SoMeLab will use the money to develop an open-source program that allows social science researchers to analyse data collected through social media sites. The SoMeLab team will have three years to work on the project.

The research will be carried out by a team of graduate and undergraduate students using an interdisciplinary approach that includes aspects of social science, political science, communications, geography and emerging computing technologies.

Bob Mason, director and principal investigator at SoMeLab, said: “Our initial work at the SoMeLab focuses on the role of social media in grass roots movements, but we want to understand the potential for these tools to fundamentally change how we live and work together. This project epitomises the vision for the iSchool as an engaged, interdisciplinary and collaborative research community.”