Project: Automating Welfare - Algorithmic Infrastructures for Human Flourishing in Europe

Acronym	AUTO-WELF (Reference Number: CHANSE-546)
Duration	01/10/2022 - 01/10/2025
Project Topic	In a world where automation is thought to increase productivity and efficiency with less effort and at lower costs, what happens to human flourishing when this logic is deployed to support decisions in the welfare sector? AUTO-WELF investigates the extensive implementation of automated decision-making in the welfare sector across Europe. It is the first to provide a comparative analysis of automated welfare provision across European welfare regimes to examine the implications of algorithms and artificial intelligence for the future of European citizens and societies. Data-based infrastructures for public administration are shaping not only welfare provision, but also state-citizen relations and prompt questions of human agency in relation to complex socio-technical systems, ethics and accountability, as well as biases and inequalities. The project foregrounds the perspective of people implicated in the automation process including software engineers, case workers and citizens. Implementing a multi-method, interdisciplinary and cross-country comparative approach, the project will develop groundbreaking knowledge on the consequences of automating welfare in two domains: a) core welfare service and b) communal welfare infrastructures. These domains will be explored across eight European countries (Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Sweden) representing four types of the welfare state and its different stages of automated decision-making. The project provides an in-depth and cutting-edge understanding of the process of automating welfare from a European perspective producing highly relevant insights into how automated decision-making can support but also harm human flourishing.
Network	CHANSE
Call	Transformations: Social and Cultural Dynamics in the Digital Age

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Södertörn University	Coordinator	Sweden
2	University of Copenhagen	Partner	Denmark
3	Leipzig University	Partner	Germany
4	University of Warsaw	Partner	Poland
5	Austrian Academy of Sciences	Partner	Austria
6	University of Bologna	Observer	Italy
7	Lusófona University	Observer	Portugal
8	DataEthics, Copenhagen	Observer	Denmark
9	Arena for Journalism in Europe / DataHarvest	Observer	Belgium
10	Haus der Kulturen der Welt	Observer	Germany
11	Algorithm Watch	Observer	Germany
12	The Danish Institute for Human Rights	Observer	Denmark
13	epicenter.works – Plattform Grundrechtspolitik	Observer	Austria
14	Ars Electronica Linz GmbH & Co KG	Observer	Austria