Interview: Oxford University Student Seeks Dating App Research Partnership
Global Dating Insights spoke with Franziska Hafner, a Masters Student at the University of Oxford studying Social Data Science. She tells us about her research into dating app algorithms, and how she is looking to work with dating apps to improve matchmaking metrics.
Please find Franziska’s discussion with Sean Nolan, Senior Reporter at GDI, below:
1. Sean: Hi Franziska, thank you for speaking with me. Can you introduce yourself and tell us about the research you’re currently conducting?
Franziska: Hi Sean, of course! I am a researcher and student at the University of Oxford, studying Social Data Science. I am researching dating app matchmaking algorithms and am especially interested in how machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) might change which people meet through online dating platforms.
For example, are AI-based algorithms more likely to recommend people of the same ethnicity to each other, regardless of a user’s own preference? And if they are, can we change anything about the algorithms to prevent this from happening?
2. Sean: What questions do you hope this research will answer? What impact / analysis could this have on the online dating industry and its consumers?
Franziska: I think dating apps have a lot to gain from this type of research. Matchmaking algorithms are at the core of the dating industry, they are the ‘secret sauce’ which can give one platform a competitive advantage over another. My research is all about finding the perfect ingredients for this sauce, to ensure that the matchmaking is not only successful but also fair.
This could especially help users who are currently discouraged from using apps at all but could also increase the number of matches across the board. Additionally, dating app platforms must be careful to not discriminate against some of their users through algorithms that do not consider fairness.
The Institute for Human Rights in the Netherlands has made this clear in their mandate towards the dating app Breeze. My research is trying to balance such legal and ethical factors with designing algorithms that actually work.
3. Sean: I understand that you’re looking to collaborate with online dating platforms for this research. Can you tell us about the nature of this collaboration and what you’ll need from these platforms?
Franziska: I would welcome many different types of collaboration! For one, I would love to gain some more insights from within the online dating industry. If any of your readers, for example, would be open to jumping on a video call with me to share some of their thoughts, I would greatly appreciate that.
Additionally, for my research to be a success, it would also be helpful to get access to anonymised user data. If any readers who are associated with an online dating platform think this type of collaboration might be possible, I am sure we could come up with an agreement that is mutually beneficial.
4. Sean: How can interested individuals from the online dating industry contact you to follow up?
Franziska: Anybody interested in working with me on this Oxford research project, through sharing their insights or offering a collaboration with a dating platform, can email me at Franziska.Hafner@oii.ox.ac.uk. From there, we can schedule a phone or video call. Of course, I would be happy to share any of my insights and results with collaborators!
Franziska’s Oxford profile: https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/profiles/franziska-sofia-hafner/
Franziska’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franziska-hafner-a81754223/
