Associate ProfessorMatteo Vergani

Matteo Vergani is an Associate Professor in Sociology at Deakin University. He holds two PhDs: a PhD in Sociology and social research methodology from the Catholic University of Milan (2011) and a PhD in Political Psychology from Monash University (2016). Following the submission of his first doctorate in 2010, he spent three years working in international aid projects in Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, an experience that shaped a career-long focus on applied research addressing real-world social harms.

Matteo’s research programme is problem-focused and cross disciplinary. His work sits at the intersection of sociology, criminology and psychology, with a sustained engagement with artificial intelligence and advanced quantitative methods. His methodological expertise includes survey research, randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and large-scale digital data analysis. For decades, he has worked closely with researchers in computer science, econometrics, statistics, mathematics, engineering and health, integrating these approaches to measure and reduce harms related to hate crime, online hate and violent extremism.

In 2025, Matteo founded the Tackling Hate Lab, which he co-directs with colleagues in computer science (A/Prof Kewen Liao) and econometrics (Dr Andrea Giovannetti). The Lab currently includes two postdoctoral researchers, five PhD students, two Honours students and seven research assistants, and conducts cross-disciplinary research on hate crime, online hate, Islamophobia, antisemitism and violent extremism. The Lab develops data-driven tools and frameworks used by government agencies and civil society organisations in Australia and internationally.

Since 2024, Matteo has led Deakin University’s involvement in the Australian Internet Observatory, a four-year national research infrastructure initiative supporting innovative approaches to the collection and analysis of large-scale digital social data across disciplines and sectors.

Matteo has secured approximately AUD 9 million in external research funding across 17 grants, including Australian Research Council Linkage projects and commissioned research for government. His research has informed national and state policy, including advice to the Australian Institute of Criminology, the eSafety Commission, the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. His engagement extends to industry and civil society, including membership of Meta’s Countering Online Hate advisory group and co-authorship of three national reports with Islamophobia Register Australia tracking Islamophobia over the past decade.

His research has a strong international profile. He has worked with Public Safety Canada and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and, since 2016, has co-convened the Southeast Asian Network for Civil Society Organisations on Countering Violent Extremism (SEAN-CSO), delivering sustained capacity building and practitioner training across the region and co-authoring a practitioner manual on evaluating CVE programs translated into Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Thai and Tagalog.

Matteo is Associate Editor of Terrorism and Political Violence and a member of the executive committee of the Australian network of terrorism and extremism researchers (AVERT). He regularly contributes to public debate through media commentary and op-eds in outlets including The Conversation and Crikey.