VIRENA: A Virtual Arena for Social Media Research – a talk by Emma Hoes (University of Zurich)
29 04 2026
The Centre of Excellence in Social Sciences invites you to a presentation by Emma Hoes on VIRENA: A Virtual Arena for Research, Education and Democratic Innovation.
The presentation will take place on 15 May 2026 at 10:00 am at the Centre of Excellence in Social Sciences (Warsaw University Library, Dobra 56/66, Room 2.90, Second Floor).
About VIRENA.
Digital platforms shape how people communicate, deliberate, and form opinions. Studying these dynamics has become increasingly difficult due to restricted data access, ethical constraints on real-world experiments, and limitations of existing research tools. VIRENA (Virtual Arena) is a platform that enables controlled experimentation in realistic social media environments. Multiple participants interact simultaneously in realistic replicas of feed-based platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Reddit) and messaging apps (WhatsApp, Messenger). Large language model-powered AI agents participate alongside humans with configurable personas, demographic profiles, and realistic behavioral patterns. Researchers can manipulate content moderation approaches, pre-schedule stimulus content, and run experiments across conditions through a visual interface requiring no programming skills. VIRENA makes possible research designs that were previously impractical, including studying human–AI interaction in realistic social contexts, experimentally comparing moderation interventions, and observing group deliberation as it unfolds. Built on open-source technologies that ensure data remain under institutional control and comply with data protection requirements, VIRENA is currently in use at the University of Zurich and under active development. The talk presents the platform’s design, architecture, and current capabilities, while also discussing planned extensions and inviting engagement on additional use cases, feature development, and pilot collaborations. Designed primarily for academic research but adaptable to educational and policy-oriented contexts, VIRENA seeks to broaden the methodological toolkit for studying digital communication.
About the Speaker
Emma Hoes is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Zurich and holds a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence. Her research examines how digital technologies shape information quality, trust, and what people believe. She is particularly interested in the gap between intention and effect: when do interventions designed to improve our information ecosystem backfire, and what solutions actually work without creating new harms? Her work has been published in leading journals including Nature Human Behaviour, PNAS, and Political Communication. She is also co-developer of VIRENA, a social media simulation platform for studying how humans and AI systems interact in realistic digital environments under controlled conditions.