Lines of Research
The research group, research centers and lines of research at FGV ECMI focus on investigating topics, objects and phenomena of Communication in interaction with Social Sciences and Data Science. Our researchers are focused on studies with academic and technological approaches.
Núcleos de Pesquisa
The Center for Communication, Political Behavior, Discourse and On-line Disinformation (COPO-D) investigates the implications of using technology, digital platforms and media in political attitudes within the public sphere and in the formation (and distortion) of public opinion. The studies carried out by COPO-D focus on the relationships between communicational, discursive and socio-political phenomena established in interactive media. Through an interdisciplinary perspective that brings together areas such as Social Sciences, Communication and Linguistics with Data Science, the research agenda in this center encompasses topics such as public discussion, electoral campaigns, fake news, political manipulation, populism, digital activism and electoral processes, using mixed methods and a multi-platform perspective.
Pol&Inova analyses the participation of the public and private sectors in the definition, planning and execution of policies related to the impacts of technology in processes of democratic deliberation and in the production and circulation of cultural and informational goods. This center is interested in studies about governments and digital government, open data, transparency, inequality in the access and production of information, communication and culture, and the impacts and effects of artificial intelligence on democracy. The center is also focused on economic and social approaches related to Digital Communication, the creative industry and smart cities in Brazil and in the globalized world. In the context of Political Economics of Communication, the Pol&Inova analyzes the transformations brought the Informational Capitalism, in which the role of communication and information became a central part of economic development in the 21st century. This includes ramifications of this approach, such as studies about surveillance capitalism, data colonialism, algorithmic governance, and internet and labor platforming.
This center focuses on research based on communicative phenomena in order to investigate how the use of digital technology affects the construction of the social imaginaries, the forms of sociability, the interaction between subjects and the production of content. It is also interested in a critical understanding about how digital platforms and technologies work, as well as their materialities and languages. Study topics in this center include internet cultures, interaction and sociability on digital platforms, digital entertainment, human-machine communication, social perceptions based on artificial intelligence, production and circulation of multimedia content, digital humanities and digital methods, and more.

Research Groups
Communication, Society and Digital Media is FGV ECMI’s research group registered in the Directory of Research Groups of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq).
The group develops applied research based on an interdisciplinary perspective in the field of Digital Communication together with Social Sciences and Data Science.
Our study objects are communicational processes and complex social phenomena structured around technologies and digital platforms, focusing on the relationships between (dis)informative flow, sociotechnical mediations, digital engagement, and the reconfiguration of today’s public sphere.