Matthew Williams

‘Becoming a hate crime victim twenty years ago saw me embark on a journey to find out why. I wrote ‘The Science of Hate’ to share what I discovered.’

Matthew is a Professor of Criminology and is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts in hate crime and hate speech. He advises and has conducted research for TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Google, EE, British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Airbus, The Professional Footballers’ Association, the UK Home Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and the US Department of Justice.

Matthew also founded and directs HateLab, a multimillion-pound global hub for data and insight to monitor and counter online hate speech and crime, and he has conducted the largest dedicated study of hate victimisation in the UK.

His research has appeared in documentaries for BBC One (Panorama), ITV (Exposure), BBC Two (David Baddiel: Social Media, Anger and Us), CBS (Murder: First on Scene), Channel 4 (Rosie Jones and Ableism), BBC Radio 4 (Today Programme, File on 4), BBC World Service (Deeply Human), Amazon Studios (Tipping Point with Rio Ferdinand), and Netflix (When Missing Turns to Murder), and in major publications including The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, The Telegraph, The Los Angeles Times, Scientific American and New Scientist. @MattLWilliams