Kia ora, welcome to my website. I’m a political scientist working at the intersection of politics, digital methods and linguistics.

This website is an introduction to my research and teaching. Lots of my research involves turning ideas into code, experimenting and testing, exploring data, and creating digital outputs - work, thinking and creative effort that may not end up reflected in an academic journal article or other output. So, as well as sharing published research, I will use this site to document some of my experiments, thinking, work in progress, and code.

What I do

I have a professional background (2000-2013) as a software developer focused on web technologies and use this experience to build, manipulate, and “mash up” large data-sets from the web, to apply quantitative and qualitative computer-assisted approaches to analyse texts, and to build interfaces to interact with and analyse data. I apply these digital methods to study politics, from the big ideas that shape New Zealand’s party politics to debates about new technologies like autonomous weapons and deep-sea mining. My work is typically interdisciplinary and I’ve collaborated with researchers across a number of disciplines.

I’m a Senior Lecturer / Pūkenga Matua in the Faculty of Arts / Te Kaupeka Toi Tangata at the University of Canterbury in Ōtautahi/Christchurch, New Zealand.

Here’s some of the things I do at UC:

• I coordinate ARTS102 “Problems, questions, evidence”, a course in the compulsory roster of the BA
• I teach DIGI405, a Digital Humanities course on text analysis that is part of the Masters of Applied Data Science programme
• I’m co-coordinator of an initiative for students transitioning into the first year of their Bachelor of Arts
• I’m an Associate Investigator on Into the Deep: Analysing the Actors and Controversies Driving the Adoption of the World’s First Deep Sea Mining Governance (Marsden Grant 22-UOC-059)
• I’m an Associate Investigator on Mapping LAWS project: Issue Mapping and Analysing the Lethal Autonomous Weapons Debate. Funding from Marsden Grant 19-UOC-068 ended in early 2024, but project work is ongoing and more outputs are planned.
• I am an active member of the team that leads the Arts Digital Lab, working and advising on lab projects and leadership.
• I’m working to develop and establish the Faculty of Arts Digital Research Seed Fund, with five projects already completed and five more underway in 2024.

Below you can find out about my research interests, recent research, teaching and professional activities. You can find out more about my research via my UC research profile.

Research Interests and Methodologies

• The politics of autonomous weapons: “Mapping LAWS project: Issue Mapping and Analysing the Lethal Autonomous Weapons Debate”
• Digital Methods as a lens on politics
• New Zealand’s political parties, their ideology and rhetoric
• Environmental politics, including New Zealand’s green party politics and the politics of deep-sea mining
• Politics of expertise, including economic rhetoric and expertise, lay people’s theories of the economy
• Computer-assisted text analysis, Corpus-assisted discourse analysis
• Software development

Teaching and Supervision

I’ve been lecturing since 2016 and taught on New Zealand politics, environmental politics and digital humanities. Whether teaching in-person or at a distance, in small or large classes, I aim to facilitate welcoming, relaxed and open class environments that encourage active learning. My students often comment on the energy and care I bring to my teaching, even when the subject matter is highly technical or challenging. I am always looking for ways to make learning engaging and empowering. I draw on my professional background as a technologist to use online tools and new technologies in innovative and effective ways. I work hard in the courses I coordinate to ensure students with different backgrounds, knowledge and skills have opportunities to achieve. Students often comment that I am approachable and caring and my courses are organised, professional, and change the way they think.

Currently I’m involved in the following teaching and supervision:

• Course coordinator, course development for ARTS102 “Problems, questions, evidence” (2022-present).
• Course coordinator, lecturer and distance learning development for DIGI405 “Texts, Discourses and Data: the Humanities and Data Science” (2019-present).
• Regular guest lectures on New Zealand politics (“Parliament and Political Parties”), environmental politics (“Green parties”), and research methods (“Digital Methods”) in undergraduate and post-graduate courses at UC.
• Supervising postgraduate research projects in data science, digital humanities, and environmental studies.

Recent Research

Here are my recent publications. You will find other outputs, including digital outputs by exploring this website.

• Moses, J. and Ford, G. (2023) Encoding the Enemy: The Politics Within and Around Ethical Algorithmic War. Global Society. [doi]
• Millar, P., Blackwood, M., Ford, G., Garello, D., Ghosh, D., Looyer, N., Matheson, D., Middendorf, C. Middendorf, J., Moir, L., Montelle, C., Stoakes, E., Thomson, C. & Yu, M. (2023). Views Through Student Lenses: How Workshops with Student Research Assistants Can Enhance a Lab’s Research Programme. In L. Estill & J. Giuliano (Ed.), Digital humanities workshops: Lessons learned. Routledge. [doi]
• Ford, G. (2022). Green parties and greening party politics. In M. Bargh & J. MacArthur (Ed.), Environmental politics and policy in Aotearoa New Zealand. Auckland: Auckland University Press.
• Moses, J. and Ford, G. (2021) See Spot save lives: fear, humanitarianism, and war in the development of robot quadrupeds. Digital War. [doi].
• Moses, J., Ford, G. and Troath, S. (August 19, 2021) New Zealand could take a global lead in controlling the development of ‘killer robots’ — so why isn’t it?. The Conversation.
• Moses, J. and Ford, G. (May 4, 2021) Is ‘Spot’ a good dog? Why we’re right to worry about unleashing robot quadrupeds. The Conversation.
• Ford, G. (2021). Political Parties. In J. Hayward, L. Greaves & C. Timperley (Ed.), Government and politics in Aotearoa New Zealand. (7th ed., pp. 205-216). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
• Ford, G., Hayward, B. & Watson, K. (October 6, 2020) Analysis shows how the Greens have changed the language of economic debate in New Zealand. The Conversation.
• Ford, G. (2015). The Green Party. In J. Hayward (Ed.), New Zealand government and politics (6th ed., pp. 229-239). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

I have presented my research at relevant conferences, symposia, workshops and research centres, including: International Studies Association (ISA), New Zealand Political Studies Association (NZPSA), Oceanic Conference on International Studies (OCIS), Linguistics Society of New Zealand (LangSoc), Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), ‘Jean Monnet Chair RCX-EU Symposium on International Leadership and Global Governance’, ‘Research-based solutions to online hate and offline consequences Workshop’ and ‘Politics, Ethics, and Expertise in the Debate over Emerging Weapons Technologies’. I’ve also disseminated research via Café Scientifique, National Digital Forum, the Workers Education Association and the Christchurch City Library.

You can find other research outputs via my UC research profile.

Professional activities

I’m a member of UC’s Arts Digital Lab leadership team. My current work with the ADL is focused on developing the Faculty of Art Digital Research Seed Fund. I’m co-coordinator of the Faculty of Arts Momentum Year initiative. I’ve’ been active in the organising committees of Australasian Association for Digital Humanities Conference (2020-2021), the New Zealand Political Studies Association Conference (NZPSA 2019), and the Workshop on ‘Politics, Ethics and Expertise in the Debate over Emerging Weapons Technologies’ (2023). I co-organised the NZPSA Postgraduate Workshop in 2013 and led organisation of the 2019 NZPSA Postgraduate Workshop. I was Postgraduate representative for the NZPSA in 2014 and 2015.