DES Sandpit A: Working and Learning in Data-Empowered Societies

Please note: This event is for UCL Staff only - when registering, use your UCL email address.

What to expect

• A half day of collaborative idea-sharing and innovation around one of the 'data empowered societies' key themes.

• Networking with colleagues and the Grand Challenges team, including DES academic leads Professor James Hetherington and Professor Allison Littlejohn.

• A drinks reception (17:00 to 18:00) in Sidara's Sky Garden, a landscaped roof terrace with spectacular views over the city.

What is the goal of the sandpit?

This event will provide a forum for discussion and collaboration, creating an environment for a cross-disciplinary group of academics and practitioners to come together to foster innovation and creativity in research design.

This approach mirrors a core value of the Grand Challenge programme, the ethos of supporting and promoting challenge-led research that is innovative, interdisciplinary, bold and societally impactful.

About 'Working and Learning in Data Empowered Societies'

Data, algorithms and digital machines are transforming the ways we work and learn. However, technical innovation can occur without careful evaluation of social impacts. Workplaces and places of learning are transforming in ways that change the relationships of humans with data and machines as well as humans with humans.

These systemic changes and their impact on humans, groups and societies may not be acknowledged or considered. An important question is how can work and learning be transformed in ways that consider unseen societal changes, rather than focusing on technology or being data-driven?

For more detail on what this theme involves, have a look at this article written by the DES academic leads (Professor James Hetherington and Professor Allison Littlejohn).

We would like to encourage UCL colleagues interested in building collaborations and projects around this theme to attend this sandpit.

Funding opportunities

Following this sandpit, and two other sandpits to explore the other DES sub-themes (Data and social change and Knowing and deciding with data), we will be announcing details of a Grand Challenges pump-priming funding call. Project ideas and collaborations forged through this sandpit will be very well-placed to develop proposals to bid for this funding. Please note: to ensure a fair application process, funding offers will not be made at the sandpit.

Any questions?

Please contact Max Gillingham (max.gillingham@ucl.ac.uk) if you would like any further information.