Seeing Isn't Believing
How AI-generated images are reshaping public trust in vaccines and health, and what communities can do about it.
Dr Sam Martin is a digital sociologist and UKRI Smart Data Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her work investigates how AI-generated visual misinformation shapes public conversations about vaccines and health, and how communities can build resilience against it.
The fellowship develops Synthetic-media Discourse Analysis (SDA):
a methodology that pairs AI-assisted detection of synthetic media
(AI-generated images and video) with human-led qualitative discourse analysis and community-participatory methods. Its open-source tool, SDA Vision, calibrates how synthetic an image appears and explains the signals behind that judgement, keeping interpretation with the researcher and the public rather than returning a black-box score.
The research tracks how AI-generated imagery enters, spreads and disrupts health conversations across major social platforms, and works directly with affected communities through workshops, co-produced literacy resources and public dialogue.
Funded by ESRC through Smart Data Research UK, 2026-2027.
Smart Data Research UK Fellow: Manchester Metropolitan (Funded by: ESRC/UKRI) | Senior Research Fellow: University of Oxford | Honorary Fellow: UCL RREAL Lab
Stay in the Loop
New workshops, free resources, and methods insights.