Sustainability - Digital transformations
Sustainable digital transformations
A project in the Interdisciplinary Sustainable Initiatives at NTNU
Call for applications: 6 PhD positions
Application deadline has expired.
About the project
Digital technologies are often hailed as enabling tools for sustainable transformations. Digital technologies can help save energy, connect people globally, and inform decisions through big data. While digital technologies have great potential, they are not neutral. In fact, the digital transformation of our societies might in many cases act as a roadblock for sustainable transformations. Examples of such roadblocks are abundant, and are given diverse names such as digital divide, digital inequality, algorithmic injustice, algorithmic bias, surveillance capitalism, digital Taylorism, and platform capitalism.
Digital transformation as a core phenomenon with its own agency, and its impact on the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of our societies, is seldom studied in the context of sustainability. This is the goal of our project. We have chosen three areas of technological development to study:
1) Digital platforms: Create efficiency using centralized, standardized, and scalable transaction systems. Reduce local democracy, power-sharing, and transparency.
2) Algorithmic governance: Create efficiency by automating processes and decisions. Reduce transparency and power-sharing. Potentially increase injustice.
3) Internet of things: Create innovative services through the collection of big data. Reduce privacy and increase vulnerability and surveillance.
Empirical data for the project will be generated from multiple real-world cases, mainly from healthcare, welfare services, and built environments. Our overarching research question is: What are the links between digital transformations and sustainable transformations and how do these links affect UN's 2030 agenda?
PhD Position in:
Sustainable digitalization of healthcare services (1)
Department of Computer Science
The candidate will study real-world cases from the Norwegian healthcare, with a focus on digitalization such as platforms and the use of algorithms and sensor data. The academic discipline for this position is computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) and information systems (IS). The main type of research is qualitative.
Application deadline has expired.
PhD Position in:
Sustainable digitalization of healthcare services (2)
HUNT Research Centre
Digital health services will change the roles of the actors in the health care system, both health professionals and patients. Previous research has shown that the digital world's entry into the health care system has created several challenges. How to use digital tools in health care is the question we raise.
Application deadline has expired.
PhD Position in:
Sustainable digitalization of welfare services (1)
Department of Computer Science
The candidate will study real-world cases from the Norwegian welfare sector, with a focus on digital transformation in welfare, municipality, and labour-related organizations. The academic disciplines are Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and Information Systems (IS). The research will be based on qualitative research strategies.
Application deadline has expired.
PhD Position in:
Sustainable digitalization of welfare services (2)
Department of Public Health and Nursing
Digitalisation of the labour and welfare services is changing the roles of the actors including care providers, employers, and users of the services. Main challenges for the PhD candidate will be to study the integration of digitalized care pathways, involving both health and welfare services. The research will be qualitative.
Application deadline has expired.
PhD Position in:
Sustainable digitalization of built environments (1)
Department of Computer Science
The candidate will study real-world cases of built environments including neighborhoods and cities, with a focus on sensor data, algorithms and platforms. The academic discipline is computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), human-computer interaction (HCI), and information systems (IS). The main type of research is qualitative.
Application deadline has expired.
PhD Position in:
Sustainable digitalization of built environments (2)
Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture
Digital platforms, algorithmic governance, and Internet of Things promise new possibilities for a better quality of life for all. The candidate will investigate the intersection between both digital transformations in the built environment and how they relate to gender and diversity (i.e race, ethnicity, class, ability).
Application deadline has expired.