[Air-L] Funded PhD project, Power and Difference in the time of Responsible AI, University of Sheffield

[Helen Kennedy]

Funded PhD opportunity with my colleague* Dr Susan Oman
<https://sheffield.ac.uk/spir/people/academic/susan-oman> *at the University
of Sheffield. We are looking for projects at the cutting edge of
interdisciplinary enquiry into AI and inequalities.



Deadline: 14 Nov 2025

Online interviews: end Nov/early Dec 2025

Start: February 2026


Your doctoral research project will be designed by you to respond to the
issues of difference and power in a time of “responsible AI.” Your
application should reflect your existing knowledge and interest in the
area, and identify clearly what you perceive to be a research need or gap.
Clear proposals using interdisciplinary, innovative and critical methods,
methodologies and lenses are particularly encouraged. Your proposal must
demonstrate how the PhD project is grounded in contemporary debates
around AI ethics and responsible AI, and crucially how social justice is at
its heart. The project will be hosted across the Centre for Machine
Intelligence <https://sheffield.ac.uk/machine-intelligence> and the School
of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations
<https://sheffield.ac.uk/spir>.



Example interpretations of this brief include, but are not restricted to:
1 - analysis of the inclusion of marginalised populations in research with
the public
2 - discourse analysis of representations of responsibility in relation
to AI
3 - feminist, anti-racist and/or decolonising approaches to responsible AI
4 - historical, interpretive or policy analyses
5 - philosophical or cultural studies approaches to shared understanding
and / or meaning-making across responsible AI stakeholders

6 - social network analysis of research leadership and investment in
people’s responses to AI technologies


*https://lnkd.in/eQT7g9UX* <https://lnkd.in/eQT7g9UX>

*Funding note: *the funding would cover a standard Home tuition fee and a
tax-free stipend at the standard UK Research Council rate (currently
£20,780 for the 2025/26 academic year) for 3.5 years. If you were applying
as an International Student (you can find details via the UK Council for
International Student Affairs regarding eligibility for Home Student fee
status <https://www.ukcisa.org.uk/>) then you would be required to make up
the difference either via a separate funder or self-funded. You can find
details on PhD tuition fees at Sheffield here
<https://sheffield.ac.uk/new-students/tuition-fees/fees-lookup> - as the
information indicates, please keep in mind that the fees are subject to
change throughout the period of the programme.
Best wishes

Helen


-- 

Professor Helen Kennedy FBA FAcSS

Professor of Digital Society, University of Sheffield, @hmtk,
@hmtk at scholar.social, she/her

Director of: ESRC Digital Good Network <https://digitalgood.net/>
(@digitalgoodnet)
+ Living With Data <https://livingwithdata.org/> (@Living_WithData) + Public
Voices in AI <https://digitalgood.net/dg-research/public-voices-in-ai/>



*Recent publications:*

Kennedy, H., Aiello, G., Annabell, T. & Anderson, C.W. (2025) Generic
visuals in the news as public images: Activating emotions, experiences and
identities. *European Journal of Cultural Studies*.
https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494241310675


Kennedy, H., Ditchfield, H., Oman, S., Bates, J., Perea, I. M., Fratczak,
M., & Taylor, M. (2024). How people connect fairness and equity when they
talk about data uses. *Big Data & Society*, 11(4).
https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517241303162


Ditchfield, H., Oman, S., Kennedy, H., Frątczak, M., Bates, J., Taylor, M.,
& Medina-Perea, I. (2024). 'What ifs: The role of imagining in people’s
reflections on data uses', *Convergence*.
https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241300898


The Digital Good Network (2024) 'What do we mean when we talk about a good
digital society?' in British Academy (ed) *What are the Possibilities of a
Good Digital Society? *
http://doi.org/10.5871/digital-society/9780856726934.001
<http://doi.org/10.5871/digital-society/9780856726934.001>