Meeyoung Cha

Meeyoung Cha is a Scientific Director at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy in Bochum, Germany. She is at the forefront of data science and computational social science and has published numerous groundbreaking works on social information and human-machine interactions. In 2020, Meeyoung launched the impactful "Facts before Rumors" campaign, delivering crucial COVID-19 facts to combat misinformation with fact-checking infographics across 150 countries. She is passionate about advancing data science methods to benefit humanity, with her research covering areas such as misinformation, poverty mapping, fraud detection, and long-tail content. Meeyoung's accolades include the Hong Jin-Ki Creator Award (2024), the Korean Young Information Scientist Award (2019), and Test-of-Time Awards (ACM IMC 2022, AAAI ICWSM 2020). Before her current roles, she was a Chief Investigator at the Institute for Basic Science in Korea and a Visiting Professor at Meta (Facebook). She has worked with the UN Global Pulse in Asia Pacific and the World Customs Organization. She is currently on the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence and is also a Professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology.