Natural Language Processing for Social Good (NLP4SG)

Welcome to our research hub dedicated to "Natural Language Processing for Social Good." At the intersection of technology and societal impact, our initiative endeavors to harness the power of natural language processing (NLP) to address pressing social challenges and foster positive change. In an era of unprecedented connectivity and vast volumes of digital discourse, NLP is a potent tool for understanding, analyzing, and ultimately influencing human behavior and interaction. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and cutting-edge research, we strive to leverage NLP techniques to tackle issues ranging from misinformation and hate speech detection to mental health support and crisis intervention. Our commitment extends beyond technological innovation; we aspire to cultivate a community-driven approach, fostering partnerships and dialogue to ensure our work makes meaningful contributions to society. 

We aim to uphold the principles of ethics and equity, recognizing the potential implications of NLP applications on diverse communities. By prioritizing fairness, transparency, and accountability, we strive to mitigate biases inherent in data and algorithms, ensuring our solutions are accessible and beneficial for all. Furthermore, our commitment extends to fostering collaboration with stakeholders from academia, industry, and civil society, fostering a multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving. Through open dialogue and shared expertise, we aim to catalyze innovation that advances the frontiers of NLP and empowers individuals and communities to navigate the complexities of the digital age with confidence and resilience. 

Explore our research endeavors and join us in utilizing NLP for a brighter, more inclusive future. Join us on this journey as we harness the transformative potential of NLP for the betterment of society.

Our Research Areas

NLP for UNSDG

Aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), our research initiative seeks to leverage Natural Language Processing (NLP) as a catalyst for achieving sustainable development objectives on a global scale. By harnessing the power of language understanding and analysis, we endeavor to address key challenges outlined by the UNSDGs, including but not limited to quality education, gender equality, climate action, and healthcare. Some of our active research areas under SDG goals are:

NLP for Mental Health

We apply advanced NLP techniques to revolutionize mental health analysis and support systems. By leveraging linguistic cues and patterns in textual data, NLP techniques can provide valuable insights into individuals' mental well-being, aiding in early detection, assessment, and intervention for various mental health conditions. We have expertise in sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and linguistic feature extraction that help NLP algorithms detect subtle changes in language indicative of stress, depression, anxiety, and other psychological states. Moreover, we develop NLP-powered chatbots and virtual assistants that offer scalable and accessible platforms for individuals to confidently express their thoughts and emotions, providing real-time support, resources, and guidance. We facilitate the analysis of large-scale social media data to understand mental health trends and public perceptions and help identify at-risk populations for targeted interventions.

NLP for Legal Tech

NLP is revolutionizing the field of LegalTech by streamlining various aspects of the legal profession, from document analysis to contract management and beyond. We have researchers working on different applications of NLP in LegalTech, such as legal document analysis and summarization. We develop algorithms that can efficiently parse through large volumes of legal texts, extracting key information, identifying relevant case law, and summarizing complex legal documents into concise and digestible formats, saving lawyers significant time and effort. These algorithms can also assist in legal research by analyzing case law and statutes, identifying relevant precedents, and providing insights to support legal arguments and decision-making processes. Our text-understanding algorithms can automatically extract important clauses, provisions, and obligations from contracts, enabling lawyers to quickly assess risks, identify potential inconsistencies, and manage contract portfolios more effectively. 

Responsible and Ethical NLP

We conduct research on responsible and ethical practices in NLP which are fundamental to fostering trust, safeguarding user rights, and mitigating potential harm. Responsible NLP encompasses a range of principles and practices to ensure the ethical use of language data and models. This includes implementing robust data governance frameworks to protect user privacy and confidentiality, incorporating mechanisms for informed consent and transparent communication regarding data collection and usage, and actively addressing biases and disparities inherent in NLP algorithms. Furthermore, responsible NLP entails ongoing monitoring and evaluation of NLP systems to identify and mitigate potential risks and unintended consequences. We collaborate with several NGOs and other organizations to develop ethical and responsible NLP frameworks for developing applications that mitigate potential harm. We focus on Bias Detection and Mitigation, Privacy-Preserving NLP, Algorithmic Transparency and Interpretability, and User-Centric NLP Design.