Making a Difference: Societal Impact through Collaborative Research
Making a Difference. Societal Impact through Collaborative Research (April 7th-8th, 2025)
Two-day workshop-driven conference for fostering long-term collaborative research partnerships between academia and the professional field
Collaborating with external partners allows university researchers to closely study real-world phenomena while supporting effective interventions and knowledge transfer. As universities increasingly aim to engage with various societal sectors, collaborative research practices become essential for sharing knowledge and tackling hands-on challenges across society. One critical societal development where collaboration is especially needed is the digital transition within the public sector and media industries. Organizations in these domains face distinct challenges arising from the growing use of data and algorithms in daily practice, which has implications for building and maintaining relationships with the public. Only through effective collaboration between academic researchers and external partners can the complexities of real-life situations be addressed and meaningful impact achieved.
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.
During a two-day event on April 7th-8th, 2025, we 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 (Dr. Mirko Schäfer, Dr. Karin van Es, Iris Muis, Dr. Bart Kamphorst, and Dr. Dennis Nguyen).
Keynote speakers:
Payal Arora, Utrecht University
Rob Kitchin, Maynooth University
When and where:
The conference takes place on 7 and 8 April 2025 in De Zalen van Zeven (Boothstraat 7) in the historic city centre of Utrecht
How to participate:
Participation is possible as non-presenting participant, workshop host/organizer or presenting participant in a workshop. See our call for participation here.
Registration:
Non-presenting participant: 80 EUR (incl. lunch, coffee/tea and snacks & drinks)
Presenting participant fee is included in workshop fee.