Research project

Training staff and students in using LLMs for textual analysis

Project overview

Funded by:
School of Health Sciences Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise (KEE) Seed Funding for Level 5 academics [Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) 2024/25]

This project is a collaboration between UoS and Ipsos UK to develop and deliver training for researchers and PGRs in how to use large language models (LLMs) for analysis of textual data. We will run four half-day training sessions from April to July 2025, one of which will be open to researchers external to UoS.

The training is designed for researchers who work with textual data and are interested in exploring how large language models (LLMs) can support textual analysis. The training will be led by Sarah Jenner, a lecturer and qualitative researcher from the University of Southampton, and Dimitris Raidos, an expert in LLM-assisted analysis from Ipsos UK. It will be particularly relevant to qualitative researchers, but also to mixed- or multi- methods researchers working with textual data in the form of interview transcripts, free-text survey responses, written narratives, poetry, social media posts etc.

Participants will gain a foundational understanding of how LLMs can be applied to textual analysis using methods such as thematic analysis and narrative analysis (though the skills learnt in the training can be applied to any form of textual analysis). The training will also cover key ethical, methodological, and philosophical considerations when using AI in research.

Staff

Lead researchers

Miss Sarah Jenner MSc

Lecturer in Child and Adolescent Health
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Other researchers

Professor Mary Barker PhD, C Psychol

Prof of Psychology & Behavioural Science
Research interests
  • Mary Barker is Professor of Psychology and Behavioural Science. She has a joint appointment in both the Faculty of Medicine and the School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Southampton UK.  Mary runs a programme of work in both the UK and in low-income countries aiming to engage young people in improving their sense of agency, well-being and mental health, to benefit their health in general but their diets and physical activity habits more specifically. Her team’s approach is participatory and combines social activism focused on engaging young people in the climate change and health agenda and testing methods of one-to-one support and digital resources including smartphone games. Much of this work takes place as part of her NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research EACH-B (Engaging Adolescents in Changing Behaviour). She partners in this activity with the TALENT network of colleagues with interests in adolescent health and well-being based in institutions in low-and-middle-income countries. Her team also ran a five-country, longitudinal qualitative study with young people throughout the pandemic exploring their experience, mental health, well-being and resilience, data from which supported UK local and national government COVID messaging to young people. She is adjunct professor at the University of Agder, Norway, and has honorary appointments at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and University College London.
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Professor Leslie Carr

Professor of Web Science
Connect with Leslie

Dr Owen Rackham MSc, PhD

Associate Professor
Connect with Owen

Collaborating research institutes, centres and groups

Research outputs