About
Maria Hedlund is an Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Lund University. Her work bridges democratic theory, policy processes, and critical public administration, focusing on the intersection of expertise and democratic governance.
- Research Focus: Expert roles in policymaking, AI ethics, synthetic biology governance, and democratic justification of scientific influence.
- Teaching: Coordinated the social science AI in Society master's course.
- Networks: Active in AI Lund, an interdisciplinary network for AI research.
Key Research Areas include democratic theory, ethical implications of AI, science-policy interfaces, and critical management research. Her projects address challenges like the dilemma between democracy and expertise, responsible innovation in synthetic biology, and organizational adaptations in emerging technologies.
Recent Publications analyze AI responsibility distribution, ethical frameworks for robotics, and inclusion processes in mobility innovation. She contributes to debates on democratic oversight of expert committees and the role of ethics expertise in technology regulation.
- Scientific Awards: Recognized as Excellent Teacher Practitioner (ETP) in 2012.
- Grants: Funded by the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation (2019–2024) and K2 (2024).
- Collaborations: Interdisciplinary work with AI Lund, Synbio@Lund, and the Pufendorf IAS themes on Epigenetics and Synthetic Biology.
