Data Society

Our research

Digital technologies are increasingly present in everyday life, forming part of the way we live and experience the world. The need to understand digitalisation and datafication in ways that are not uniquely through a technological lens is growing.

The Data Society program consolidates and develops research that addresses the societal challenge of digitalisation across society. It is an interdisciplinary program that comprises researchers from social sciences, humanities and technology, as well as the arts and design.

We critically and constructively engage in and advance research on aspects of digitalisation and datafication, today and for the future. We engage in multidisciplinary studies that investigate how these processes play out in people’s everyday lives, in communities, and in private and public organisations and institutions, with an initial focus on digital culture, datafied health and digital civics.

Our research questions include:

How do processes of digitalisation appear and operate at different societal levels, causing different and sometimes conflicting expectations and experiences?

What digital methods can be developed to open up new fields of study and develop deeper understanding of how digital technologies operate to structure the world around them?

In what ways can our research build on as well as challenge existing solution-driven practices to how we create a sustainable digitalised society?

Our objectives:

• construct a cross-disciplinary theoretical trajectory that moves beyond disciplinary boundaries;
• advance and develop methodologies that bridge social sciences, humanities, and technological sciences; and
• explore and develop new forms of practice-based research and contact zones for collaboration.

Researchers, publications and projects

Data Society is an interdisciplinary programme that comprises researchers from a wide range of academic fields within social science, humanities, technology and the arts and design.

The Data Society Fellowship Program

The Data Society fellowship program is a short-stay guest research program. We have two kinds of fellowships: one junior and one senior fellowship. We expect our fellows to stay 2-4 weeks; however, other arrangements can be made depending on the proposed activities.

A senior fellow has a few years of experience in research and often holds a more senior position (in academia, this would probably most likely be an Associate Professor/Reader and up). You may also be a professional who works outside of academia (e.g. at a company, public authority or as an independent researcher or practitioner in a field relevant to DS research).

A junior fellow is likely a PhD student, a recent PhD or someone otherwise at the beginning of their research career, or a junior professional working outside academia with relevant Data Society research.