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Emily Robinson

LSE Fellow
LSE100

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About

Emily Robinson is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of technology, society and sustainability. Her research explores how emerging technologies are understood, contested and governed, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence, responsible innovation and sustainable technology transitions. She combines computational social science with qualitative methods and approaches from science and technology studies to examine how values, interpretations and power shape technological change. Alongside her research, Emily is passionate about interdisciplinary research. Her work brings together perspectives from the social sciences, humanities and computational research, reflecting her belief that complex societal challenges cannot be understood through a single disciplinary lens.

Her doctoral research at the University of Exeter examined how emerging technologies acquire meaning, legitimacy and social acceptance, and how these processes are shaped by competing interpretations, values and forms of knowledge. Bringing together computational social science, qualitative research and science and technology studies, her PhD explored how technological futures are constructed and contested through public discourse and how disagreements over technology can shape processes of adoption, resistance and governance. A central concern of her work is how interpretive differences are managed, and what happens when complex debates around emerging technologies become reduced to competing positions.

Her current research focuses on how generative AI is reshaping professional and educational practices. She is particularly interested in what it means to be “AI literate” in a world where understanding AI requires more than technical knowledge. For Emily, AI literacy also involves understanding the values, assumptions and power structures embedded within AI systems, as well as their wider social, political and ethical implications. She is interested in how developing this broader form of AI literacy can help students critically engage with AI and make more informed and responsible decisions about when, why and how these technologies should be used.

At the University of Exeter, she taught and co-convened seminars for the Responsible Innovation and Ethics module, exploring the ethical, social and political implications of emerging technologies with undergraduate students. She has also organised workshops on the sustainability of AI and contributed to panels, talks and public discussions on AI, sustainability, environmental justice and responsible innovation, including at COP29 and the AI4NetZero Conference. Her invited teaching and speaking has included the University of Exeter, Venice International University and the Global Systems Institute.