Marian-Andrei Rizoiu is an Associate Professor leading the Behavioral Data Science lab at the University of Technology Sydney—Australia's premier research programme in computational approaches to information operations and behavioural modelling. His research operates at the critical intersection of AI ethics, national security, and social data science, developing innovative solutions to combat misinformation, detect foreign interference, and safeguard democratic institutions.

As a recognised leader in information warfare research, Marian-Andrei currently directs research programmes worth $11.8 million from Australia's most selective defence and national security funders, including the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator, Department of Home Affairs, Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), and the Defence Innovation Network. His breakthrough technologies are actively deployed by Australian defence and intelligence agencies to detect and counter sophisticated information operations in Australia's region of strategic interest.

Research Leadership & Innovation Marian-Andrei leads a multidisciplinary team of postdoctoral researchers, PhD students, and industry partners across specialised research streams: AI-enabled communication design, information operations detection, and predictive modelling of campaign effectiveness. He has pioneered the paradigm shift from content-based to behavioural pattern analysis for detecting information operations, developing language-invariant algorithms that achieve 98.7% accuracy in identifying coordinated inauthentic behaviour across multiple platforms and languages.

Impact & Recognition Winner of the Excellence Award and Academic of the Year at the 2023 Australian Defence Industry Awards, and a two-time finalist (2024, 2025) for the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia. His team's recent work received the Best Paper Award at The Web Conference 2025, and his research on content moderation effectiveness was published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Research Translation & Policy Impact Beyond academic excellence, Marian-Andrei bridges research and operational capability through strategic partnerships with UTS Rapido for technology development and direct collaboration with UC Berkeley, Polish National Science Centre, and defence agencies across Five Eyes nations. His research directly informs policy, including expert consultation for NSW Defamation Law Reform, evidence to the Australian Federal Senate on media diversity, and regular briefings to senior defence and intelligence leadership.

Marian-Andrei publishes in the most selective venues, such as PNAS, PLOS ONE, PLOS Computational Biology, WWW, NeurIPS, IJCAI, and CIKM. His work has garnered international attention across major media outlets including Bloomberg Business Week, Nature Index, BBC, and World Economic Forum, while his contributions to The Conversation have reached over 161,000 readers.

Research Vision Marian-Andrei's research represents the cutting edge of ethical AI research for national security applications, developing “ethical-by-design” solutions that protect democratic discourse while safeguarding against sophisticated influence operations. His research programme uniquely combines theoretical innovation in stochastic processes with real-world deployment of tools that enhance Australia's information resilience and strategic competitiveness.

Interests

• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Data Science
• Information Diffusion
• Skill-based Job Transitions