School of Social and Political Science

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Charlotte Grøder: Organizing Visions for Responsible AI in the Context of Public Welfare
Abstract:  Visions about the future use of AI drive decisions around its design and implementation. Scandinavian governments encourage public organizations to experiment with AI-based initiatives in different public services. AI-infused systems can automate repetitive tasks, enhance efficiency, and elevate service quality. However, AI also has the potential to significantly disrupt how people work, posing challenges to its successful implementation. Projects tend to fail to move beyond the experimental phase due to a mismatch between initial visions and actual use. Turning the focus towards the early stages of technology planning can help avoid this issue. During these stages, a collective vision of the innovation is formed, shaping future technological design and implementation possibilities. I ask: How are AI-based technologies envisioned in the context of public welfare? The findings reveal several visions for AI in public services, with most AI projects initiated through a bottom-up approach. However, challenges related to the public sector’s own data and the lack of clarity around the legal aspects of AI development affect these visions, as well as the development and implementation of AI.

Mayline Strouk: Negotiating (im)mobility. Tracking technologies and the reconfiguration of fieldwork...at the puffin colony.
Abstract: In this presentation, I draw insights from two field visits in Iceland over June and August 2024 along with puffin researchers. I connect this experience on the "puffin rally" and the "puffling rescue" with one of my chapters on the development of technologies in ecology and how they reconfigure fieldwork. Indeed, the miniaturisation of tracking devices and the development of biologging bring about criticisms and fear over the loss of the ‘biological feel’ that researchers get from the field. In marine ornithology, such controversy not only interrogates the affective practices of fieldwork at the colony, but also the need to attend seabird colonies in the first place. Instead, I demonstrate that the development of tracking technologies is leading researchers to reinforce colony-based fieldwork as they reassert the affective dimension of what it means to be a marine ornithologist. Based on this experience in Iceland, I mobilise the concept of (im)mobility to show the reconfigurations in space and time of fieldwork along with the increasing use of animal-borne devices. I argue how we need not only to consider moments of movement in science but also what it takes to stay and return: thus, negotiate (im)mobility. I examine two modes of (im)mobilities that are central in the field: shared (im)mobilities with the birds, and fractionated (im)mobilities within the scientific community. As such the case of biologging in marine ornithology questions the dualism between the imaginary of attuned and embodied fieldwork and incentives for short and result-driven research.

Dr Morgan Currie: Data Benefits - a Study on Data Sharing for the Public Good
Abstract: Bank records. Medical records. Proof of identity. This is just some of the personal information a person needs to provide when applying for benefits or social security payments. But what happens to this data? Who has access to it? And how do we design systems that help support people who need it most? To answer these questions, our project includes insights from stakeholders involved in current data sharing activities in the UK and views and experiences of individuals who receive social security payments in Scotland. Findings of the study will be used to help support efforts towards social security reforms, including evaluation of the viability of offering a minimum income guarantee (MIG) to all Scottish citizens.