Dr Mwenza Blell is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology , Newcastle University, specializing in biosocial medical anthropology . Her work bridges qualitative and quantitative methodologies, focusing on health, reproduction, and technology across the UK, Nordic regions, Latin America, South Asia, and East Africa. Affiliation : Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Center Methodological Expertise : Ethnography, Mixed Methods, Black Feminist Approaches, Collaborative Interdisciplinary Research Mwenza's research interrogates reproductive justice and invisible structures of injustice through in-depth ethnography and cross-cultural analysis. She leads projects funded by the Kone Foundation , Economic and Social Research Council , and Open Society Foundation , including studies on AI ethics, police custody healthcare, and postgraduate equity networks. Her recent scholarship explores intersectionality in academia , racism in Nordic welfare states , and AI's impact on identity . She advocates for engaged genomic science and participatory frameworks in translational research. Scientific Awards : NUAct Fellow Researcher Education and Development Fellow
Brandon L Garrett is the David W. Ichel Distinguished Professor of Law at Duke Law School and Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy . He directs the Wilson Center for Science and Justice and co-directs CSAFE (Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence). Garrett holds a J.D. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Yale University. Education : J.D. (Columbia, 2001), B.A. (Yale, 1997) His research spans criminal justice reform , forensic science , constitutional rights , AI in legal systems , and eyewitness evidence . He has authored six books, including Convicting the Innocent (Harvard, 2011) and Autopsy of a Crime Lab (UC Press, 2021), both widely cited in legal and scientific circles. Garrett's scientific awards include the Atlantic Best Book about Justice (2012) and co-winner of the Constitution Project Award (2011). His grants focus on criminal justice data projects, including the Wilson Center for Science and Justice (2022-2026) and ShotSpotter Technology Evaluation (2025). He teaches courses on Forensic Evidence , Evidence Law , and AI in Criminal Justice . Garrett serves as a court-appointed monitor in Odell v. Harris County , driving bail reform initiatives.
Thomas Leavitt is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Affairs at Baruch College's Marxe School of Public and International Affairs. His research bridges causal inference, Bayesian statistics, and design-based methodologies, with applications to racial/ethnic politics and comparative policy analysis in the U.S. and South Africa. Ph.D., Political Science, Columbia University M.Phil., Political Science, Columbia University M.A., Political Science, Columbia University M.A., Committee on International Relations, University of Chicago B.A., Political Science, DePauw University His work focuses on developing robust statistical frameworks for causal analysis, including averaged prediction models for pre-post policy evaluation, sensitivity analysis for racial disparity studies, and randomization-based Bayesian inference. He investigates methodological challenges in audit experiments, observational studies, and proprietary data's impact on meta-analysis. Recent publications include advancements in difference-in-differences methodology, causal mediation analysis, and algorithmic auditing techniques. His research integrates design-based rigor with Bayesian flexibility to address counterfactual assumptions and model uncertainty. Leavitt leads courses in advanced quantitative methods, causal analysis, and data-driven policy evaluation at both graduate and undergraduate levels, emphasizing practical applications for public service.
Helene Oppen Ingebrigtsen Gundhus serves as Head of Department at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo, while maintaining a part-time professorship in police science at the Norwegian Police Academy (PHS). Her influential research examines the transformation of policing practices in the digital age, with particular expertise in migration control, predictive policing, and the sociological dimensions of security governance. Dr. Gundhus earned her PhD in criminology from the University of Oslo in 2006. From 2006 to 2016, she was employed at the Norwegian Police Academy's research department, where she was appointed professor of police science in 2013. Her academic journey reflects a deep engagement with both theoretical criminology and practical police science. Her research interests span policing and globalization, police-society relations, security and social control, crime prevention, and the intersection of knowledge, technology, and policing practices. Employing qualitative methods including discourse analysis and ethnography, she critically examines how digital technologies transform police work, particularly focusing on predictive policing, data-driven intelligence, and the impact of platformization on law enforcement. Her work reveals how risk assessment tools reshape migration control and contribute to the criminalization of vulnerable populations, with significant contributions to the field of 'crimmigration' studies. Analysis of her recent publications reveals a sophisticated examination of digital transformation in policing, with particular attention to algorithmic governance, platformization of police work, and the cultural dimensions of intelligence-led policing. Her research increasingly investigates how data integration platforms like Palantir are adopted (or resisted) in Scandinavian policing contexts, exploring the tension between data-driven approaches and traditional police cultures in societies characterized by high public trust. Radzinowicz Prize 2015 for the article "Policing Humanitarian Borderlands: Frontex, Human Rights and the Precariousness of Life" (co-authored with Professor Katja Franko) Dr. Gundhus supervises numerous master's students in criminology and currently mentors five PhD students. She has led significant research projects including the evaluation of the Coordination of Crime Prevention Measures (SLT), and serves as national team leader for comparative research projects such as 'Policing Streets of Europe' and 'Social Crime Prevention in Late Modern Europe.' Her current projects include 'Algorithmic Governance and Cultures of Policing,' 'Critical Understanding of Predictive Policing,' and 'Getting to the Core of Crimmigration.' She is actively involved in multiple research groups including the Police Intelligence group at PHS, the Law and Technology research group at the University of Oslo, and the Nordic Police Research Network. Her scholarly contributions extend to editorial roles with the European Journal of Policing Studies and leadership positions within the European Society of Criminology's Working Group on policing and Border Criminologies.
José van Dijck is a Distinguished University Professor of Media and Digital Society at Utrecht University's Faculty of Humanities, Department of Media and Performance Studies. She obtained her PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of California, San Diego (1992) after graduating from Utrecht University (1985). Previously, she served as Dean of Humanities at the University of Amsterdam (2008-2012) and President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW, 2015-2018). Her research critically examines the impact of digital platforms, algorithms, and datafication on public values, democracy, and societal structures. Key research domains include platform governance, digital education infrastructures, AI ethics, and the preservation of public values in connective technologies. Her conceptualization of the 'Platform Society' has become foundational in media studies. Major scientific awards include the Spinoza Prize (2021), the C.Edward Baker Award for lifetime achievements from the International Communication Association, and honorary doctorates from Lund University (2019) and University of Oslo (2024). She leads Utrecht University's focus area Governing the Digital Society , developing tools like the Ethical Data Assistant (DEDA) for public institutions. She advises governments on digital policy (e.g., COVID-19 apps) and contributes to initiatives like PublicSpaces coalition. Her research has been supported through the Spinoza Prize grant (€2.5M) focusing on public digital infrastructures. Van Dijck directs research on platformization in education, data governance, and AI. She collaborates with Utrecht Data School and coordinates international projects like PERITIA on trust in expertise. Her work bridges humanities, law, public administration, and computer science.
Sharath Chandra Guntuku is an Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in multimodal machine learning and public health informatics. His work bridges natural language processing, clinical data analysis, and social media mining to address health challenges through AI. Current research focuses on healthcare AI applications Develops cross-cultural NLP models Uses social media for public health surveillance His recent publications highlight three key research streams: (1) medical imaging and clinical AI systems for glioblastoma analysis, (2) cross-cultural studies of mental health expressions through social media platforms, and (3) development of conversational agents for public health interventions. The work spans technical innovation in multimodal fusion techniques, ethical considerations in algorithmic fairness, and application of transformer architectures to health domains. Publications from 2023-2025 demonstrate methodological advancements in graph neural networks for crime prediction, cultural heritage analysis through historical language patterns, and real-time health surveillance systems using social media discourse. Key application areas include vaccine hesitancy monitoring, mental health chatbots, and healthcare facility evaluation.
Brennan Klein is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Physics at Northeastern University, with dual affiliations at the Network Science Institute and the Institute for Experiential AI. He concurrently serves as Data for Justice Fellow at Harvard University's Institute on Policing, Incarceration, and Public Safety within the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. As director of the Complexity & Society Lab (&-Lab), he leads interdisciplinary research bridging network science, complex systems theory, and social justice applications. Education: PhD in Network Science, Northeastern University (2020) BA in Cognitive Science & Psychology, Swarthmore College (2014) Dr. Klein's research program integrates two complementary strands: developing theoretical frameworks for characterizing dynamics, structure, and scale in complex networks, and applying these tools to analyze systemic inequalities in public health and criminal justice systems. His work combines information theory, Bayesian inference, and network science to uncover emergent mechanisms driving social phenomena while developing practical interventions for more equitable systems. Analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong trajectory connecting fundamental network theory with real-world societal challenges. His work spans sports analytics, pandemic response modeling, criminal justice reform, and consciousness studies, demonstrating both methodological innovation and practical impact across diverse domains. The publications consistently feature interdisciplinary collaboration and emphasize both theoretical advancement and social application. Scientific Recognition: Best paper award for 'Spin glass systems as collective active inference' (2023) Dr. Klein actively mentors PhD students and postdoctoral researchers through the Complexity & Society Lab, fostering collaborations across physics, data science, sociology, and public policy. His research has secured funding for projects addressing criminal justice reform, public health infrastructure, and sports analytics applications, demonstrating the practical relevance of his theoretical work. The Complexity & Society Lab operates at the intersection of theoretical network science and social impact, with current projects examining urban infrastructure networks, criminal justice disparities, sports performance analytics, and neural network structures. This integrative approach reflects Dr. Klein's commitment to advancing both scientific understanding and social progress through network science.
Ryan Jenkins is an Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, and a Senior Fellow at the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group. Specializing in applied ethics (particularly military ethics and emerging technologies) and normative ethics (especially consequentialism), his work bridges classical philosophical frameworks with modern technological challenges. His recent research focuses on ethical integration of AI in policing, warfare, and digital platforms, with an emphasis on value-sensitive design and moral deliberation in autonomous systems. Articles like Threads and Needles (2025) and Autonomous Weapons Systems (2020) exemplify his cross-disciplinary approach combining ethics, technology, and policy. As Principal Investigator for the NSF-funded project Artificial Intelligence and Predictive Policing (2019–2022), Jenkins has led initiatives addressing ethical AI deployment. His teaching portfolio spans existentialism, environmental ethics, and philosophy of technology, reflecting his broad engagement with ethical questions in science and society.
Hannah Walker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin's College of Liberal Arts. She also serves as Director of Research for The Initiative for Law, Societies, and Justice, focusing on intersections between criminal justice, political participation, and policy feedback. Her teaching includes courses like Issues & Policies in American Government , Race/Crime Justice/Civil Rights , and The Politics of Immigration . Research Interests: Walker investigates racialized policy feedback, voter registration dynamics for returning citizens, immigration enforcement consequences, and police behavior reform. Her work connects institutional practices to marginalized communities' political engagement, emphasizing spatial inequalities and carceral state impacts. Recent Publications highlight criminal justice reform, voting rights, and immigration policy. Topics span from post-incarceration voter mobilization and racialized policing to social media-driven policy attitudes and spatial inequality in policing. These works often employ field experiments and mixed-method analyses. Academic Leadership: Walker contributes to the Initiative for Law, Societies, and Justice, bridging legal studies with social justice frameworks. Her teaching emphasizes American governance structures, racial disparities in criminal justice, and immigration politics.
Kathleen Griesbach is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin's College of Liberal Arts. Her research intersects sociology, labor studies, and migration studies, focusing on precarious work, gig economy dynamics, and immigration enforcement. She teaches courses including 'Tech Identity And Work' and 'Intro To The Study Of Society.' Education: Ph.D. from Columbia University Research Themes: Explores algorithmic control in platform labor, spatial inequality in migrant work, and subnational immigration politics. Key Publications: Analyze gig economy labor precarity, border policing, and migrant worker conventions.
Björn Karlsson is a researcher at the IT University of Copenhagen within the Technologies in Practice department. His work focuses on the intersection of technology, policing, and governance. Active in Predictive Policing and Science and Technology Studies Key researcher in the POL-INTEL project examining police digitalization Collaborator in CUPP and UNDO research initiatives Research interests involve Ontology , Epistemology , and Philosophy of Science applied to digital policing systems. Recent publications analyze Palantir software, Police Power , and Privacy Protection in Nordic contexts. Contributions include: 2025: Scientification through privatization: POL-INTEL in Denmark 2025: The Digital Leviathan: Prediction, Politics and Police Power 2024: Ontological politics in the Danish police’s POL-INTEL
Emmanuel Didier is a Research Professor at the École Normale Supérieure and a permanent researcher at the Maurice Halbwachs Center (CMH), a CNRS-affiliated laboratory. He holds a Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches from École Normale Supérieure (2018) and a PhD in Socio-Economy of Innovation from Mines ParisTech (2000). His academic career spans roles at institutions like UCLA, Goldsmiths University of London, and Columbia University, with current teaching at ENS/EHESS/Paris School of Economics. Roles: Director of the Doctor-Humanity program (since 2020), Editor-in-Chief of Statistics and Society, Associate Professor at PSL, member of the French Council for Scientific Integrity (COFIS), and the National Consultative Committee on Digital Ethics. Research: He specializes in the sociology of quantification, digital ethics, and the political implications of statistics. His work bridges historical analysis with contemporary data science, examining how numbers shape governance, public policies, and societal debates, especially in policing, health, and economic contexts.
Dr. Elisa Orrù ist Senior Researcher am Max-Planck-Institut für die Erforschung von Kriminalität, Sicherheit und Recht in Freiburg und leitet dortige Teilprojekte im Horizon Europe-Projekt VIGILANT sowie das BMBF-Projekt Freiburg-RESIST . Sie verfügt über eine Habilitation in Philosophie (2020) an der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg mit der venia legendi in Philosophie. Universität Mailand (Philosophie, 2004, 110/110 cum laude) Universität Pisa (Rechtswissenschaft, Promotion 2008) Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte umfassen die Legitimität rechtlich-politischer Systeme , Datenschutz und Privatheit , Sicherheitspolitik , menschliche Autonomie , Gleichheit und Differenz sowie Ethik der Künstlichen Intelligenz . Zentrale Projekte betreffen digitale Überwachung, algorithmische Sicherheitskonzepte und ethische Implikationen von EU-Richtlinien zu Passagierdaten. Ihre wissenschaftlichen Auszeichnungen umfassen die Finalistin des Maria-Grafin-von-Linden-Preises (2021) und mehrere Forschungsstipendien. Sie ist Mitglied in diversen Gremien wie der Società Italiana di Filosofia Politica und im Editorial Board von Jura Gentium . Orrù ist als Gutachterin für DFG, EU-Kommission und internationale Verlage aktiv. Ihre Publikationen analysieren algorithmische Sicherheitspolitik, Small Data für Nachhaltigkeit, ethische Prinzipien für emergente Technologien und die philosophische Relevanz politischer Theaterschaffender wie Olympe de Gouges. Sie hat über 40 wissenschaftliche Arbeiten veröffentlicht und ist in interdisziplinären EU-Forschungsverbänden engagiert.
Marcus Mann is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Purdue University . He earned his Ph.D. from Duke University in 2019 and specializes in political sociology, sociology of knowledge, social movements, and computational methods. His research examines how knowledge is mediated through online platforms, employing digital trace data analysis and text mining. Education: Ph.D. in Sociology from Duke University Research Focus: Political polarization, digital culture, and knowledge authority Methods: Computational approaches, big data processing, and digital trace data analysis Contact: Room BRNG 1124, Phone (765) 494-3510, Email mannml@purdue.edu Mann’s publications in American Sociological Review , PNAS , and other journals reveal trends in digital political behavior, conspiracy narratives, and science communication. His work bridges traditional sociological theory with computational social science, analyzing polarization on platforms like Reddit and social media dynamics.
Sorelle Friedler is the Shibulal Family Professor of Computer Science at Haverford College and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution. She previously served as Assistant Director for Data and Democracy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, co-authoring the AI Bill of Rights and shaping federal AI policy. Her research focuses on fairness, accountability, and transparency in machine learning, with applications to social networks and materials discovery. She co-founded the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT). Education: Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of Maryland, College Park; B.A. from Swarthmore College Grants: NSF, DARPA, Mozilla, Knight News Challenge Her research bridges algorithmic fairness and societal impact, with work on Disparate impact in machine learning Responsible CS education Materials discovery via interpretable ML Social network fairness interventions Feedback loops in predictive policing Environmental accountability in ML Key article themes include network equity, fairness formalization, and ethical algorithm design. Scientific Awards: Data and Society Research Institute Fellow (2015-2016) She has advised grants totaling over $14 million and co-developed tools for automated experimentation and data management in chemistry. Her teaching includes courses in algorithms, machine learning, and responsible computing.
