the Study of Gambling, £80,000.
- 2021, ESRC/EPSRC Impact Accelerator Award. Zendle, PROJECT DRAGON, £40,000.
Available PhD research projects
I am available to supervise PhD projects in any area of online safety / online harms research. I have a particular interest in the use of big behavioural data in this space.
Teaching
External activities
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