From Bernd.Stahl at nottingham.ac.uk Mon Oct 5 10:28:05 2026 From: Bernd.Stahl at nottingham.ac.uk (Bernd Stahl (staff)) Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2026 09:28:05 +0000 Subject: [Responsible-digital-futures] RDF seminar series - first meeting on 14/10/2026 Message-ID: Dear friends and members of the Responsible Digital Futures Group, With the academic year having started, it is now time to also pick up our monthly research talks again. The first one will be given by Neil McBride of De Montfort University who will talk about Responsible Digital Privacy. This will take place on Wednesday of next week, 14/10/2026 at 11am UK time. I will send around the meeting invite separately in a minute. In the meantime, here is the announcement with an abstract and connection details: https://www.responsible-digital-futures.org/news-and-blogs/2026-10-14-privacy I hope I will see many of you there. Please feel free to forward this to colleagues who may be interested. Kind regards, Bernd Bernd Carsten STAHL Professor of Critical Research in Technology Responsible Digital Futures Group School of Computer Science UNIVERSITY of NOTTINGHAM T: +44 7952 875 862 E: bernd.stahl at nottingham.ac.uk W: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/computerscience/people/bernd.stahl [cid:image001.jpg at 01DD54B4.33E3B370] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 33075 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: From Bernd.Stahl at nottingham.ac.uk Mon Oct 5 10:29:28 2026 From: Bernd.Stahl at nottingham.ac.uk (Bernd Stahl (staff)) Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2026 09:29:28 +0000 Subject: [Responsible-digital-futures] Responsible Digital Futures - Research Talk Message-ID: This is the invitation to the SERIES of RDF monthly presentation. Please accept, even if you cannot make the first meeting, so you have the sessions in your diary. The programme of the talk will be available on the RDF website: https://www.responsible-digital-futures.org/news-and-blogs ________________________________________________________________________________ Microsoft Teams meeting Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/315857081616811?p=LLxoKSsONp00BTJhPq Meeting ID: 315 857 081 616 811 Passcode: kA79ux3f ________________________________ Need help? | System reference For organizers: Meeting options [Company Logo] ________________________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/calendar Size: 4065 bytes Desc: not available URL: From suchith.anand at ethicaldatainitiative.org Sat Oct 10 22:47:57 2026 From: suchith.anand at ethicaldatainitiative.org (Suchith Anand) Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2026 22:47:57 +0100 Subject: [Responsible-digital-futures] Concerns regarding huge IT procurement costs at UK universities Message-ID: Dear colleagues, I would like to share some information regarding the importance of robust and transparent rules for IT procurement in UK universities. The information that has recently been made in a public post in LinkedIn by an Emeritus professor at University of Nottingham on how the senior management at the University of Nottingham wasted close to ?100 million on a direly implemented IT project and a hopelessly ill-considered real estate development , followed by panicked steps to save money to balance the books at the University of Nottingham raises serious questions about the scale of IT procurement, project management, financial oversight, and accountability within some UK universities. I understand that hundreds of staff are now facing redundancy amid significant financial pressures at the University of Nottingham . There have also been reports and concerns regarding IT projects whose costs increased substantially to millions of pounds from their original estimates in other UK universities also. Did the University Executive Board members who were responsible for this failed IT project held accountable? Who was responsible for the tendering and procurement? The senior management needs to be setting up responsible and ethical standards for procurement. I have written an open letter on the need for anti-corruption in UK universities at https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/geoforall/2026-September/006705.html These developments raise important questions about whether appropriate procurement controls and financial safeguards were in place, and whether sufficient accountability was applied to University Executive Board members responsible for major projects. I am concerned that a similar situation could develop at many UK universities in relation to AI and IT procurement and partnerships involving AI and Big Tech . My concern is that inadequate oversight of such projects and partnerships could result in significant financial costs in the future, with the potential consequences ultimately being borne by staff ( similar to hundreds of redundancies made at University of Nottingham) and the wider University community. In my view, there should be a clear commitment from University Executive Board of all UK universities to responsible, ethical, and transparent procurement practices. This should include appropriate transparency around donor contracts, donations, gifts, and partnerships with AI and technology companies. Finally, I do not believe that raising legitimate concerns about procurement, partnerships, governance, transparency, and accountability should result in an individual being discouraged or silenced. I hope the University managements will instead engage constructively with these concerns and ensure that appropriate mechanisms are available for staff to raise issues in the public interest. Best wishes Suchith Professor Suchith Anand Professor of Practice in Science Policy | Senior Adviser to Governments and International Organisations | Scientist | Global Citizen | Science Diplomacy | SDG Volunteer and Advocate https://spspa.exeter.ac.uk/people/profile/index.php?username=sa1131 https://ethicaldatainitiative.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Bernd.Stahl at nottingham.ac.uk Tue Oct 13 08:07:06 2026 From: Bernd.Stahl at nottingham.ac.uk (Bernd Stahl (staff)) Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2026 07:07:06 +0000 Subject: [Responsible-digital-futures] Reimagining Digital Privacy - 14/10/2026, 11.00, Teams Message-ID: Dear all, I would like to invite you to the first monthly seminar of the Responsible Digital Futures Group that will take place tomorrow at 11. Below are details of the event: Title Reimagining Digital Privacy Abstract What is digital privacy? How do we understand privacy? What effect has AI had on the control and management of privacy? Alan Westin's definition of informational privacy as 'the right of individuals to control when, how, and to what extent information about themselves is communicated to others' may have worked when the US government had 2500 computers and total US capacity was 400 million calculations per second, but lacks credibility in an information landscape increasing dominated by AI. Privacy is a concept in disarray, but as computer scientists we assume there is something rational and solid such that privacy is computational. Our digital ecosystem demands that we return to first principles to consider the nature of privacy and therefore look for new approaches to protecting the data subject. In this discussion I will attempt to unravel the ball of string that is privacy, offer a different definition and identify some questions it raises. Presenter Dr. Neil McBride Institute for Responsible Business and Social Justice De Montfort University Connection Microsoft Teams meeting Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/315857081616811?p=LLxoKSsONp00BTJhPq Meeting ID: 315 857 081 616 811 Passcode: kA79ux3f https://www.responsible-digital-futures.org/news-and-blogs/2026-10-14-privacy I hope to see many of you there tomorrow. Kind regards, Bernd Bernd Carsten STAHL Professor of Critical Research in Technology Responsible Digital Futures Group School of Computer Science UNIVERSITY of NOTTINGHAM T: +44 7952 875 862 E: bernd.stahl at nottingham.ac.uk W: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/computerscience/people/bernd.stahl [cid:image001.jpg at 01DD5AE9.D6151A90] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 33075 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: