This Working Group examines the politics, ethics, and governance of AI for Science in the twenty-first-century university. Bringing together graduate students and faculty across science and technology studies, higher education studies, international relations, human geography, and media studies, the group explores how research security frameworks, AI infrastructures, and platform dependencies are reshaping scientific collaboration and knowledge production. Particular attention will be given to tensions between openness, technological sovereignty, and security in a context of intensifying geopolitical competition. The group will investigate broader ethical and political questions surrounding AI-driven scientific innovation, including the growing influence of Big Tech actors in shaping scientific infrastructures, the concentration of computational power, and the emergence of new forms of dependency and inequality across the global research ecosystem. Activities will include reading discussions, methodological workshops, and collaborative exchanges with invited practitioners and scholars.
Leads
- Sergio Montero, Associate Professor, Department of Human Geography and Director, Institute of Inclusive Economies and Sustainable Livelihoods (IIESL), UTSC
- Julian Prieto, Seasonal Lecturer, and postdoctoral researcher OISE, and Department of Human Geography, UTSC
- Christine Weidenslaufer, PhD Student, OISE
Faculty Members, University of Toronto
- Rafael Grohmann, Assistant Professor, Department of Arts, Culture and Media, UTSC
- Grace Karram, Assistant Professor & Faculty Coordinator, Higher Education Program, OISE
- Creso Sá, Distinguished Professor of Science Policy, Higher Education, and Innovation, and Vice-Dean, OISE
- Imre Szeman, Professor, Department of Human Geography, UTSC
Graduate Students & Postdoctoral Research, University of Toronto
- Aytaj Pashayeva, Graduate Student, OISE
- Emily Gong, Graduate Student, OISE
- Evelyn Lin, Graduate Student, OISE
- Suzanne Ross, Graduate Student, OISE
- Cristián Velásquez Pardo, Graduate Student, Faculty of Information
- Connor Cordingley, Graduate Student, Department of Human Geography
- Isaac Thronley, Postdoctoral Researcher Institute for Environment, Conservation, and
- Sustainability, Department of Human Geography, UTSC