Innovative methods for critical studies of emerging technologies: a workshop for mid-stage PhD candidates

Expressions of interest due by 15 July 2022

To be held in-person, at the Australian National University (ANU), this workshop is open to PhD candidates at ANU and beyond whose research subject is an emerging technology (interpreted broadly), and whose research methods involve some form of innovation (also interpreted broadly). The workshop is a collaborative, student-led project, generously supported by the Humanising Machine Intelligence project and the School of Cybernetics at ANU.  

Emerging technologies, particularly those falling under the often overlapping umbrella labels of Artificial Intelligence, automated decision-making, and Machine Learning, present unique challenges for researchers interested in the critical study of technology. The challenges can be expressed as a series of contradictions that these technologies appear to embody: nascent, in terms of their technological trajectory, yet already ubiquitous in contemporary society; decentralised, in terms of their availability and technical structures, yet often centralised in their corporate origins and control; immaterial, in terms of their local physical form, yet material in their re-configuring of local relations and power structures; incomplete, in terms of their current capabilities, yet fully specified, in terms of their future capabilities. Consequently, as objects of study, emerging technologies and their social relations can prove difficult to bound, transgressing disciplinary divides and sometimes frustrating established research methods. To meet these challenges, researchers interested in the critical study of technology are increasingly adapting existing research methodologies, and developing new methods for the collection and analysis of data about emerging technologies. 

This workshop will provide a unique space for PhD candidates from any discipline who are focused on the socio-cultural impacts of emerging technologies, and who are engaged in the project of expanding qualitative, quantitative, or mixed research methods for studying emerging technologies to share their research designs, receive constructive feedback from peers and experienced researchers, and develop academic networks. To be held over two days, in-person in September 2022, the workshop will bring together 8-16 mid-stage PhD candidates with experienced researchers from across the Science and Technology Studies, Human-Computer Interaction, Media Studies, Legal Studies, Public Policy, Philosophy and Computer Science fields. PhD candidates will be invited to present their research designs, and to participate in structured peer clinics for constructive feedback. The primary aim will be to support PhD candidates, whose research projects entail innovations in approaches to research design to refine and improve their plans for data collection and analysis, theory development, and publication. In doing so, a secondary aim will be to incubate new collaborations between PhD candidates working across fields and academic institutions. Currently, the workshop is envisioned as a one-off event. 

To express your interest in participating in the workshop, please complete this form. Expressions of interest are due by Friday, 15 July 2022, and will be responded to on a rolling basis. 

For further information or to discuss whether your research may be relevant to the workshop, please contact the workshop convenors: Glen Berman, Linda Przhedetsky, and Lorenn Ruster.