Educating the data and AI policymakers of the future

Dr. Elinor Carmi is a senior lecturer specialisng in data politics and data justice at City St. George’s, University of London.

An author, researcher, and digital rights activist with a profound interest in data justice and internet governance, she has made significant contributions to policy and provided evidence for the UK Government, UNESCO, World Health Organistion, and the European Commission. She currently collaborates with the Weizenbaum Institute to establish global standards for AI practitioners.

She is now co-director of a new masters degree programme that is a unique collaboration between City St George's' computer science department and her own Department of Sociology and Criminology.

Now enrolling students to begin in September 2025, the course aims to combine an understanding of the underlying AI technologies driving our economic and social revolution with the tools they need to examine its true consequences for society.

As Elinor explains, neither the technologies or the data they use are neutral actors. The further AI systems embed themselves into our work and lives, the more we must question the completness or validity of the data they use. And the more we come to depend on AI, the more informed and critical policymakers must become to ensure the beneficary is society as whole, 'not just the profits of tech CEOs'.

The newMSc Data, Policy & Societycourse aims to equip students with both the technical and academic knowhow to become the policymakers of the future by providing them with the practical research skills and knowledge to critically understand and ethically assess how data is used across a multitude of industries.