- Butcher, B., Zilka, M., Hron, J., Cook, D. and Weller, A. (2024). Optimising Human-Machine Collaboration for Efficient High-Precision Information Extraction from Text Documents. ACM Journal on Responsible Computing, 1(2), pp. 1–27. doi:10.1145/3652591.
- Cook, D., Peters, D., Moradbakhti, L., Su, T., Da Re, M., Schuller, B.W. … Calvo, R.A. (2024). A text-based conversational agent for asthma support: Mixed-methods feasibility study. DIGITAL HEALTH, 10. doi:10.1177/20552076241258276.
- Calvo, R.A., Peters, D., Moradbakhti, L., Cook, D., Rizos, G., Schuller, B. … Quint, J. (2023). Assessing the Feasibility of a Text-Based Conversational Agent for Asthma Support: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Observational Study. JMIR Research Protocols, 12. doi:10.2196/42965.
Contact details
Address
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom
Personal links
About
Overview
Dr Darren Cook is a Research Fellow and Natural Language Processing (NLP) expert at The Violence and Society Centre at City, University of London, having joined in January 2024. He achieved his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Institute for Risk and Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, in 2023.
As a computer scientist and psychologist, Dr Cook’s research interests concentrate on harnessing the capabilities of NLP and data science to delve into societal issues, particularly those involving law enforcement and health. Notable publications include "Protecting Children from Online Exploitation" (2023), "Assessing the Feasibility of a Text-Based Conversational Agent for Asthma Support" (2023), and "A Psychology-Driven Computational Analysis of Political Interviews" (2021). His current work aims to understand and mitigate the complexities of domestic violence incidents through the strategic analysis of communication patterns, victim and perpetrator narratives, and police reports. This work is intended to inform policy, improve police response strategies, and ultimately contribute to reducing the incidence and impact of domestic violence. His dedication to ethical AI implementation ensures that his research is innovative, responsible, and aligned with societal values.
Before joining City, Dr Cook worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate and software engineer with the Wellbeing Technologies Lab at Imperial College London and as a Research Fellow with the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI). His work involved developing AI chatbots to address challenges in traditional healthcare, including tools designed to improve chronic lung disease and dementia care management.
Dr Cook has also worked as a data scientist with the UK Civil Service in collaboration with the Turing Internship Network (TIN), where he contributed to improving the performance of large language models in zero-shot settings. He has also worked as a research assistant and training facilitator with the University of Liverpool's Critical and Major Incident (CAMI) research group in areas including high-stakes decision-making, police interviewing, and emergency response. Through this work, he has collaborated with colleagues from esteemed organisations such as the Metropolitan Police, Merseyside Police, London Fire Brigade, NHS, Heathrow Airport, and the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO).
In addition to a PhD, he holds two distinction-level master’s degrees, one in risk and uncertainty (2017) and another in investigative and forensic psychology (2016), both from the University of Liverpool. He also has a first-class bachelor’s degree in psychology (2015).
Qualifications
- PhD in Electrical Engineering, Electronics, and Computer Science (EEECS), University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, Sep 2017 – Jan 2023
- MRes in Decision-Making Under Risk and Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, Oct 2016 – Sep 2017
- MSc in Investigative and Forensic Psychology, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, Oct 2015 – Oct 2016
- BSc (hons) in Psychology, The Open University, United Kingdom, Sep 2010 – Jul 2015
Employment
- Research Fellow, City, University of London, Jan 2024 – present
- Research Associate, Imperial College London, Aug 2022 – Jan 2024
- Research Fellow, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, Aug 2022 – Jan 2024
- Research Assistant, University of Liverpool, Oct 2017 – Apr 2018
Publications
Publications by category
Conference papers and proceedings (4)
- Cook, D., Zilka, M., DeSandre, H., Giles, S. and Maskell, S. (2023). Protecting Children from Online Exploitation: Can a Trained Model Detect Harmful Communication Strategies? AIES '23: AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society. doi:10.1145/3600211.3604696
- Cook, D. (2023). The Mechanical Psychologist: Leveraging AI for Detecting Predatory Behaviour in Online Interactions. AIES '23: AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society. doi:10.1145/3600211.3604734
- Espinoza, F., Cook, D., Butler, C.R. and Calvo, R.A. (2023). Supporting dementia caregivers in Peru through chatbots: generative AI vs structured conversations. 36th International BCS Human-Computer Interaction Conference. doi:10.14236/ewic/bcshci2023.11
- Cook, D., Zilka, M., Maskell, S. and Alison, L. A Psychology-Driven Computational Analysis of Political Interviews. Interspeech 2021.doi:10.21437/interspeech.2021-2249