Automating Welfare: Policy Implications of AI in the Digital Welfare States

We invite researchers, policy practitioners and all persons interested in datafication and automation of welfare to participate in the conference “Automating Welfare Policy Implications of AI in the Digital Welfare States”. The conference is organised by the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of Polish Academy of Sciences (IFiS PAN) and Södertörn University within AUTO-WELF project.

The conference is held at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw (Staszic Palace, Nowy Świat 72) on 10.04.2025. Deadline for registration is March 28th, 2025. Early registration is encouraged due to the limited number of seats. The conference is held in English. The attendance is free of charge.

The conference has two major aims. Firstly, to disseminate research findings of AUTO-WELF project. Secondly, to develop consistent strategies to communicate policy relevant implications. The conference will gather scholars, data activists and policy practitioners from different European institutions including DataEthics, AlgorithmWatch and Panoptykon Foundation.

The programme of the conference combines public keynotes and conference panels. The keynotes will be delivered by Prof. Joanna Redden from the University of Western Ontario in Canada and Gry Hasselbalch, PhD, from the DataEthics organisation.

The AUTO-WELF project investigates the extensive implementation of automated decision-making (ADM) in the welfare sector across Europe. It is the first project to provide an analysis of automated welfare provision across different European countries: Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Estonia, Poland, Denmark and Sweden. It examines the implications of algorithms and artificial intelligence for the future of European citizens and societies. Data-based infrastructures for public administration are shaping not only welfare provision, but also state-citizen relations, raising questions of human agency in relation to complex socio-technical systems, ethics and accountability, as well as biases and inequalities.

Organising Committee:

Karolina Sztandar-Sztanderska (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of Polish Academy of Sciences)
Anne Kaun (Södertörn University)
Stine Lomborg (University of Copenhagen)
Sebastian Sosnowski (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of Polish Academy of Sciences)
Monika Berdys (University of Warsaw, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of Polish Academy of Sciences)

Programme