WASP-HS

PhD Defense: Mapping Small Water Channels Using Machine Learning
2025-12-05 08:30 - 12:00 (Europe/Stockholm)
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).

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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.

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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
Content is protected.

AI for Humanity and Society 2026
2026-11-10 12:00 - 2026-11-11 12:15
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Keynotes

Program

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Robots and Autonomous Systems in Everyday Life

How can we live amidst and with robots? How do they impact human work and our understanding of social relationships and societal values? Complex organizational work is needed to make robot fleets run smoothly and bring forward societal concerns about care, safety and responsibility. Join the WASP-HS conference AI for Humanity and Society 2026 themed “Robots and Autonomous Systems in Everyday Life”.
Robots and autonomous systems have left the laboratories and are now entering homes, schools, hospitals and public spaces. They are becoming part of everyday life. Being a material and mobile manifestation of artificial intelligence, robots raise new questions about autonomy and agency in relationships with individuals.
This year’s conference, Robots and Autonomous Systems in Everyday Life, will explore how individuals, organizations, and societies are impacted when robots enter our daily life, shedding light on how humans work to make autonomous systems at home in the world. WASP-HS welcomes researchers, industry leaders, policymakers, and civil society to come together to make sense of emerging developments and to discuss agendas for humane futures with autonomous systems and AI. Through panels, keynotes and an interactive reception, we will engage with topics such as coordination and interaction with robots as a form of embodied AI, robots in education, regulatory and policy issues related to autonomous systems, as well as the roles robots and autonomous systems may play in care and crisis.
The WASP-HS AI for Humanity and Society 2026 conference fosters human-centered perspectives on robots and autonomous systems, offering a space to examine emerging challenges and to jointly imagine possible futures — where robots and autonomous systems can foster human relationships, contribute to inclusive public spaces, and stimulate meaningful work. We warmly welcome you to join us in Linköping at Mjärdevi Science Park (Teknikringen 7) on November 10–11, 2026.

Keynotes

Steve Benford

Dunford Professor of Computer Science, University of Nottingham And UKRI Turing AI World Leading Research Fellow

Janet Vertesi

Associate Professor, Princeton University and Associate Director of the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education

Preliminary Conference Program

Tuesday, November 10
12:00 Registration opens
13:00–13:15 Welcome and introduction
13:15–14:00 Panel 1: Coordinating Human and Robot Bodies
14:15–15:00 Panel 2: Educational Robots and AI
15:00–15:30 Coffee Break
15:30–16:15 Opening Keynote: Steve Benford
16:30–18:30 Interactive Reception

Wednesday, November 11
08:30 Registration opens
09:00–9:15 Welcome and Opening
09:15–10:00 Panel 3: Policy and Regulation of Robots
10:00–10:15 Coffee Break
10:30–11.15 Panel 4: Robots and AI in Care and Crisis
11:15-12:00 Closing Keynote: Janet Vertesi
12:00-12:15 Closing and announcement of 2027 conference

Registration
Registration opens September 8.

Conference Chairs

Hannah Pelikan

Assistant Professor at Linköping University and a Pro Futura Scientia Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study.

Airi Lampinen

Associate Professor in Human–Computer Interaction at the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences at Stockholm University.
