Ivan Smirnov is a computational social scientist exploring the evolving relationship between technology and society. His current focus is on Generative AI: he both conducts research on GenAI and employs GenAI to conduct research. He is particularly interested in exploring AI‘s potential role in improving doctoral students’ wellbeing and helping them navigate the hidden curriculum in academia.

Beyond his research, Ivan is deeply committed to empowering the next generation of scientists through teaching, social entrepreneurship, and the development of open educational resources, such as the open course Getting Started with Generative AI in Research.

Dr Smirnov is the AI Lead in Research and Researcher Training at the Graduate Research School, University of Technology Sydney. He is also an External Faculty Member at the Complexity Science Hub since 2025. Prior to joining UTS, he served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Mannheim and led a research group at the Higher School of Economics, Moscow.

His research has been regularly presented at flagship conferences in his field, such as IC2S2 and ICWSM; published in leading journals, including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, EPJ Data Science, PNAS Nexus, and Royal Society Open Science; and featured in major Australian and international media outlets: ABC TV, MIT Technology Review, The Times, and Nature.