Synthetic Data: Representation and/vs Representativeness
2025-08-19 08:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Stockholm)
Please note that this event is independently organized by a WASP-HS researcher and not the WASP-HS Program Office.
Synthetic data promises to address three key concerns for data-driven technologies: sparsity, privacy, and bias or lack of diversity. This workshop will interrogate the promise of creating better, more diverse, more representative datasets, by critically examining how data are understood to be “representative” in different senses, for example, statistically, through stereotype, or more qualitative and individual depictions of identity and other qualities. We invite participation from anyone interested in the broad questions of what it means to “represent” things and people in data. To ground the event across our various disciplines and practices, we ask you to submit a short (1-2 page) position statement on the topic of data “representation” in your context. Accepted submissions will be shared with all participants via the workshop website before the event, allowing participants to introduce themselves to each other and for asynchronous discussions of their position papers and virtual network building from the start.
Location
Aarhus 2025 Computing [X] Crisis Conference
Important Dates
Submissions due – 8 June, 2025
Notification of Acceptance – 13 June, 2025
Workshop – 18 or 19 August, 2025 (TBC)
Submission information
Submissions should be 1-2 A4 pages, not including references. We welcome alternative formats like artistic works, design fictions, or policy statements. Please contact us to discuss how best to submit alternative formats. Submit position papers via email to synthetic-data-workshop@protonmail.com, following the template below:
SUBJECT LINE: Aarhus2025 Synthetic Data Represent – Submissions
BODY:
Name – [name]
Affiliation – [affiliation]
Pronouns – [Optionally, specify which pronouns you would like organizers to
use for you when discussing your submission]
Other information – [Optionally, include anything else you would like
organizers to know, for example accessibility requirements]

PhD Defence: Health Data Governance in the Age of Digital Health: Legal Approaches of the EU and China
2025-09-05 10:00 - 13:00
Zhicheng He defends his doctoral thesis, “Health Data Governance in the Age of Digital Health: Legal Approaches of the EU and China” at Stockholm University.
See event page.
Abstract
This dissertation explores how legal frameworks in the EU and China respond to the growing tension between the use of health data and the protection of privacy in the digital health era. As technologies such as AI, wearable devices, and health-monitoring sensors increasingly reshape the delivery of care, legal systems face mounting pressure to support data-driven innovation while upholding individual rights. Through a comparative legal analysis of key instruments such as the EU’s GDPR, European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation, and China’s Personal Information Protection Law, the study examines how each jurisdiction regulates health data, defines the legal bases for its use, and integrates privacy-enhancing technologies like anonymisation. In doing so, it aims to generate insights into how law can address the shared global challenge posed by the dual demands of innovation and privacy in a society striving for better health.
See full thesis.
Supervisor
Zamboni, Mauro, ProfessorGreenstein, Stanley, Associate ProfessorKampel, Martin, Doctor
Opponent
Tuomas Pöysti, former Chancellor of Justice, Finland

Webinar with Patrick Hynes about HAI
2025-09-16 16:30 - 17:30
Welcome to an engaging seminar featuring Patrick Hynes, Senior Manager of Research Communities at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI). Patrick will present an overview of HAI’s mission and vision, and explore in detail its activities across research, education, and policy.
The discussion will offer examples of funded research projects, showcase some of HAI’s policy briefings, and spotlight some of the multi-stakeholder workshops and conferences that HAI has held in order to address the pressing challenges and opportunities posed by the extraordinary advances witnessed in AI.
The seminar is a fantastic opportunity for WASP-HS PhD students interested in upcoming postdoc opportunities at Stanford University.
Read more about HAI.

Registration
Please register below no later than September 14 to attend the webinar. A zoom link will be sent to all who have registered.

PhD Defense: Fact and Ideology in the Machine: Modelling Knowledge and Belief in Neural Models from Text
2025-09-17 09:00 - 12:00
Denitsa Saynova defends her doctoral thesis, “Fact and Ideology in the Machine: Modelling Knowledge and Belief in Neural Models from Text” on September 17 at Chalmers University of Technology.
See event page.
Abstract
This thesis explores questions of knowledge, language, and neural network models. Motivated by an increasing need for insight into complex political and social science phenomena, we study how methods within natural language processing (NLP) can help us gain such insight. With a particular focus on a model’s knowledge, how it is structured, and how we can access and assess it, we study two important aspects of NLP models.
First, we investigate their capabilities and limitations, focusing on how they can capture political and social signals. We use embedding models to capture and reveal distinctions in policy and ideology in Swedish political parties, discussing the strengths and drawbacks of the approach. We also investigate the presence of more complex social knowledge in large pre-trained language models. We prompt models to produce synthetic samples of responses to social science experiments and access if effects calculated from the synthetic data can be used to predict a study’s replicability. A central limitation we find in these studies is the lack of robustness, which we explore in depth by studying what influences model consistency in a more simplified setting, namely, recalling facts.
Second, we aim to bridge the gap between the model and the domain expert by developing and improving interpretability insights of model behaviour. We develop a method for aggregating class-level explanations for a text classifier and demonstrate its utility in the context of Swedish political texts. We also develop the understanding of how models store and access factual information. We propose a taxonomy of possible language model behaviours for fact completion and, based on our novel testing data set, examine internal knowledge structures using established mechanistic interpretability methods.
See full thesis.
Supervisors
Opponent
Dirk Hovy, Professor, Bocconi University

PhD Defence: Online Content Moderation: The Regulatory Continuum from EU Regulation to Platform Self-Regulation
2025-09-26 10:15 - 17:00
Silvia A. Carretta defends her doctoral thesis, “Online Content Moderation: The Regulatory Continuum from EU Regulation to Platform Self-Regulation” on September 26 at Uppsala University.
See event page.
Abstract
In today’s digital landscape, users generate a staggering amount of content every minute. Some of this content poses serious legal challenges, including terrorist propaganda, copyright-infringing works, hate speech and disinformation. Online platforms are under growing pressure to moderate such content. They must comply with legal obligations to remove illegal content or risk liability, while remaining free to exercise discretion in enforcing private moderation policies to restrict lawful content they deem incompatible with their Terms and Conditions. This dual role raises pressing legal and societal questions about the balance between public regulation and the growing influence of private actors in governing online speech.
This book investigates how content moderation is regulated within the European Digital Single Market. While public regulation has been widely debated, there is a lack of insight into how the public and private regulatory spheres interact in this context. The study frames the issue within two complementary dimensions: the Regulation “of” platforms, involving binding legislative acts which mandate the removal of illegal content (most notably the Digital Services Act), and the Regulation “by” platforms, private governance mechanisms comprising co-regulatory initiatives beyond state-mandated obligations, self-regulation practices, and private rule-making embedded in online platforms’ Terms and Conditions.
The analysis is structured around the concept of a regulatory continuum and follows a theoretical classification of three modes of regulation: regulation stricto sensu, co-regulation and self-regulation. It is a pioneering study that systematically maps policy variables and governance instruments across each mode. Through selected case studies of major online platforms, the study innovatively examines how public and private regulatory frameworks interact, overlap and sometimes conflict in shaping platform and content governance across the regulatory continuum.
A timely and rigorous analysis, this study critically reflects on the Digital Services Act’s transformative impact on platform accountability and digital governance. It demonstrates that the two dimensions – Regulation “of” platforms and Regulation “by” platforms – should not be viewed as a dichotomy between public and private governance but as part of a dynamic, multi-actor regulatory process in the governance of the digital landscape.
See full thesis.
Supervisors
Sandra Friberg, Associate ProfessorAnna-Sara Lind, ProfessorMagnus Strand, Associate Professor
Opponent
Mika Viljanen, Professor

Book Launch for How That Robot Made Me Feel
2025-10-09 10:00 - 11:00
Whether robots, or the artificial intelligence (AI) that powers them, can feel emotions is a topic of ongoing debate. It is a familiar theme in science fiction and a frequent headline in tech development. Just as important is the question: How do we humans emotionally respond to robots? And how do those responses influence the way robots are designed today?
The book “How That Robot Made Me Feel” is an edited collection that explores what emotions we have when encountering robots, how we react emotionally to them in different contexts, and why these emotional responses are so important.

Do robots, or the AI that is driving them, have emotions? That is a hotly debated topic—both in science fiction, where such assertions are a staple of the narrative, and in tech development, where it often makes headlines. But what about how we humans emotionally respond to robots? Are our emotional responses any less important when it comes to how the robots we encounter today are designed? In How That Robot Made Me Feel, Ericka Johnson asks the authors in this collection to critically examine our emotional and affective responses to robots, and what such an examination would do to the way roboticists use (or toy with) our emotions in their design decisions.
The narrative arc of this anthology follows the question of just whose emotions are being engaged through robotic interactions, why, and for what design ends. Of course, the answer is that it is our emotions that are interesting. And these emotions are not universal, despite the historically universalist paradigm of AI and how robotic emotions work. Emotions are contingent, to borrow a commonly used phrase in feminist technoscience. They are placed in space, time, and cultural context. And understanding how they are produced and engaged with will help clarify many of the political aspects of robotic interaction that are currently concealed by the shiny and allegedly neutral surfaces of robots.

The book launch takes place on October 9 at 10:00-11:00 in the KAW Lounge at Stockholm School of Economics. Lolanda Leite, Royal Institute of Technology, will introduce the book and contributing authors will be present for discussions over coffee and cake.
Welcome!

Registration
Please register below to attend the book launch.

PhD Defense: Ethical Tensions in AI-Based Systems
2025-10-09 13:00 - 16:00
Clàudia Figueras Julián defends her doctoral thesis, “Ethical Tensions in AI-Based Systems” on 9 October at Stockholm University.
See event page.
Abstract
This thesis contributes to human-computer interaction (HCI) by exploring how various stakeholders in Swedish public organisations make sense of ethical considerations and negotiate ethical responsibility in the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based systems.
While high-level ethical frameworks (e.g., guidelines that emphasise principles such as fairness, transparency, and accountability) are intended to guide AI ethics application, prior research reveals that practitioners frequently struggle to translate abstract frameworks into concrete actions within design and use contexts. Responding to calls in HCI for situated, empirical approaches to studying AI ethics in practice, this thesis investigates how stakeholders engage in ethical reasoning through three interconnected dimensions: how they reflect and make sense of ethical considerations, the ethical tensions they encounter when working with AI-based systems, and how ethical responsibility is described and negotiated across AI-based systems’ life cycles.
Drawing on two qualitative case studies combining semi-structured interviews and a multi-stakeholder focus group, the thesis develops an empirically grounded account of stakeholders’ ethical reasoning processes.
The analysis draws attention to three cross-study themes. First, stakeholders make sense of ethical considerations in situ, shaped by organisational roles, institutional demands, and technological constraints, rather than direct application of abstract frameworks. Second, ethical tensions are not simply obstacles but catalysts that prompt ethical reasoning, surfacing hidden assumptions and conflicts that require stakeholders to renegotiate responsibilities. Third, the negotiation of responsibility is made and remade among actors, shifting across the AI-based system’s life cycle in response to tensions and contextual constraints.
Together, these findings show that ethical reasoning in public sector AI work is best understood as contextual, relational, and evolving – taking shape through the interplay of sense-making, handling tension, and doing responsibilities. In doing so, this thesis invites more reflective (embracing tensions as triggers for ethical reflection), relational (attuned to the shared and negotiated nature of responsibility), and practice-oriented (grounded in the situated ways stakeholders make sense of ethical considerations in everyday work) approaches to Responsible AI.
See full thesis.
Supervisors
Chiara Rossitto, Associate Professor of Human-Computer Interaction, Stockholm UniversityTeresa Cerratto-Pargman, Professor of Human-Computer Interaction, Stockholm University
Opponent
Christopher Frauenberger, Interdisciplinary Transformation University, Austria

AI for Humanity and Society 2025
2025-10-09 13:00 - 2025-10-10 17:00
About

Keynotes

Program

Registration

More

The Great TransformAItion
Collaboration, Work, and Agency in an AI World

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in the fabric of society, we are entering a period of profound transformation — of how we work, collaborate, and define human agency. AI is no longer simply a tool; it is a force that is reshaping institutions, labor, relationships, and the foundations of decision-making across every sector. This raises critical questions: How do we ensure that this transformation enhances human dignity and social cohesion? What new forms of collaboration — between humans, machines, and institutions—are emerging, and how can they be designed to promote justice, autonomy, and collective resilience?
This year’s conference, The Great Transformation: Collaboration, Work and Agency in the Age of AI, will explore how individuals, organizations, and societies can navigate this rapidly evolving landscape. It invites researchers, industry leaders, policymakers, and civil society to come together to reflect on the new dynamics of power and participation in an AI-driven world. Through panels, keynotes and discussions, we will engage with topics such as algorithmic labor, augmented decision-making, digital justice, and the evolving nature of expertise and human value.
The WASP-HS AI for Humanity and Society 2025 conference offers a space not only to examine the challenges, but to imagine new pathways forward — where AI can be a catalyst for inclusive innovation, democratic collaboration, and meaningful work. We warmly welcome you to join us in Stockholm at the Stockholm School of Economics (Sveavägen 65, Stockholm) on October 9–10, 2025.

Keynotes

Juliane ReineckeProfessor of Management Studies,University of Oxford

Stewarding the Future Commons: Imagining Desirable Futures in an Age of AIThe accelerating advance of artificial intelligence raises profound questions about humanity’s collective future. Will AI amplify crises of inequality, climate breakdown, and democratic erosion, or help us reimagine more just, sustainable, and inclusive societies? In this keynote, Juliane argues that how we conceptualize and govern the future is itself a contested commons. Building on recent work on prospective theorizing and stewardship of the future commons, she propose that imagining desirable futures requires more than forecasting trends. It demands acts of disciplined imagination, normative commitments, and collective responsibility for how today’s practices structure long-term possibilities. Juliane will introduce a framework for navigating diverse and often conflicting modes of future making, and suggest principles of “speculative rigour” that keep our theorizing both imaginative and grounded. In doing so, she aims to develop a conceptual vocabulary that enables interdisciplinary scholarship to critically engage with AI as a site of future-making.

Gillian TettProvost of King’s College,University of Cambridge

Why One AI needs another AI (anthropology intelligence) to Make Sense of the Modern WorldAI has emerged from the field of quantitative analysis and is often discussed with awe in those terms. However there is an urgent need to use social analysis to make sense of how it is impacting our lives and how humans are framing it. Nothing illustrates this better than the question of how we do – or do not – trust AI, and some fascinating new research from Jigsaw and other groups suggests that we are framing this entirely wrong, particularly for Gen Z. Most notably, AI is entering our lines through lateral networks of distributed trust and needs to be framed in that manner.

Conference Program
Conference program may be subject to change.

Thursday, October 9
12:00 Registration opens
13:00–13:20 Welcome and introductionMagnus Mähring, the Erling Persson Professor of Entrepreneurship and Digital Innovation, Stockholm School of EconomicsChristofer Edling, Professor of Sociology, WASP-HS Program DirectorLisen Selander, Professor of Information Systems, University of Gothenburg
13:20–13:50 Keynote and Q&A “AI Innovation and Societal Resilience in a Multipolar World” (hybrid over Zoom)Gillian Tett, Provost of King’s College, Cambridge
14:00–14:30 Living with AlgorithmsSebastian Krakowski, Assistant Professor, House of Innovation, Stockholm School of EconomicsMia Liinason, Professor of Gender Studies, Lund UniversityLisa Irenius, Editor-in-Chief and CEO, Svenska DagbladetModerator: Magnus Mähring, the Erling Persson Professor of Entrepreneurship and Digital Innovation, Stockholm School of Economics
14:35–14:55 Fika and roundtable discussions
15:00–15:30 Algorithmic Augmentation and Expertise in OrganizationsElmira van den Broek, Assistant Professor, House of Innovation, Stockholm School of Economics Marleen Huysman, Professor, School of Business and Education, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamPanos Constantinides, Professor of Digital Innovation, Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of ManchesterArmin Catovic, Head of AI, Aloi and Vice Chair, Stockholm AI Moderator: Anna Essén, Associate Professor, House of Innovation, Stockholm School of Economics
15:35–15:55 Fika and roundtable discussions
16:00–16:30 Algorithmic (In)justicesOlgerta Tona, Associate Professor, Department of Applied IT, University of GothenburgCharlotta Kronblad, Postdoctor, Informatics department Gothenburg University and Research Fellow, House of Innovation, Stockholm School of EconomicsStefan Larsson, Associate Professor in Technology and Social Change, Lund UniversityBinette Seck, Tech Entrepreneur, Chairperson Microsoft AI CouncilModerator: Lisen Selander, Professor of Information Systems, University of Gothenburg
16:35–16:55 Fika and roundtable discussions
17:00–17:15 Wrap up and closingMagnus Mähring, the Erling Persson Professor of Entrepreneurship and Digital Innovation, Stockholm School of Economics
17:20–18:30 Mingle and Art Tour sessionsEvening mingle with drinks and light bites. The Art Tour will take place at Stockholm School of Economics.

Friday, October 10
08:30 Registration and coffee and tea
09:00–9:05 Welcome and openingLisen Selander, Professor of Information Systems, University of GothenburgChristofer Edling, Professor of Sociology, WASP-HS Program Director
09:05–09:45 Keynote and Q&A “Stewarding the Future Commons: Imagining Desirable Futures in an Age of AI”Juliane Reinecke, Professor of Management Studies, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
09:45–10:35 Lightning Talks – WASP-HS Research Project and ResultsTeresa Cerratto-Pargman, Professor of Human-Computer Interaction, Stockholm UniversityNicolette Lakemond, Professor in Industrial Management, Linköping UniversityDonal Casey, Senior Lecturer in European Law, Uppsala UniversityPontus Strimling, Professor of Analytical Sociology, IAS and Research Leader, Institute for Futures StudiesJonas Tallberg, Professor of Political Science, Stockholm UniversityModerator: Helena Lindgren, Professor in Computer Science, Co-Director of WASP-HS, Umeå University
10.35–10.55 Coffee break
10:55–11.45 Lightning Talks – New Research ClustersMartin Ebers, WASP-HS Guest Professor, Örebro UniversityAnne Kaun, Professor of Media and Communication studies, Södertörn UniversityAnna Foka, Professor in Digital Humanities, Uppsala UniversityOskar Nordström Skans, Professor of Economics, Uppsala UniversityEva Erman, Professor of Political Science, Stockholm UniversityModerator: Christofer Edling, Professor of Sociology, WASP-HS Program Director, Lund University
11:45-12:00 Closing wordsMagnus Mähring, the Erling Persson Professor of Entrepreneurship and Digital Innovation, Stockholm School of EconomicsChristofer Edling, Professor of Sociology, WASP-HS Program DirectorHannah Pelikan, Postdoctor, Department of Culture and Society, Linköping University

Registration
Registration is closed.

In the afternoon of October 10, participants are welcome to attend Dialogues on Digital, a half-day conference hosted by the Stockholm School of Economics — House of Innovation. With its focus on how digital innovation is reshaping what it means to be human, the event offers a continuation of the conversations from WASP-HS AI for Humanity and Society — especially for those interested in the societal and personal dimensions of digital transformation.

Conference Chairs

Magnus Mähring

the Erling Persson Professor of Entrepreneurship and Digital Innovation, Stockholm School of Economics

Lisen Selander

Professor of Information Systems at the University of Gothenburg

Workshop: Girls Just Want to Have Sc(AI)ence—Part 4
2025-10-10 10:00 - 11:00
Critical Robotic Dialogues: Exploring Robots in the Present and Future
Please note that this event is independently organized by a WASP-HS researcher and not the WASP-HS Program Office.
While feminist approaches to technoscience are getting increasing attention, fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Human-Robot Interaction and Human-Computer Interaction are still male-dominated. Similarly, new technologies, from assistive robots to chatbots, are often imbued with the same intrinsic gender and ethnic stereotypes and biases present in our Western society. An increasing number of scholars have thus called for a feminist reboot, praising more ethical, sustainable and inclusive research practices and epistemologies in the hope of better technology. Our workshop series “Girls just want to have Sc(AI)ence” aims to foster knowledge and discussions on critical and feminist approaches to technology by engaging scholars working with AI from a variety of disciplines -from data science to art, political studies and philosophy, and invite them to reflect and imagine together how to use tools and theories from critical and feminist studies to implement more thcial, sustainable and inclusive technology-related practices and research.
When & where: 10 October 2025 at 10:00–11:00, online only via Zoom.
This event is sponsored by WASP HS and Lund university profile area Natural and Artificial Cognition
Read more about the workshop series.
Invited Speakers
– Iolanda Leite, KTH Stockholm, Division of Robotics, Perception and Learning
– Katie Winkle, Uppsala University, Department of Information Technology; Vi3; Human Machine Interaction
Description
Featured in the NAC Week and part of the Girls in Sc(AI)ence seminar series. This seminar invites participants to critically reflect on the role of robots in contemporary society and their possible futures.
Speaker Bios
Iolanda Leite is an Associate Professor at the Division of Robotics, Perception and Learning at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on developing robots that can capture, learn from, and respond appropriately to the subtle dynamics that characterize real-world situations, allowing for truly efficient and engaging interactions with people
Katie Winkle is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University, where she is part of the Vi3 division and the Human–Machine Interaction group. Her research explores socially responsible and participatory approaches to human–robot interaction at the individual level as well as at the family, group, community and societal levels.
Registration
To participate is free of charge. Registration for online lecture.

Dialogmöte: Utmaningar för kulturen och kulturskaparna i AI-utvecklingen
2025-11-04 13:30 - 16:00
Foto: Dipqi Ghozali

Om

Program

Registrering

Mer

Välkommen till ett dynamiskt kunskapsutbyte där vi sätter strålkastarljuset på den snabbt växande AI-utvecklingen och dess påverkan på kulturskapare. I takt med att generativ AI tar plats i kreativa processer uppstår både nya möjligheter och brännande frågor. Hur skyddar vi upphovsrätt och konstnärlig integritet när algoritmer tränas på mänskligt skapande? Vad händer med uppdrag och arbetstillfällen när maskiner kan skapa på egen hand? Och hur försvarar vi våra personligheter i en tid av deepfakes och digital användning av bland annat röster och utseenden?
Detta möte är en del av WASP-HS möteskoncept för Dialogmöten som tidigare kallats Community Reference Meetings. Eventet hålls i samarbete med KLYS. KLYS utgör en samlad röst för Sveriges yrkesverksamma kulturskapare och företräder genom sina 14 medlemsorganisationer nästan 30.000 kulturskapare inom olika konstområden såsom bild- och form, musik, scen och film, litteratur och journalistik. KLYS främsta syfte är att förbättra villkoren för dessa yrkesgrupper och därmed stärka konstnärlig frihet och kvalitet, samt kulturell mångfald.
Läs mer om KLYS och KLYS arbete på deras hemsida.

Program
13.30–13.40 Välkomnande och introduktionUlrica Källén, verksamhetschef KLYSKatja de Vries, universitetslektor i offentlig rätt, Uppsala Universitet
13:40-14:40 KeynotesJosefine Engström, Ordförande i Svenska Tecknare – “Hur kulturarbetares arbetsförhållanden påverkas i kölvattnet av generativ AI”Thorbjörn Öström, Advokat och grundare av Öström Advokat, konsult KLYS – ”AI och den kreativa sektorn – juridiska utmaningar”Johan Axhamn, Docent, Lunds universitet – ”Upphovsrätt och AI: Licensiering, ersättning, upphovsmannaskap och plagiat”Andreas Kotsios, Universitetslektor i Europarätt, Uppsala universitet, WASP-HS – ”En rättvis marknad för data – ett rättssociologiskt perspektiv”
14.40–14.50 – Paus
14.50–15.35 – DiskussionsgrupperUpphovsrätt – Rundabordsansvarig: Katarina Renman Claeson, Förbundsjurist, Konstnärernas RiksorganisationLicensiering – Rundabordsansvarig: Åsa Anesäter, jurist, Författarförbundet & Claes Reimertz, Business Development Manager, StimPersonlighetsrätt – Rundabordsansvarig: Jakob Malmlöf, jurist, fackförbunden Svenska Musikerförbundet och Sveriges Yrkesmusikersförbund
15.35–15.55 – Avslutning och sammanfattningReflektioner och insikter från gruppdiskussionerna
15.55–16.00 – Tack och avslut
Notera att detta event hålls på svenska. Programmet uppdateras löpande

Medverkande
Keynotes

Josefine EngströmOrdförande, Svenska tecknare

Thorbjörn Öström, Advokat, grundare av Öström Advokat

Johan Axhamn, Docent, Lunds universitet

Andreas Kotsios, Universitetslektor i Europarätt, Uppsala universitet

Rundabordsansvariga

Katarina Renman Claeson, Förbundsjurist, Konstnärernas Riksorganisation

Åsa Anesäter, Jurist, Författarförbundet

Claes Reimertz, Business Development Manager, Stim

Jakob Malmlöf, Jurist, fackförbunden Svenska Musikerförbundet och Sveriges Yrkesmusikersförbund

Dialogmötesvärdar

Ulrica Källén, Verksamhetschef, KLYS

Katja de Vries, Universitetslektor i offentlig rätt, Uppsala Universitet

Registrering för detta event har stängt.

PhD Defense: Multisensory Interactions with Biophilic Flying Robots
2025-11-10 09:00 - 12:00
Ziming Wang defends his doctoral thesis, “Multisensory Interactions with Biophilic Flying Robots” at Chalmers University of University.
See event page.
Abstract
The relationship between nature and humanity has evolved throughout history and across technological epochs. This thesis advances the hypothesis that integrating natural characteristics into robot design can enrich human–computer interaction (HCI) by drawing on our deep-rooted familiarity with and affinity for the natural world. To investigate this proposition, I examined close-range interactions with flying robots under different proxemic conditions, employing a mixed-methods approach.
The thesis comprises four empirical studies, each probing a different pathway through which biophilic elements might shape human perception, interaction, and imagination. Study I examined how overlaying natural soundscapes such as birdsong and rainfall affected the perception of a noisy flying robot (N = 56). Study II explored nature narratives, particularly the conceptualization of indoor drones as animal-like companions through function framing (N = 60). Study III compared experiences with a bioinspired flapping-wing drone—foregrounding organic forms and biomimetic movement—against a similarly sized quadcopter (N = 56). Study IV staged a speculative dinner theater in which participants (N = 6) engaged with the provocative scenario of eating a biohybrid drone, highlighting hybrid living components as a design material. Across these studies, variations in spatial proximity (from very near to relatively far) and temporal framing (from near- to far-future scenarios) were integrated to reveal how context shapes engagement and experiences.
Collectively, the findings show that nature-inspired design elements can foster intuitive, relatable, and emotionally resonant interactions with flying robots, while also surfacing ethical and practical challenges. This thesis contributes empirical insights into how people respond to biophilic flying robots and argues for moving beyond surface-level biomimicry toward intentional, context-aware integration of natural elements. By treating nature not merely as aesthetic inspiration but as a lens for crafting meaningful, embodied interactions, we can design technologies that resonate more deeply with human experience—particularly in close-range, affective, and everyday settings.
See full thesis.
Supervisor
Morten Fjeld, Professor
Pedro Cardoso-Leite, Associate Professor
Opponent
Joseph Paradiso, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA

Workshop: Girls Just Want to Have Sc(AI)ence—Part 5
2025-11-17 12:30 - 15:00
Reimagining the Politics of AI: Co-Creating Tools to Confront Gender-Related Violence
Please note that this event is independently organized by a WASP-HS researcher and not the WASP-HS Program Office.
Such of today’s AI development is driven by large-scale models that demand vast datasets, compute resources and invisible human labour — often reinforcing the very inequalities they claim to solve. But what might AI look like if we built it differently? Drawing from the participatory, feminist work of the Data Against Feminicide project, this talk will explore how we can shift the politics of knowledge and data production in AI development towards non-extractive approaches that centre context, collaboration and care.
Data Against Feminicide is a collaborative research and design project focused on supporting the work of civil society organisations and grassroots activists who monitor gender-related violence and feminicide — the gender-related killing of cisgender and transgender women and girls. Across the world, many activists and grassroots groups produce their own data to draw attention to this systemic, lethal violence, hold public institutions accountable, support collective action and remember lives lost.Since 2019, our interdisciplinary team has worked with activists and civil society groups across the Americas and in Sub-Saharan Africa to co-design machine learning tools that support activists’ existing data production strategies rather than replace their labour. This work has included participatory data annotation and model evaluation with attention to the socio-spatial and ethical complexities of defining and detecting feminicide across contexts.
The talk will reflect on what this work reveals about the politics of AI, showing how choices about who is involved, how technology is developed, and to what ends directly shape its social impact. It will argue for a feminist data epistemology that moves from centralised, extractive data practices towards collaborative forms of knowledge production; from abstract, generalising models towards bespoke tools attentive to local and contextual difference; and from harmful automation towards more reflexive, caring engagements that question not only what machine learning can do but whether it should be applied at all.
Using concrete examples from the project, the talk will also explore the tensions of co-producing AI: how such tools can alleviate activist labour, where biases remain and what it means to democratise technical know-how. Ultimately, it will invite researchers and practitioners to rethink how AI can be designed with and for communities on the frontlines of social justice.
Practical Information
The workshop is arranged in a hybrid format on 18 March, 2025– 12.30 to 13.20: Hybrid lecture on zoom– 12.30 to 15.30: On-site lecture plus workshop in SOL:A129b, Helgonabacken 12, Lund, Sweden
Invited speaker: Ericka Johnson, Professor at Linköping University
Programme 17 November
13.00 – 14.00 Lecture (hybrid)
14.00 Coffee break
14.15 Workshop session
Registration
To participate is free of charge. Registration for online lecture or for both lecture and workshop on-site in Lund at ai.lu.se.

Study Abroad Tips and Tricks
2025-11-24 16:00 - 17:15
Interested in going abroad for a semester? WASP-HS PhD students are welcome to this session where your fellow PhD students who have been abroad can share their ideas and thoughts about their experience.
Please join November 24, at 16:00 – 17:15.
Zoom link: https://lu-se.zoom.us/j/65780063878

Generously funded by the Wallenberg Foundations.

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PhD Defense: Mapping Small Water Channels Using Machine Learning
2025-12-05 08:30 - 12:00
Mariana Busarello defends her doctoral thesis “Mapping small water channels using machine learning” on December 5 at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
Abstract
Boreal landscapes are shaped by a dense network of natural streams, modified streams, and ditches. Together, they regulate hydrology, nutrient transport, and ecosystem function. Historically, streams were modified to accommodate log transportation, and drainage ditches were dug to improve food and timber production. Although new ditching has mostly stopped, historical changes to the drainage network still affect forestry and water management. Small streams and ditches are the landscape’s capillaries, but they remain poorly mapped despite their vital hydrological and ecological roles. This thesis addresses this gap in knowledge by developing a novel, national-scale framework for mapping small streams and ditches using high-resolution topographic data and machine learning techniques. Combining convolutional neural networks, XGBoost classification, uncertainty quantification, and drainage analyses, this work identifies geomorphological and hydrological indices that distinguish streams from ditches across the landscape. The highest-performing model shows that integrating digital elevation models with terrain indices and machine learning delineates the channel networks successfully for ditches (recall=76%, precision=88%) and moderately for natural streams (recall=58%, precision=56%). Furthermore, the produced uncertainty maps highlight low-certainty pixels from the background that can be used to potentially improve the mapping of streams in the future. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that can separate streams and ditches on maps across an entire nation. By providing consistent, scalable maps of small channels, this research supports restoration prioritization, sustainable forestry planning, and national reporting under EU and UN environmental frameworks. The methodology also offers a reproducible approach for characterizing coupled natural-artificial drainage systems in boreal and temperate regions worldwide.
See full thesis.
Supervisor
William Lidberg, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Opponent
Chris Soulsby, University of Aberdeen

AI and Society: Fresh Perspectives from PhD Graduates
2025-12-08 15:00 - 16:00
Welcome to second webinar in the AI and Society: Fresh Perspectives form PhD Graduates series! Join us as newly minted PhD students from WASP-HS Graduate School discuss their insights into the implications and entanglements of AI for society and humanity in a series of lightning talks.
Program
“Conflicting Aims of Welfare Technology” Maria Arnelid, Linköping University
“The End of a Platform Exeptionalism”Silvia A Caretta, Copenhagen Business School / Women in AI
“How to Build Nice Robots”Jakob Stenseke, Lund University
“Transparency in Trustworthy AI”Kasia Söderlund, Lund University
Registration
Register by 7 December to receive a zoom link.
Register here.

AI Futures: Navigating Ethics, Law, and Heritage
2025-12-16 13:15 - 15:00
Please note that this event is independently organized by a WASP-HS researcher and not the WASP-HS Program Office.
Can AI models be lawfully and ethically trained on copyrighted and cultural heritage–protected materials? This question has become one of the most pressing and contested issues in Sweden’s AI and cultural policy landscape. Recent debates between rights-holder organizations and public institutions have highlighted tensions around copyright, lawful access, and the future of generative AI.
This roundtable, hosted by WASP-HS Research Cluster AI Futures of Culture and Memory, WASP-HS Research Cluster The Rule of AI, the Swedish Research Council Research Environment VOICE and the Swedish Research Council Excellence Network in Ground Breaking Technologies Culture Code at Uppsala University, brings together experts from law, technology, cultural heritage, and creative sectors to foster an informed and respectful dialogue beyond polarized public discourse.
When & where: 16 December 2025, 13:15–15:00, Online event
Type: Workshop
Organiser: WASP-HS Research Cluster AI Futures of Culture and Memory, the Swedish Research Council Research Environment VOICE and the Swedish Research Council Excellence Network in Ground Breaking Technologies Culture Code at Uppsala University
Contact person: Kailin Hatlestad
Invited Speakers
– Jens Västberg – Chief Legal Officer, Riksarkivet (Swedish National Archives)– Love Börjesson – Head of KB Lab, National Library of Sweden– Josefine Engström – Chair, Svenska Tecknare (The association of Swedish illustrators and graphic designers) & Vice Chair KLYS (Swedish Joint Committee for Artistic and Literary Professionals)– Marijn Storm – Partner at Morrison Foerster, involved in GPT-NL development
Each speaker will provide a 5-minute perspective with one slide, introducing themselves and sharing their thoughts on opportunities and challenges related to AI training on cultural heritage data.
Who Should Attend?
Researchers, policymakers, cultural heritage professionals, rights-holder organizations, and anyone interested in the intersection of AI, law, and culture.
Organized by:
– Anna Foka, Professor of Digital Humanities, Uppsala University– Katja de Vries, Associate Professor in Public Law, Uppsala University
Registration
To participate is free of charge. Register here!

Knowledge Exchange: Algorithm Watch
2026-01-12 16:30 - 17:30
We welcome all WASP-HS researhers to exchange knowledge about political aspects of algorithms together with Oliver Marsh from Algorithm Watch, Berlin. The goal of the one hour workshop is to explore strategies to manage the increasingly algorithm-driven society.
Speaker
Oliver Marsh, Head of Tech Research at Algorithm Watch
About Algoritm Watch
Algorithm Watch is a non-governmental, non-profit organization based in Berlin and Zurich. We fight for a world where algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI) do not weaken justice, human rights, democracy, and sustainability but strengthen them.
Read more.
Registration
Do you want to join the webinar? Send an email to graduate.school@wasp-hs.org for the link!

PhD Defense: Life and AI at NASA: An Ethnography of How Scientists and Engineers Make Tools to Explore Other Worlds
2026-01-30 13:15 - 17:00
Alicja Ostrowska defends her PhD thesis, “Life and AI at NASA: An Ethnography of How Scientists and Engineers Make Tools to Explore Other Worlds” on 30 January at Chalmers University of Technology.
See event page.
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly introduced into scientific practices, including NASA’s missions that explore conditions for life and habitability on other planets and moons. How does the development of new AI tools within these missions transform scientific knowledge production?
Drawing on theories from Science and Technology Studies (STS), this dissertation analyzes science as a cultural practice. It is based on ethnographic research conducted at NASA and within the wider community of planetary scientists and astrobiologists, including interviews and documentary materials.
The dissertation demonstrates how efforts to realize visions of autonomous science beyond Earth already reshape the everyday work of scientists on the ground. It shows how AI is shaped by organizational structures, knowledge infrastructures, and scientific cultures at NASA, while simultaneously feeding back into these dimensions. Boundary work to sustain the legitimacy of planetary missions influences the purposes for which AI can be developed – to identify organic molecules, to explore habitability and potential biosignatures.
The study further shows how field sites, laboratories, and national databases together constitute a knowledge infrastructure that shapes AI by determining which data are available for training. Choices of field sites are influenced by accessibility and symbolic value, rendering some places more popular than others, which skews knowledge production. Digital databases and AI training datasets serve as libraries of knowns against which the unknown is identified. Decisions about anomalies, artifacts, and novelty in data are central to both AI design and scientific discovery. The study highlights the limits of performance metrics and the importance of negotiations with domain experts, particularly in the emerging use of synthetic data.
Although AI remains at an early stage of development in the cases studied, it already reshapes power relations in scientific knowledge production by introducing new ideals of epistemic order and altering who determines the value and usability of data.
By providing an empirical account of AI development in one of the most impactful scientific institutions, this dissertation contributes to discussions about data-driven solutions in science, and the epistemic consequences of using AI in science on Earth and beyond.
See full thesis.
Supervisor
Francis Lee, main supervisor
Shai Mulinari, co-supervisor
Opponent
Marisa Cohn, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Winter Conference 2026
2026-02-04 09:00 - 2026-02-06 12:00
About

Exchange

Posters

Workshops

Program

Registration

The WASP-HS Winter Conference 2026 will be in LUX, the Joint Faculties for Humanities and Theology, at Lund University 4-6 February. It will be filled with workshops, poster presentations, and interactive discussions, with ample opportunity for networking.
Please join us and contribute to the conversation!

WASP-HS Annual Exchange
Encountering DigitalizationWhat happens when interactions are automated and digital agents intervene? Welcome to this year’s WASP-HS Annual Exchange — a dynamic conversation on human-centred digitalization with Prof. Brit Ross Winthereik, Dr. Kash Haresamudram, Dr. Charlotte Högberg and Dr. Malin Heintz.

Speakers

Brit Ross Wintereik

Professor, Dept of Technology, Management and Economics, Technical University of Denmark

Kashyap Haresamudram

PhD in Technology and Society, Lund University

Charlotte Högberg

PhD in Technology and Society, Lund University

Malin Heintz

PhD in Economics, Arbetsförmedlingen

Poster sessions for all
Come and see the most recent PhD project results and give your feedback and contribute with your insights.
Please download and use the poster template for the poster session.Download poster template (.pptx)

Workshops
Open for WASP-HS PhD students:
Bias and Prejudices in AI Training DataModerator: Sarah de Heer
Smashing the Cloud with a Hammer: Exploring AI Through RejectionModerator: Martin Lindstam
History a la ChatGPTModerator: Johannes Widegren, Nasrin Mostofian and Mo von Bychelberg
AI experts meet AI narratives on BlueskyModerator: Igor Ryazanov
Open for all WASP-HS researchers:
AI in Higher Education – limitations and risks

Program

Wednesday, February 4
09:00—11:30Workshop: AI in Higher EducationC214, and breakout rooms:C213C212 (the Staff canteen)
Workshop: Smashing the Cloud with a HammerB352
11:30—13:00Lunch and Poster PresentationsOutside of Lux Auditorium
13:00—15:00WASP-HS Annual ExchangeLUX Auditorium
15:00—15:20CoffeeOutside Lux Auditorium
15:20—18:00How to Write a PostDoc ApplicationC214
15:20—18:00Posters that Don’t Suck: From Awkward to Awesome!B336
18:00—18:30PhD student council meetingB336
19:00Conference dinner PhD certificate ceremonyForum Medicum, Sölvegatan 19

Thursday, February 5
10:00—12:00Poster sessions by WASP-HS PhD students
12:00—13:00Lunch
13:00—15:00Supervisor meetingLUX C214
13:00—16:00Workshop: Bias and Prejudices in AI Training DataB240
Workshop: History a la ChatGPTB352
Workshop: AI Experts Meet AI Narratives on BlueskyB339 CANCELLED
18:00Pool for PhD studentsParadis Biljard

Friday, February 6
9:30—12:30Oral presentations by PhD studentsLUX Auditorium
Click here for abstracts
09.30: Welcome and introduction by Ericka Johnson, WASP-HS Graduate School Director
09.35 Johannes Widegren: Archives +Sapmi = AI?
10.05 Nicolas A. de Pieuchon: Countering Bias in AI Methods for Text Data
10.35 Coffee
11.00 Ziming Wang: A Meat-Summer Night’s Dream: A Tangible Design Fiction Exploration of Eating Biohybrid Flying Robots
11.30 Laetitia Tanqueray: Reframing Robots for Care: Situating Informal Caregivers in the Development of Social Robots
12.00 Sarah de Heer: When Algorithms Shape Care: AI-Driven Medical Device, Precision Medicine and Quality under the Right to Health

Registration
Registration is closed

PhD Defence: Figuring the Boundary Between Human and Robot
2026-03-06 08:00 - 17:00
On 6 March 2026, Dominika Lisy defends her doctoral thesis, “Figuring the Boundary between Human and Robot: A Feminist New Materialist Perspective on Dermally Layered Relationality”, at Linköping University.
See event page.
Abstract
Social robots are expected to become ubiquitous across different areas of both the private and public spheres of human life, assisting in care, education, and daily tasks. Hopes for meaningful, efficient, and enjoyable interactions with these kinds of robots drive social robotics research, but there are also ethical concerns and critiques concerning negative social consequences. Both sides involve assumptions about the boundaries around what it means to be human in relation to the non-human. In order to disentangle optimistic and pessimistic notions about this relationality, there needs to be a reconsideration of how the boundaries constituting the human/non-human divide are understood and figured in encounters with robot bodies. Following Dominika Lisy’s personal experiences that have been documented as reflections, diary entries, and by photographing moments of meeting different social robots, this thesis starts at the first point of contact: the skin.
But how might the skin be used to rethink boundaries between humans and social robots? The research in this thesis illustrates an interdisciplinary endeavour to weave together insights from feminist theory and methodology, research on affective and tactile robots, and the biology and neurophysiology of the skin. Grounded in feminist new materialism, which embraces the entanglement of matter and discourse, the thesis develops a figuration of the skin through which both the form and content of the thesis’ text illustrate what it means to pay attention to boundaries during encounters with affective and tactile robots. Figuring boundaries in this way, they can be described as multilayered, flexible yet sturdy, hardening over time, and dependent on un/noticeable sensations, just like the skin. This thesis aims to contribute to feminist theories of human/non-human relationality.
The thesis presents a situated feminist account of making sense amidst diverse knowledges through the skin and personal embodied experiences in order to develop a sensitivity and ethical responsibility for human–robot relations.
See full thesis.
Supervisors
Katherine Harrison, PhD at Linköping UniversityHarald Wiltsche, Professor at Linköping University
Opponent
Maaike Bleeker, Professor at Utrecht University

AI and The Paradox of Agency
2026-03-13 08:00 - 2027-01-17 17:00 | Bildmuseet
Who holds the power when AI enters our lives? AI and the Paradox of Agency is curated by Sarah Cook, WASP-HS Guest Professor, and Museum Director Katarina Pierre, and features new commissions by international artists, from interactive games and immersive installations to sculptures and a drone-read hand-painted textile.
The exhibition is open between 13 March, 2026 and 17 January 2027.
Artists: boredomresearch, Tega Brain, Dennis Delgado, Linda Dounia Rebeiz, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Nicolas Gourault, Zeno Gries, Lawrence Lek, Rachel Maclean, Stephen Marche, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Florian Model, Yuri Pattison, Planetary Portals, Raqs Media Collective, Daniel Shanken, Caroline Sinders & Romy Gad el Rab, Paola Torres Núñez del Prado, and Addie Wagenknecht. Curators: Sarah Cook and Katarina Pierre.
AI and the Paradox of Agency is produced by Bildmuseet at Umeå University with support from the Jacob Wallenberg Foundation and WASP-HS (Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society).

Read more

Girls Sc(AI)ence 7: Conversations on How AI is Eroding Human Rights (And What Can We Do About It)
2026-03-24 10:00 - 11:15
Creating a Research Network to Foster Women’s Participation in Technoscience

Please note that this event is independently organized by a WASP-HS researcher and not the WASP-HS Program Office.

Topic:Conversations on how AI is eroding human rights (and what can we do about it)Invited speaker: Sue Ann Teo, Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and Faculty of Law, Lund University
When: March 24th, 10.00 to 11:15Where: hybrid – link by registration– On site: at LUX B:339, Department of Philosophy, Lux, Helgonavägen 3 Lund– Online on zoom

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Who Is Speaking? Artificial Intelligence in Art and Culture: From AI-generated Voices to Data-Driven Cultural Heritage
2026-04-15 13:15 - 21:00 | Humanistiska Teater, Uppsala University
Please note that this event is independently organized by WASP-HS researchers and not the WASP-HS Program Office.

Who is speaking? The conference is on AI in art and cutlure including generated voices to data-driven cultural heritage. The full day conference program is ended with an evening program filled with artistic music performances involving AI.

Read more and register

AI Futures of Culture and Memory

The conference is partly hosted by the WASP-HS research environment AI Futures of Culture and Memory.

Read more

Research Opportunities at the Intersection of Society, Life Sciences, and Technology
2026-05-07 09:00 - 2026-05-08 17:00
A joint conference between DDLS, WASP and WASP-HS
Uniting Sweden’s life science, machine learning and artificial intelligence communities, we welcome researchers from all disciplines to explore new research opportunities in a changing world.
Participants will have the opportunity to network, be inspired by excellent international keynote speakers, and take part in the latest research in Sweden. In addition to plenary keynotes, the program will offer a panel discussion, a poster session and ample time to mingle.
Practical Details
DatesMay 7-8, 2026
VenueUppsala Konsert & Kongress

Keynotes

Maja Fjaestad

Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Computing Science, Umeå University

Olli Kallioniemi

Research Director at FIMM University of Helsinki, Professor of Molecular Precision Medicine at Karolinska Institutet and SciLifeLab

Danica Kragic

Professor at the School of Computer Science and Communication at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH

Preliminary Conference Program
The program may be subject to change.

Thursday, May 7
09.00 Registration opens (coffee) + poster hanging
10.00 Opening Remarks:Program Directors from the three Research Programs
10:15-11:00 Keynote “Algorithmic rule: AI and the future of democracy”Maja Fjaestad, Strategic Advisor to the Executive Leadership at Karolinska Institutet, Adjunct Professor at Luleå University of Technology
11:00-11:30 Flash Talks: Future Ideas at the Intersection of Society, Life Sciences & TechnologyPhD Students and Post Docs from the three Research Programs

11:30-12:30 Parallel Workshops, Session 1
12:30-13:45 Lunch
13:45-14:20 Keynote “A plan for the Finnish Health Data Space (FHDS) in the AI era: Navigating health, data, legal, social and political aspects”Olli Kallioniemi, Research Director at FIMM, University of Helsinki, and Professor of Molecular Precision Medicine at Karolinska Institutet and SciLifeLab
14:20-15:15 Panel: Initiatives in the NordicsArto Klami, Professor of Computer Science at University of Helsinki. Part of the Helsinki Probabilistic Machine Learning Lab, the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence FCAI, and faculty of the ELLIS Institute Finland.
Stine Lomborg, Professor of Digital Communication at University of Copenhagen, Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Tracking & Society, Chief Scientist at the Danish national center for AI in society (CAISA)
Malcolm Langford, Professor of Public Law, University of Oslo and Co-Director of TRUST: Norwegian Centre for Trustworthy AI.
16:00-17:00 Parallel Workshops, Session 2
17:00 Mingle food and Poster Session

Registration
Registration is open from 16 March through 16 April.

Register

Friday, May 8
08:30-09:30 Parallel Workshops, Sessions 3
09:40-10:15 Keynote “Perception, Action, Intercation in Physical AI systems”Danica Kragic, Professor at the School of Computer Science and Communication at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH
Coffee
10:45-11:45 Flash Talks: Funded Projects NEST & RIGTime-Resolved Imaging and Multi-Channel Evaluation of Cellular Dynamics (TIMED) – Ola Spjuth, Professor of Pharmaceutical Bioinformatics, Uppsala University
The 3D dynamics of the chromosome – Johan Elf, Professor of Physical Biology, Uppsala University
Multimodal AI-based Precision Diagnostics and Decision Support for Breast Cancer (AID4BC) – Jens Sjölund, WASP Fellow and Assistant Professor in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Uppsala University
AI tools for mental health: Clinical Trials – Sverker Sikström, Professor Cogntive Psychology, Lund University & Axel C Carlsson Associated Professor, Karolinska Institutet
Explainable and Just AI in Data-Driven Disease Surveillance – Yana Litins’ka, Associate Professor, Lund University & Atiye Sadat Hashemi, Associate Postdoctoral Researcher, Lund University
Personalized medicine: Ethics and knowledge-making in data-driven medical prediction – Stefan Larsson, Associate Professor of Technology and Social Change, Lund University & Markus Lingman, Specialist Physician in Cardiology Adjunct Professor Medicine, University of Halmstad & Charlotte Högberg, PhD, Postdoc in Technology and Society, Lund University
11:45-12:00 Closing remarks, lunch to go

Parallel Workshops, Sessions 1-3
Participants will be able to choose one workshop per session during the three parallel workshop blocks. Each workshop has a limited number of seats, and registration is handled on a first‑come, first‑served basis. If a workshop no longer appears in the registration form, it means that it is fully booked. Participants are then welcome to select among the remaining workshops running in the same session.

Parallel Workshops, Session 1
“AI for Science! An interactive discussion on a new initiative”This workshop aims at creating awareness and collecting feedback around a new initiative to support academic researchers with AI competence through a new company called AI4S AB (AI for Science), funded by Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. We offer AI support to academic researchers with ongoing grants from the three largest Wallenberg Foundations for up to 6 months full time.Workshop Organizer: Salla Franzén, CEO, AI4S AB
“What is the future of AI-supported precision medicine? Scrutinizing personalized care, equal treatment and disruption of knowledge”The current development of AI-supported precision medicine, and personalization of medical knowledge and treatment, raises concerns about ethics and fair representation. This interdisciplinary workshop examines questions of ethics and knowledge in AI-supported precision medicine, including fairness, prioritization, and changing knowledge practices. The goal is to produce a discussion paper identifying policy proposals and issues in need of further cross-disciplinary discussion.Workshop Organizer: Charlotte Högberg, PhD, Postdoc in Technology and Society, Lund University
“Unpacking Technology Through Interdisciplinary Reflection”In this collaborative and hands-on workshop, we will introduce and lead participants through a series of reflective exercises known as the implosion method. This exercise outlines social and historical considerations around the responsibilities, concerns, and attentions of researchers working on and with technology. Workshop attendees are expected to learn a new method for reflecting on the socio-technical impacts of their research and making connections across disciplines.Workshop Organizer: Derya Akbaba, Postdoctoral Researcher, Dept. of Computer Science, KTH
“Large Language Models in Conflict: Knowledge, Legitimacy, and AI”Large language models contribute to the production of knowledge, such as ideas and recommendations. The accuracy and reliability of this knowledge remain questionable. What if these models contribute to the mass killing of people through mass surveillance? We ask: what does LLMs’ production of knowledge reveal about the ethical and legal dimensions of their use, given the untrustworthiness of their outputs? The discussion follows the ‘Jonsered model’Workshop Organizer: Mais Qandeel, Associate Professor (Docent) of International Law / Law and Technologies, Örebro University
“Zero-Click Futures: Safeguarding Knowledge Pluralism in the Age of Generative AI”Generative AI is reshaping how knowledge is accessed, synthesized, and trusted. This interactive workshop explores the rise of zero-click information environments and their risks for transparency, diversity, and epistemic justice. Participants will collaboratively design actionable principles for building responsible AI systems that protect knowledge pluralism, informational autonomy, and public trust.Workshop Organizer: Selcen Ozturkcan, Associate Professor of Business Administration, Linnaeus University

Parallel Workshops, Session 2
“AI-Ready Data to enable collaborations across fields”Modern machine learning methods open up opportunities for new discoveries, especially when researchers collaborate across fields. For example, a biologist may have collected a novel dataset and collaborate with an ML engineer to build new models. In this session, we will focus on AI-ready data – what it means in practice and how to prepare datasets so they can be shared, understood, and reliably used for AI applications.Workshop Organizer: SciLifeLab Data Centre: Arnold Kochari, Project manager at Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University
“Foundation models on European biomedical and healthcare data: ethical, legal, and technical pathways to life-course precision health”This workshop explores how AI foundation models applied to biomedical and health data can enable personalized prevention and healthcare, considering critical questions of governance, transparency, bias, and clinical integration. We will jointly identify current technical, social, and ethical challenges to leverage foundation models for responsible, data‑driven healthcare in Europe and discuss them with an expert panel.Workshop Organizer: Clemens Wittenbecher, Assistant Professor, Food and Nutrition Science, Life Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology
“Legal consciousness in the tech community”How do tech professionals navigate law in real-world design choices? This workshop uses practical scenarios and small-group discussions to examine how programmers interpret, use, or resist legal norms alongside technical and organisational expectations. The session invites computer scientists, legal scholars, and social scientists to reflect on tensions, strategies, and pathways toward more legally conscious technology development.Workshop Organizer: Katalin Kelemen, Associate Professor in Law, Örebro University
“SciLifeLab OMERO: A Collaborative HPC-Enabled Platform for Data-Driven Bioimaging Research”This workshop introduces SciLifeLab’s national OMERO service – a tool to bridge the gap between data producers and methods developers by enabling collaborative access to (bio)imaging data sets. Built on the globally recognized, open-source, data management platform OMERO1 for the visualization, management, and sharing of biological microscopy images, SciLifeLab OMERO will offer active data storage connected to HPC resources.Workshop Organizer: Sonja Mathias, Research Software Engineer & Project Lead at SciLifeLab Data Centre
“The Data of Circularity: Governing AI, Transparency, and Compliance in the Digital Product Passport (DPP)”As the EU introduces the Digital Product Passport (DPP), this interactive workshop explores how product data can enable genuine circularity—beyond data-driven greenwashing—across production, post-production, and market use. Bringing together perspectives from AI, cybersecurity, governance, and sustainable branding, the workshop explores the technical and organizational challenges in building trustworthy, transparent, and compliant product data systems.Workshop Organizer: Selcen Ozturkcan, Associate Professor of Business Administration, Linnaeus University

Parallel Workshops, Session 3
“What do I need for successful interdisciplinary research? Education as a collaborative exercise”In this interactive workshop we will discuss what makes successful interdisciplinary research, including trust and leadership, fostering an environment where mistakes can be made, and creating a shared working language. Interdisciplinary groups will then create a mock educational experience on a challenging topic to explore how interdisciplinary collaboration in education can prepare young researchers to face global challenges.Workshop Organizer: Kristen Schroeder, Scientific Training Officer, SciLifeLab
“Uses and understandings of synthetic data in DDLS domains – a conversation about generation methods and use cases across DDLS, WASP & WASP-HS”Synthetic data can mean widely varying things, which makes defining and evaluating it difficult. Likewise, it sometimes misaligns with other values, like objectivity, reproducibility and transparency. This workshop will discuss what synthetic data is, why it is useful, and what it does to the science it becomes embedded in. We will engage in hands-on, analogue activities to facilitate collaborative discussion.Workshop Organizer: Ericka Johnson, Professor in Gender and Society, Linköping University
“The Art of Human-AI Collaboration and Teaming Research”The art of Human-AI Teaming research is discovering and addressing the complications that matter, which unfold in real practice. New theory, tools and methods are required to capture the rich multi-agent setting including humans. The workshop is an excellent opportunity to expand on this research as a joint effort across expertise in the broad communities of WASP and WASP-HS.Workshop organizer: Helena Lindgren, Co-Director WASP-HS, Professor in Computer Science, Umeå University
“What Is Adaptation? Bridging Life Sciences, Neuro-AI, and Machine Psychology”Adaptation is central in biology, neuroscience, psychology, and AI – but often means different things. In this workshop, we compare key definitions and methods, from behavioral change to predictive learning and algorithmic information dynamics. Participants will map shared questions, clarify key research gaps, and identify promising cross-disciplinary directions at the intersection of society, life sciences, and technology.Workshop Organizer: Robert Johansson, Associate Professor, Stockholm University

“Bridge between Industry and Academia”The workshop aims to give an introduction to WASP Research Arenas (WARA). Especially for researchers within DDLS and WASP-HS that might not be aware of the WARA. WARA act as a bridge between research and industry and offer increased research impact and potential for industrially significant breakthroughs. A unique opportunity to validate and refine scientific theories in real-world settings that are relevant to industries.Workshop Organizer: Ola Engkvist, Project Leader WARA Medicine, Adj. member AMG, Executive Director, Head of Molecular AI, Discovery Sciences, R&D, AstraZeneca

Testa Center Demo Day
– Exploring Digital Innovation in Modern Bioproduction
If you’re already in Uppsala for the conference, don’t miss the chance to start your visit with Testa Center’s Demo Day on May 6. This hands‑on event offers researchers a close look at how digital technologies are reshaping modern bioproduction.When: May 6Where: Testa Center, Danmarksgatan 11, 75323 UppsalaRead more and register

Background
Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP), the SciLifeLab and Wallenberg National Program for Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS), and Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society (WASP-HS) are collaborating through joint research projects and events with the ultimate goal of solving ground-breaking research questions across disciplines.

The Impact of AI on White Collar Work
2026-06-10 12:00 - 2026-06-11 13:00 | Katrinelunds Gästgiveri & Sjökrog
Please note that this event is independently organized by WASP-HS researchers and not the WASP-HS Program Office.

This is the fourth interdisciplinary conference about the use of artificial intelligence in white collar work and implications for the labour market. White collar work is increasingly important in employment. Meanwhile, it performs a number of tasks that are susceptible to AI-induced automation. At the conference, researchers will present their current research. We welcome researchers in economics, computer-science, informatics, statistics, management, law, sociology, and other related fields. To benefit the research presented, we aim for an active and close interaction between participants, akin to a workshop.

Read more and register

AI, Structural Change and the Future of Work

The conference is partly hosted by the WASP-HS research environment AI, Structural Change and the Future of Work.

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Human Futures, Machine Pasts: Rethinking AI through Cultural Memory and Imagination
2026-06-27 10:15
Together with The Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS), WASP-HS is hosting an international series of symposium “Human Futures – AI Transisions in a Global Context” carried out with Tokyo College (Japan) and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS, South Africa). Running from 2026 to 2027, the program brings together scholars from a range of disciplines to examine the broader transformations associated with the rapid development and deployment of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems across different global contexts.
As part of this series we are welcoming you to the open lecture “Human Futures, Machine Pasts: Rethinking AI through Cultural Memory and Imagination” on May 27, 2026. Keynote speaker is Anna Foka, Professor of Digital Humanities, Uppsala University

Abstract
The opening keynote explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping not only the way societies imagine the future but also how we understand the past and define humanity itself. Drawing from cultural heritage, digital humanities, and critical AI studies, it argues that the technologies driving automation and prediction are deeply entangled with inherited cultural narratives, biases, and epistemologies. By tracing the historical continuities between past imaginaries of intelligence and today’s algorithmic systems, the lecture highlights the need for interdisciplinary approaches that foreground ethics, creativity, and global diversity. Ultimately, it asks how the humanities can help us reclaim agency and meaning in an increasingly automated world—turning AI from an object of control into a shared space of interpretation and reflection.
Registration
Pre-registration for the physical event (not Zoom) is required by 25 May 2026 at the latest.

Registrer

Anna Foka

Professor of Digital Humanities, Uppsala University

About Anna Foka
Anna Foka is Professor of Digital Humanities at Uppsala University and research leader och the WASP-HS research environments AI Futures of Culture and Memory. She is National Mentor for AI in the Swedish South Korea Collaboration in the Research and Innovation Programme (SKERIC). Foka’s work focuses on the cultural and ethical dimensions of artificial intelligence, digital heritage, and interdisciplinary methods across the humanities and technology. She has published widely on digital transformation in museums, archives, and cultural institutions, and currently leads several international projects on AI, sustainability, and cultural knowledge infrastructures. Her latest books are AI and Image (Cambridge University Press) and Evolving Perspectives in Digital Classics (Routledge).

WASP-HS Summer School 2026 — Algorithmic Power and Discourse: AI, Politics, and the Production of Meaning
2026-08-17 13:00 - 2026-08-21 12:00
Photo: Mattias Pettersson
Welcome to the WASP-HS Summer School 2026 where we will explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping power, politics, and the production of meaning in contemporary society. This year, the summer school is hosted by the WASP-HS research environment AI, Power and Politics and the DIGSUM Centre for Digital Social Research at Umeå Universiy.
Artificial intelligence is not only a technological development but a transformative force in how knowledge is produced, circulated, and legitimised. From algorithmic decision-making to generative AI, these systems increasingly shape public discourse, political processes, and societal governance. This raises fundamental questions about power, authority, and the conditions under which truth and meaning are constructed.
This summer school creates a forum for WASP-HS PhD students where they can engage critically with these developments. Participants will explore how AI systems operate as infrastructures of power and as “discourse machines” that influence how societies understand themselves, their pasts, and their futures.
The program brings together theoretical perspectives from the humanities and social sciences to examine how artificial intelligence reshapes power, politics, and societal meaning-making. Through lectures, workshops, and collaborative discussions, participants will take a critical perspective on AI as a socio-political force, exploring its implications for knowledge, governance, and public life.

Thematic Areas
The thematic areas covered during the summer school are:
– Algorithmic power and political economyAI as infrastructure of control, dependency, and profit
– Discourse, knowledge and meaning-makingAI systems as producers and mediators of knowledge and truth
– Platforms, disinformation and information environmentsAlgorithmic amplification, generative AI, and the dynamics of public discourse
– Governance, legitimacy and regulationDemocratic challenges in AI-driven decision-making

Learning Outcomes
Throughout the summer school, participants will:
– Develop a nuanced understanding of artificial intelligence as a socio-political force shaping contemporary societies
– Critically examine how AI systems influence discourse, knowledge production, and relations of power
– Strengthen their ability to engage in and contribute to interdisciplinary dialogue across fields
– Build lasting academic networks within the WASP-HS community

Program
TBD
Registration
TBD
AI, Power and Politics
Want to know more about the WASP-HS research environment AI, Power and Politics?

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Workshop: The Politics of Models – Bias, Representation & Transparency in Generative Models
2026-08-25 - 2026-08-27 | Rånäs slott, Rånäs Slott 762 96, 762 96, Sweden
Generative models can capture an abstract representation of various modalities such as sound, images, video, text, and data. These models are now globally utilized for knowledge and content organization and synthesis. The generative AI models are integrated rapidly into research, industry, culture, and the public sectors; where the accelerated growth hinders the considerations into societal implications of these rapid advancements. These models are new forms of knowledge representation, in which the technical choices such as applied ontology or categorizations as well as the data sources and gathering processes, influence, imply, and afford new forms of power and control on representation, history, culture, and knowledge associations. Addressing these issues requires both technical advancement and research as well as societal grounding, awareness in positionality, and critical engagements. This workshop creates a shared space for WASP and WASP-HS researchers with the goal to build interdisciplinary research directions to influence a better and healthier societal integration of generative AI.
Topics
Representation & BiasAnalysis of representation and bias in generative models across modalities – sound, images, video, text, and data.
Power & ControlUnderstanding the new forms of power and control enabled through generative AI over representation, history, and culture.
Transparency & AccountabilityBuilding frameworks for transparent and accountable deployment of generative models in research and society.
Societal AlignmentAligning technical solutions with societal expectations, needs, and values for a healthier integration of AI.

Schedule

August 25: Arrival & Opening
Welcome lunch, introductory sessions, and evening reception at Rånäs Slott. From lunch onwards

August 26: Full Day of Sessions
Keynotes, interdisciplinary panels, collaborative workshops, and research discussions. Full day

August 27: Closing & Departure
Final sessions, synthesis of ideas, future directions, and farewell lunch. Ends with lunch

Expression of interest
Apply by April 17 to secure your spot. This workshop is open to researchers from both WASP and WASP-HS communities interested in the intersection of generative AI and societal implications.
Spots are limited to 20 participants so make sure to fill in the Expression of Interest-form to get a chance to attend. Apply here.

Organizers

Kivanç Tatar, Chalmers University of TechnologyKathlén Kohn, KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyMd Fahim Sikder, Linköping UniversityFrancis Lee, Södertörn UniversityBodil Formark, Södertörn University

Workshop: Theorizing AI and Society in the Nordics
2026-09-28 - 2026-09-30 | Sandhamn, Stockholm, Sandhamn, 130 39 Sandön, Stockholm, Sweden
Theorizing AI and Society in the Nordics
Artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be everywhere: in welfare offices and hospital wards, scientific laboratories and school classrooms, customer service chatbots and administrative documentation systems. Hardly a day goes by without new claims being made about AI’s transformative or disruptive powers, accompanied by promises of efficiency, insight, and radical institutional change. In this workshop, we want to examine the hype, practices, and politics of “AI” in the context of Nordic societies.
With highly digitalized societies and citizens, digital public sectors, extensive population registers, and long traditions of automation and data-driven governance, Nordic societies have lived with digital and automated systems for decades. Yet AI appears to extend these dynamics by entering the communicative and epistemic core of institutions: analyzing, classifying, writing, advising, summarizing, and interacting across knowledge making practices, from the lab to the welfare office. Following this, we would like to discuss how AI systems reshape knowledge practices and institutions, and what the implications might be for how we theorize AI in society.
Workshop themes
New objects of knowledgeEmerging AI infrastructures do not only detect patterns in data. They also produce new objects of knowledge and intervention through texts, summaries, explanations, simulations, and other outputs. In scientific and institutional settings, these systems can shape the very objects and descriptions through which the world is understood. This raises broader questions about what AI brings into being in data-intensive Nordic societies.
Classification and valuationWhen computational systems enter knowledge-making and institutional practice, the boundaries of categories begin to shift. People, groups, and objects may be ranked, scored, grouped, and made visible in new ways, creating new hierarchies and forms of valuation. By producing classifications, recommendations, summaries, and evaluations in natural language, these systems may further stabilize and intensify such processes. The workshop therefore asks how AI reshapes both what is classified and valued, and how this is done.
Knowledge practices and institutionsAs AI becomes embedded across organizations and institutions, it changes how knowledge is produced, validated, and circulated. Systems that analyze data, draft reports, respond to citizens, or assist professional reasoning affect how expertise is organized and articulated in practice. In this way, AI enters the communicative and epistemic core of institutions rather than remaining a peripheral technical tool. This opens up broader questions about how societies come to know themselves and the world through computational infrastructures.
Workshop focus
Drawing on Science and Technology Studies and Organization Studies, this workshop brings together researchers across the Nordic countries to examine what predictive and generative AI are actually doing to institutions, knowledge practices, professional work, state–citizen relations, and collective futures. We are particularly interested in empirically grounded work dealing with knowledge making practices in diverse domains. Empirical examples may include policing, welfare services, healthcare, education, and science. Rather than treating AI as a stable or finished technological object, the workshop asks how these systems are enacted in practice and what this implies for how we can theorize AI in society.
Organizers
Prof. Francis Lee, Södertorn UniversityProf. Helene Friis Ratner, Technical University of Denmark
Funded by WASH-SH, Algorithms, Data & Democracy Project (ADD) – VELUX Foundations.

WASP-HS & DDLS: Interdisciplinary Workshop
2026-10-12 - 2026-10-14 | Sigtunastiftelsen, Manfred Björkquists allé 4, Sigtuna, 193 31
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