CDW Emerging Theme #1: ‘Global comparisons and collaborations in digital welfare’

Led by Associate Professor, Irina Papazu & Associate Professor, Cancan Wang

The digitalization of the Danish public sector is increasingly driven by international competition, as a number of countries are all striving to reach number one in international rankings. This has made ‘more’ digitalization a goal in itself, as Denmark is not willing to risk losing its international status as a digital frontrunner state. 

In this theme, we turn our critical, curious and empirically interested sensibilities toward investigating the implications of this global race, as we discuss both the risks and the innovation potential that may follow from these ambitions.

We are, further, interested in the intense work of knowledge sharing that is taking place across borders and between countries which we normally consider very different, and in investigating the dynamics and consequences of this sharing of 'best practices' in public digitalization across borders.

In this way, we are also interested in the changes in the meanings and institutions of digital welfare, as they evolve with global competition and collaboration on public digitalization.

CDW Emerging Theme #3: 'Digital Well-Being: Human-First vs. Digital-First’

Led by Associate Professor Louise Harder Fischer 

Perspectives from organizational settings: Under the sway of digital and generative technologies, the nature of work and jobs is changing rapidly. The overarching interest of this emergent theme is to understand how to promote well-being and quality of life as fundamental aspects in digitalization, as new technologies are transforming work, working lives and the society we live in.

In the thematic activities, we will aim to promote a deeper sociotechnical understanding of the interdependent relationship between humans and technology, to advance social needs by providing knowledge for developing and designing intelligent technologies that operate in harmony with human workers, and explore ways of mitigating potential risks, including inequalities, arising from working at the human-technology frontier.

We will convene in meetings and round-table sessions to conduct multi-disciplinary dialogue in collaboration with industry to sustain economic competitiveness, promote worker well-being and quality of life, and illuminate and problematize the emerging social and economic consequences of the technological innovations shaping the future of jobs and workplaces.

The research focus of this ‘emerging theme’ combines perspectives, methods, and knowledge from design, information systems, computer science, economics, and the social sciences in pursuit of a deeper understanding of how human needs can be met and values respected in the midst of a fundamental digital and societal transformation.

 

CDW Emerging Theme #4: 'Digitalization and/of Wellbeing’

Led by Postdoc Simy Kaur Gahoonia and Associate Professor Irina Papazu

In recent years, the alarm has sounded about a wellbeing crisis among Danish schoolchildren and youth. In Danish schools, digital apps for measuring, monitoring and intervening in students’ wellbeing are becoming commonplace. These apps digitally facilitate the continuous monitoring and discussion of wellbeing both in class and among professionals. The wellbeing of young people is also increasingly problematized in relation to digitalization more broadly.

This theme explores wellbeing as a digitally mediated phenomenon, and as a contested, relational, technical and affective phenomenon. We are for example interested in understanding the practices and implications of turning schoolchildren’s wellbeing into a daily, self-reported, datafied object for observation and intervention. While also opening up for critical exploration of the complex ways digital technologies intersect with and impact the wellbeing of youth in everyday life.

As such, the theme is a promising vector for impactful collaborations between academic researchers, the UC sector and professionals, who are working with digitalization of schools and youth, and the everyday lives that these transformations shape.