On 7 and 8 April 2025, Data School is organizing the transdisciplinary conference Making a Difference. Societal Impact through Collaborative Research at De Zalen van Zeven (Boothstraat 7, Utrecht) for fostering long-term collaborative research partnerships between academia and the professional field. By facilitating dialogue and exchange, this workshop-driven conference provides a forum for exploring new ways of gaining insights into practice and generating practical recommendations for practice through collaborative research.
Programme
Monday (April 7th)
9.00: Walk-in with coffee
9.15: “Welcome: Collaborative Research in a Datafied Society” - Data School
9.45: “Performing Critical Data Studies from the Inside: Working with Government to Change Data Regimes” - Rob Kitchin
10.45: Break
11.15: Panel on Stage: Impact & Education
12.30: Lunch
13.30:
Policy-Making and Multi-Stakeholder Workshops
Beyond Superficial Impact Narratives
Team Science: How to Build and Run Transdisciplinary Research Teams
ESDiT: Co-creating Approaches to the Responsible Use of Emerging Disruptive Technologies
15.00: Break
15.15: Continued
16.45: Drinks
Tuesday (April 8th)
9.00: Walk-in with coffee
9.15: “Building Inclusive Tech with the Global South” - Payal Arora
10.15: “Collaborative Explorations as ‘Breathing Spaces for Digital Futures” - Minna Ruckenstein
11.15: Break
11.30: Panel on Stage: Measuring Impact
12.30: Lunch
13.30:
Gen(der)AI Safety
Enhancing Collaborative Research Through Design Thinking Methodologies
Advancing Recommender Systems through Academia-Industry Collaboration
Navigating AI Ethics in Media: A Hands-On Workshop with DEDA
15.00: Break
15.15: Continued
16.45: Drinks & Matchmaking Impact Projects
Location: De Zalen van Zeven, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Language: English
Aim
This conference seeks to connect academia and professional practice through joint engagement with urgent questions about technology within social- and organizational contexts. Rather than engaging in hype-driven discussions about “Big Data” and “AI”, our focus is on the concrete challenges posed by ongoing socio-technical changes in public administration and media organizations.
The conference will bring together experts in collaborative research from academia and various societal sectors. Participants will jointly engage with questions about creating or utilizing (novel) collaborative research methods, overcoming obstacles standing in the way of meaningful collaboration, identifying opportunities for synergy between organizations or research disciplines, and exploring future research directions pertaining to digital technology. The conference will focus on sharing expertise and perspectives regarding collaboration between academia and media industries and public management, with an emphasis on supporting responsible AI and data practices. By jointly tackling problems found in practice in a collaborative atmosphere, the aim is to inspire new partnerships and strengthen existing ones, and through those partnerships advance the current state of the respective fields.
This conference is organized by the Data School at Utrecht University.
You can find more information or register here!
Note: there is a limited number of available spots.
