Originally trained as a Geographer, Susan Halford is Professor of Sociology and has worked across the social and engineering sciences for the past 15 years. She is co-Director of the ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures and was co-Director of the Bristol Digital Futures Institute from 2019-2022.

Susan's present research focusses on the politics and practices of digital data, artefacts and expertise, with specific attention to the processes of creating and intervening in emergent sociodigital futures. She has published key interventions on the Semantic Web, social media analytics and big data practices. She is also well-known for her work as an organizational sociologist, in which she has explored the dynamics of organizational change with particular reference to gender identities, to ageing and - linking both - to the intrasectionalities of digital technologies in everyday practice across diverse workplaces. 

After a decade of interdisciplinary education and research in Web Science at the University of Southampton, Susan joined the University of Bristol in 2019 and became founding co-Director (with Dimitra Simeonidou) for the Bristol Digital Futures Institute. In 2021 she co-led (with Dale Southerton) a successful bid for an ESRC Centre in Sociodgital Futures. Susan sits on a number of strategic and advisory boards, including the EPSRC ICT Strategic Advisory Team, the UK Biobank Ethics Advisory Group and is Chair of the ESRC New and Emerging Forms of Data Strategic Advisory Group. Susan was President of the British Sociological Association 2018-21.