— Present
King's College London
Computer Science Researcher
Researching how spatial models such as the left-right political spectrum (and higher-dimensional variants) can be used in recommender systems to perform bridging-based ranking.
Experience
- —
Meta
Research Scientist Intern
- —
Resilient Youth Australia
Data Scientist
Data analysis, full stack web development and applied statistics research for an organisation that surveys 100,000 Australian school students annually on issues of resilience and mental health.
- —
Ofcom (via research consultancy Pattrn)
Technical Analyst
Co-authored a review of methods for evaluating the extent to which recommender systems are implicated in the spread of illegal content.
- —
Future Problem Solving Program Australia
International Evaluator & Future Scene Writer
Evaluating written competition booklets and setting competition problems at state, national & international levels.
- —
Hunt Lab for Intelligence Research, University of Melbourne
Research Associate (Machine Learning & Statistics)
Machine learning and other research as part of a group working to improve the quality of reasoning in intelligence organisations.
Prototyped an argument processor—analogous to a word processor but for structured argumentation—which integrates with a large language model to partially automate common argumentative reasoning tasks.
Built Navigator, a prototype application that uses argument mining to augment analysts’ abilities to extract insight from large document corpora.
Co-facilitated the collaboration of over 100 Australian academics that led to the Roadmap to Recovery report, advising the National Cabinet on strategies for COVID-19 pandemic recovery.
Helped run the 2020 Hunt Challenge, a study that demonstrated that crowdsourced teams can produce analysis of comparable quality to that of professional intelligence analysts.
Helped conduct a major Delphi method expert elicitation on the nature of analytic rigour in intelligence work, along with its contributing factors and opportunities for improvement.
Conducted research in accordance with open science principles, pre-registering studies (1, 2) and sharing data.
- —
Population Interventions Unit, University of Melbourne
Data Visualisation
Worked with epidemiologist Tony Blakely to communicate modelling of SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks, vaccination, and the consequences of government lockdowns to the public via an interactive web tool.
- —
CSIRO Manufacturing (Biomedical)
Research Assistant
Built an interactive tool to visualise and explore phase space in protein crystallisation. Originally 6-month appointment through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), with several stints of follow-up work.
- —
The University of Melbourne
Research Assistant
Worked with A/Prof. Tony Wirth and Dr James Saunderson in the Department of Computing and Information Systems on algorithms for the finding of densest subgraphs.
- —
Mercer
Stochastic Modelling
Fixed-term summer project, stochastically modelling mortalities for a new retirement income product.
Affiliations
- — Present
Council on Technology and Social Cohesion
Member
- — Present
AI & Democracy Foundation
Research Fellow
- — Present
Build Up
Associate
Research collaborator with Build Up, a non-profit focused on digital peacebuilding.
- — Present
MINT Lab, Australian National University
Affiliate
Research affiliate at the Machine Intelligence and Normative Theory Lab, led by Seth Lazar.
- — Present
GETTING-Plurality Research Network, Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, Harvard University
Member
Member of the GETTING-Plurality Research Network, working on bridging systems and broader questions around the ethics and governance of emerging technologies.
- —
Center for Constructive Communication, MIT Media Lab
Research Affiliate
Education
- —
Master of Science (with Distinction)
The University of Melbourne
Specialisation Statistics & Stochastic Processes
Minor Pure Mathematics
Supervisor Thesis Grade First Class Honours
Metric and Hilbert Spaces
Measure Theory
Functional Analysis
Mathematical Statistics
Analysis of High-Dimensional Data
Computational Statistics and Data Mining
Advanced Mathematical Statistics
Random Processes
Advanced Probability
Stochastic Calculus with Applications
Mathematics of Risk
AMSI Summer School (see below)
- —
AMSI Summer School
Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute
Topological Data Analysis
Probabilistic Methods & Random Graphs
- —
Bachelor of Science
The University of Melbourne
Major Mathematics & Statistics
Specialisation Statistics & Stochastic Processes
Grade First Class Honours
Accelerated Mathematics 1
Accelerated Mathematics 2
Introductory Microeconomics
Intermediate Microeconomics
Physics 1
Physics 2: Advanced
Weather and Climate Systems
Foundations of Computing
Foundations of Algorithms
Database Systems
Probability
Probability for Inference
Stochastic Modelling
Statistics
Linear Statistical Models
Modern Applied Statistics
Vector Calculus
Differential Equations
Geometry
Complex Analysis
- —
Diploma of Languages (Japanese)
The University of Melbourne
Japanese 5
Japanese 6
Japanese 7
Japanese 8
Japanese Through the Media
Variation in Japanese Language
Social Problems in Japan
Reading Japanese Literature
- —
International Baccalaureate Diploma
St Leonard's College
Grade 43/45 (equivalent to notional ATAR of 99.60)
Mathematics (HL)
Physics (HL)
Economics (HL)
Literature (SL)
Chemistry (SL)
Japanese (SL)
Theory of Knowledge
Teaching
- —
The University of Melbourne
Mathematics & Statistics School Tutor
2019, 2020 2020 2020 Psychological Science: Theory & Practice (guest seminars)
- —
- —
St Leonard's College
Student Study Assistant
Academic tutoring and library support for students after school, on weekends and during school holidays.
- —
Self-employed
Private Academic Tutor
Mainly in Mathematics, Physics and Economics. Students ranged from high school to university postgraduate level. Over 300 hours of tutoring experience.
Service
- —
Meta
Community Alignment Advisory Group
Advising on the alignment of AI systems to collectives.
- —
Knight—Georgetown Institute, Georgetown University
Working Group
Member of a working group articulating policy options for improving recommender systems.
- —
Goodenough College
Treasurer, Members' Council
Elected member representative and Chair of the Members’ Council Funding Committee for a longstanding, independent, 700-head postgraduate residential college in central London.
- —
newDemocracy Foundation
Research & Computational Support
Building an accessible online tool for performing stratified random selection.
- —
Future Problem Solving Program Australia
Moderniser of Evaluator Resources
Provided technical advice on the adoption/creation of an electronic evaluation platform. Previously, I rewrote the Evaluator Handbook.
- —
Young Australians Cancer Initiative
Director
Inaugural co-director of an enrichment program for Australian high school students focused on cancer science.
- —
iGEM UniMelb
Videographer
Produced three short videos to help explain and promote the work of the team from The University of Melbourne entering the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition.
- —
St Leonard's College
Peer Support Leader
- —
St Leonard's College
SCOPE Leader
Mentored an overly reserved grade three student.
Awards & Honours
- 2021
Rae and Edith Bennett Travelling Scholarship
The University of Melbourne
- 2019
Mathematics and Statistics School Scholarship
The University of Melbourne
- 2018
Maurice H. Belz Scholarship
The University of Melbourne
- 2016
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Scholar
Biomedical Research Victoria
Leaders in Communities Award (LiCA)
The University of Melbourne
- 2015
Keith Frampton Roll of Honour (Member)
Future Problem Solving Program Australia
Highest Mark, Weather & Climate Systems
The University of Melbourne
- 2014
Second Place, Introductory Microeconomics Film Competition
The University of Melbourne
- 2013
Year 12 IB Dux
St Leonard's College
Full College, Music and House Colours
St Leonard's College
Old Collegian's Award for Positive Involvement
St Leonard's College
- 2012
Monash Prize for Excellence & Year 11 IB Dux
St Leonard's College
E. Paul Torrance Youth Award
Future Problem Solving Program Australia
Grants & Funding
- —
Deliberative AI Specifications and Infrastructure
With the AI & Democracy Foundation
Sponsor Value TBA
- —
Quantifying the Contribution of Online Platforms to Polarization
Collaboration between Build Up and Sciences Po
Sponsor Value USD 300,000
- —
Computational Social Choice and Machine Learning for Ethical Decision Making
Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe & Trusted AI
Sponsor Value ≈ GBP 26,000 tuition + GBP 19,000 stipend / year
- —
Momentum Building for Bridging
Project Funding from Plurality Research Network Conference
Sponsor Value USD 2590.26 (amount determined via quadratic voting)
- —
Transfer Learning for Argument Operations
Artificial Intelligence for Decision Making Initiative (Phase 2)
Sponsor Office of National Intelligence, Commonwealth of Australia
Value AUD 50,000
- —
Augmenting Corpus Analysis through Argument Mining and Networked Notes
Artificial Intelligence for Decision Making Initiative (Phase 1)
Sponsor Office of National Intelligence, Commonwealth of Australia
Value AUD 20,000
Publications
Bridging Algorithms as Practical Tools for Depolarisation
L Thorburn
Peace in Progress (International Catalan Institute for Peace), 2025.
Council of Europe (MSI-eSEC)
L Thorburn
“Comments on the Committee of Ministers’ draft recommendation on online safety and empowerment of content creators and users”, 2025.
An Unambiguous Measure of Ambiguity
S Dong, E Cabalé, L Thorburn, A Konya, M Bakker
Workshop on NLP for Democracy @ COLM, 2025.
Using Collective Dialogues and AI to Find Common Ground Between Israeli and Palestinian Peacebuilders
A Konya, L Thorburn, W Almasri, OA Leshem, A Procaccia, L Schirch, M Bakker
ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency FAccT, 2025.
Democratic AI is Possible. The Democracy Levels Framework Shows How It Might Work.
A Ovadya, K Redman, L Thorburn, QZ Chen, O Smith, F Devine, A Konya, S Milli, M Revel, K Feng, AX Zhang, B Chandra, M Bakker, A Kasirzadeh
International Conference on Machine Learning ICML, 2025.
Better Feeds: Algorithms That Put People First
A Moehring, A Cooper, A Narayanan, A Ovadya, E Redmiles, J Allen, J Stray, J Kamin, L Sigerson, L Thorburn, M Motyl, M Eslami, N Farid Johnson, N Lubin, R Iyer, Z Arnao
Knight—Georgetown Institute, 2025.
Community by Design
EG Weyl, L Thorburn, E de Keulenaar, J Mchangama, D Siddarth, A Tang
TIME · Noema · Laura Loomer · Lawfare · Tech Policy Press
Shaping the Future of Social Media with Middleware
L Hogg, R DiResta, F Fukuyama, R Reisman, D Keller, A Ovadya, L Thorburn, J Stray, S Mathur
McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University, 2024.
Views on AI aren't binary — they're plural (extended abstract)
T Bristow, L Thorburn, D Acosta-Navas
AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society AIES, 2024.
The moral case for using language model agents for recommendation
S Lazar, L Thorburn, T Jin, L Belli
Inquiry, 2025.
Toward Democracy Levels for AI
A Ovadya, L Thorburn, K Redman, F Devine, S Milli, M Revel, A Konya, A Kasirzadeh
Pluralistic Alignment @ NeurIPS, 2024.
Societal Sorting as a Systemic Risk of Recommenders
L Thorburn, M Polukarov, C Ventre
ACM Conference on Recommender Systems RecSys, 2024.
Views on AI aren't binary — they're plural
T Bristow, L Thorburn, D Acosta-Navas
Accepted at AIES 2024.
Underexplored Ways to Regulate Social Media
N Lubin, K Mayberry, M Revel, L Thorburn
Tech Policy Press, 2024.
Mapping the space of social media regulation
N Lubin, K Mayberry, D Moses, M Revel, L Thorburn, A West
MIT Science Policy Review 5(1), 2024.
Experiments are the Best Kind of Transparency
L Thorburn, J Stray, P Bengani
Tech Policy Press, 2024.
Research Agenda for Sociotechnical Approaches to AI Safety
S Curtis, R Iyer, C Domenico Kirk-Giannini, V Krakovna, D Krueger, N Lambert, B Marnette, C McKenzie, J Michael, E Miyazono, N Mima, A Ovadya, L Thorburn, VD Turan
How to redesign social media algorithms to bridge divides
L Thorburn, A Ovadya
The Conversation, 2023.
What is Media Diversity and Do Recommender Systems Have It?
P Bengani, J Stray, L Thorburn
Tech Policy Press, 2023.
What's the Difference Between Search and Recommendation?
L Thorburn, J Stray, P Bengani
Tech Policy Press, 2023.
SHAPE: A Framework for Evaluating the Ethicality of Influence
E Bezou-Vrakatseli, B Brückner, L Thorburn
European Conference on Multi-Agent Systems EUMAS, 2023.
Error in the Euclidean Preference Model
L Thorburn, M Polukarov, C Ventre
International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence IJCAI, 2023.
Polarization as Probabilistic Dependence
L Thorburn, M Polukarov, C Ventre
International Workshop on Computational Social Choice COMSOC, 2023.
Evaluating recommender systems in relation to the dissemination of illegal and harmful content in the UK
R Armitage, J Gallacher, JG Gu, A Hogan, P Howard, B Kollanyi, R Kuchta, L Neudert, L Thorburn
Ofcom, 2023.
When You Hear “Filter Bubble”, “Echo Chamber”, or “Rabbit Hole” — Think “Feedback Loop”
L Thorburn, J Stray, P Bengani
Understanding Recommenders, CHAI, 2023.
Is Optimizing for Engagement Changing Us?
L Thorburn, J Stray, P Bengani
Understanding Recommenders, CHAI, 2022.
Error in the Euclidean Preference Model (extended abstract)
L Thorburn, M Polukarov, C Ventre
International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems AAMAS, 2023.
Optimizing Language Models for Argumentative Reasoning
L Thorburn, A Kruger
International Workshop on Argumentation & Machine Learning ArgML, 2022.
How to Measure the Effects of Recommenders
L Thorburn, J Stray, P Bengani
Understanding Recommenders, CHAI, 2022.
International Observatory on Information and Democracy
L Thorburn
“What the Observatory cannot do”, 2022.
The IC Rating Scale as a Measure of Analytic Rigor
L Thorburn, T van Gelder, C Shahan Brugh, SM Kim, M Kolb, B Zulauf
What's Right and What's Wrong with Optimizing for Engagement
P Bengani, J Stray, L Thorburn
Understanding Recommenders, CHAI, 2022.
What Does it Mean to Give Someone What They Want?
L Thorburn, J Stray, P Bengani
Understanding Recommenders, CHAI, 2022.
Using argument mapping to improve clarity and rigour in written intelligence products
A Kruger, L Thorburn, T van Gelder
Intelligence and National Security 37(5), 2022.
How Platform Recommenders Work
L Thorburn, P Bengani, J Stray
Understanding Recommenders, CHAI, 2022.
The Impact of Evidence on Decision Making
A Kruger, T van Gelder, L Thorburn
Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis, 2021.
Towards Argument Embeddings
L Thorburn
Online Handbook of Argumentation and Artificial Intelligence 2(1), 2021.
Analytic Rigour in Intelligence
A Barnett, T Primoratz, R de Rozario, M Saletta, L Thorburn, T van Gelder
Hunt Lab for Intelligence Research, 2021.
Enhancing human analysis of large corpora via argument mining and backlinks—a prototype
L Thorburn
Hunt Lab for Intelligence Research, 2021.
Tools to Ease the Choice and Design of Protein Crystallisation Experiments
N Rosa, M Ristic, L Thorburn, GJ Abrahams, B Marshall, CJ Watkins, A Kruger, A Khassapov, J Newman
Crystals 10(2), 2020.
Preprints / Working Papers
Conference Papers
Workshop Papers
Journal Articles
General Press
Reports
Policy Input
Talks
AI in Peace Processes
FAccT
Democratic AI
London Data Week
Carnegie Mellon University
Australian National University
Sciences Po
Inferred Preferences
Sortedness + Recommendation
MIT CCC
Meta
Good + Bad Conflict
ISA
Concreteness
Build Peace
Mapping the Space of Social Media Regulation
Harvard
How to Measure the Effects of Algorithms
Error in the Euclidean Preference Model
Bridging
University of Notre Dame
New Public
Goodenough College
What Does it Mean to Give Someone What They Want?
Imperial College London
Epistemic Injustice and AI
King's College London
Optimizing Language Models for Argumentative Reasoning
Algorithmic Risks to Collective Decision-Making
Metaphors for Public Discourse
Argument Processing
University of Technology Sydney
Symposia
- 2025
ECAT Research Workshop
European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency
attendee
Democracy R&D
The Democracy R&D Network
attendeeworkshop organiser
DelibTech Network Meeting
Deliberation and Technology Network
participant
Can We Shape AI With Deliberative Societies?
London Data Week
speakerparticipant
ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency FAccT
reviewerspeakerattendee
Values-in-the-Loop Workshop
Carnegie Mellon University
participantspeaker
Kioloa Workshop on Sociotechnical AI Safety
Machine Intelligence & Normative Theory (MINT) Lab, Australian National University
participantspeaker
Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Freedoms
Knight First Amendment Institute, Columbia University
panelistattendee
Annual Convention of the International Studies Association ISA
speakerattendee
Qualitative Coding Workshop on Good + Bad Conflict
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
organiser
Participatory AI Research & Practice Symposium PAIRS
speakerattendee
- 2024
Pluralistic Alignment Workshop @ NeurIPS NeurIPS
reviewer
Digital Democracy Residency
g0v Community, Taiwan
participant
Build Peace
Build Up
attendeeworkshop facilitator
Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Freedoms
Knight First Amendment Institute, Columbia University
discussantparticipant
Build Peace
Build Up
speakerattendee
Australian AI Safety Forum
Gradient Institute
participant
ACM Conference on Recommender Systems RecSys
attendeeposter presenter
Public Interest Social Media Solutions Workshop
Applied Social Media Lab, Harvard University
speakerparticipant
International Conference on Computational Social Science IC2S2
International Society for Computational Social Science
attendee
ACM Conference on Economics and Computation EC
attendeeposter presenter
Workshop on Using Deliberative Technologies in Polarized Contexts
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
speakerparticipant
Center for Human-Compatible AI Annual Workshop CHAI
attendeeposter presenter
Convening on Political Economy of AI
GETTING-Plurality Research Network
attendee
Trust and Human Connection in the Age of AI and Social Networks
MIT Center for Constructive Communication
attendee
Shaping the Future of Social Media with Middleware
Stanford Cyber Policy Center
participantspeaker
Project Liberty Institute Summit
attendee
Convening on AI & the Future of the Public Square
Google Jigsaw
participant
Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (Pacific Division)
speaker
Colloquium on Artificial Intelligence and Catastrophic Risk
Machine Intelligence & Normative Theory (MINT) Lab, Australian National University
participant
Kioloa Workshop on Generative AI and Normative Philosophy of Computing
Machine Intelligence & Normative Theory (MINT) Lab, Australian National University
participant
- 2023
Build Peace
Build Up
attendeeworkshop facilitator
Summit on AI and Democracy
GETTING-Plurality Research Network
attendeefacilitator
Psychology of Technology Institute Conference
attendee
Launch of Bridging Responsible AI Divides UK BRAID
attendee
International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence IJCAI
speaker
ACM Conference on Economics and Computation EC
volunteerattendee
International Workshop on Computational Social Choice COMSOC
reviewerattendeeposter presenter
Plurality Institute Bridging Symposium
speaker
Center for Human-Compatible AI Annual Workshop CHAI
attendeeposter presenter
International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems AAMAS
attendeeposter presenter
The Ethics of Persuasive Technologies
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford
attendee
Optimizing for What? Algorithmic Amplification and Society
Knight First Amendment Institute, Columbia University
discussantparticipant
Tech & Democracy: A Better Tech Future Summit
All Tech is Human
attendee
Designing Tech for Social Cohesion
Council on Technology and Social Cohesion
attendeeposter presenter
Plurality Research Network Conference
University of California, Berkeley
speaker
- 2022
Safe and Trustworthy AI Workshop STAIws
UKRI CDT in Safe and Trusted AI, Imperial College London
participantposter presenter
Attention: An Interdisciplinary Workshop
Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics
speaker
International Workshop on Argumentation and Machine Learning ArgML
speaker
ACM Conference on Economics and Computation EC
reviewer
The Race to Regulate AI: Global Comparative Perspectives
Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford
attendee
Oxford-Goodenough Joint Colloquium on AI and Regulation
Jesus College, University of Oxford and Goodenough College
participant
- 2021
International Conference on Algorithmic Decision Theory ADT
attendee
Conference for Truth and Trust Online TTO
attendee
- 2020
International Conference on Computational Models of Argument COMMA
attendee
- 2019
Effective Altrusim Global EAG
attendee
INFORMS Applied Probability Society Conference INFORMS-APS
attendee
- 2017
Summer Institute on Topics in the History of Economics
Center for the History of Political Economy, Duke University
participant
- 2016
Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems NeurIPS
attendee
Memberships
- — Present
Deliberation & Technology Network
- — Present
Democracy R&D
- —
Statistical Society of Australia
- — Present
Trust & Safety Professional Association
- — Present
Newspeak House
This site is licensed under the Creative Commons public domain (CC-0) license, but attribution is appreciated. Views expressed are my own, and probably don't coincide with those of any entity with which I am affiliated.