What is Web Science?
Web Science is the study of the most complex piece of technology ever created. The Web comprises billions of technical and human components operating globally, with each piece subtly influencing the others. Multiple expert perspectives across scientific disciplines are required to build an understanding of how the Web changes society just as much as society changes the Web.
Get Involved
WST works with universities. think tanks, research groups, governments, businesses and private individuals to better understand the nature and impact the Web will continue to have on society.
Click below to learn more about the research, courses, events, training, conferences and outreach we offer, support and promote.
About Us
The Web Science Trust is a UK charity hosted by the University of Southampton which brings together world class thinkers and research in Web Science. We are a not-for-profit group representing 20 of the leading universities and research groups and headed by international thought leaders in Web Science and Socio-technical systems.
WSTNet Laboratories
WST Newsletter
WebSci Courses & Summer Schools
WebSci courses and WSTNet Summer School
Brave Conversations
Join Anni Rowland-Campbell and her team ...
Untangling the Web
Join Noshir Contractor for a new series ..
Web Science Policy & Advice
Advising leaders in Government & Business
ACM Web Science Conference
Next conference to be held in Austin, Texas. 30th April - 1st May.
Co-located with the Web Conference
14 years, thousands of researchers
The Video Vault
Publications & Research
Our Mission & Vision
Our vision and mission for the Trust is to help grow an understanding of the Web through interdisciplinary scientific methods.
We need to understand the Web, because it is evolving alongside society. Social and technical innovation drive each other. There is no longer a distinction between online and offline; the Web involves virtually all of us to some degree. If it is to benefit humankind, we need to understand the Web, engineer it sensitively and sustainably, anticipate its effects, and also anticipate the consequences of social change upon it. Web Science must therefore involve both engineering the technology, and analysing its impact.
Evolving technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things, new practices, such as social machines and telemedicine, and new contexts, such as the pandemic lockdowns, will only accelerate social and technical change via, and as a direct result of, the Web.
Web Science must therefore include, at a minimum, mathematics, network science, sociology, law, ethics, psychology, computer science, media studies, linguistics, geography, and so on. Virtually all disciplines have something to say about the Web. The Web, as a diverse network, demands a research community to reflect the diversity of cultural, legal, political, commercial and technical structures which affect, and in turn are affected by, the Web.
Why is Web Science important?
Listen to WST Trustee Danny Weitzner put the importance of Web Science into context.
Summer School
TBA, 2023
Stay tuned for the next in the series of Web Science summer schools created by our wider WSTNet community to engage students from international research labs
WebSci Conference
APRIL 30 – MAY 4, 2023 Austin, Texas
The ACM Web Science conference (WebSci’23) will be co-located with the 2023 Web Conferences in Austin, Texas. Click here for the conference site.