Digital Transformation – a Scientific Overview
This module provides students with a scientific overview of the digital transformation of our society from a multidisciplinary perspective. Students receive academic input followed by an interactive session with various DSI researchers. They learn to engage with and reflect on the challenges, opportunities and consequences of digital transformation.
The module is open to Master’s students from all disciplines through the School of Transdisciplinary Studies (STS). It is also a compulsory module of the DSI Minor/LAO Digital Skills program. Read more about the program here: DSI Minor/LAO Digital Skills
Description
Sessions typically follow a structured format, beginning with an input lecture by a DSI expert, followed by group work and reflections related to the lecture content. The input lectures inspire the students to prepare a poster that will be presented in the Semester-Coffee.
Semester Program
|
Speaker |
Date |
Content |
|---|---|---|
|
14.09.2026 |
Introduction | |
| 21.09.2026 | Social Computing | |
| 28.09.2026 | Art and Culture in Generative AI | |
| Anastasiia Koloskova |
05.10.2026 |
Optimization algorithms for private and resource constrained machine learning |
| Matthias Seibold | 12.10.2026 | Introduction to Computer- and Robot-assisted Surgery |
| Martina Pons | 19.10.2026 | Causal Inference |
| Ivan De Oliveira Nunes |
26.10.2026 |
Privacy and anonymity challenges of the digital transformation |
| Esra Suel |
02.11.2026 |
How We Study Cities with Data: Research in Urban Analytics |
|
09.11.2026 |
Legal Reasoning and Large Language Models | |
| Sarah Ebling |
16.11.2026 |
Artificial Intelligence and Accessibility |
| Muriel Leuenberger | 23.11.2026 | Poster preparation Session |
| All | 30.11.2026 | Final Poster Session (12:15 - 17:00) in the Semester-Coffee. |
Semester-specific information can be found in here (UZH Course Catalogue) and here (OLAT).
Module Team
Prof. Dr. Markus Christen is Managing Director of the UZH Digital Society Initiative and leads the Digital Ethics Lab at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine. His research interests lie in digital ethics, empirical ethics, and neuroethics. Together with Muriel Leuenberger, he is co-responsible for the Scientific Overview Module and leads the reflection sessions.
Dr. Muriel Leuenberger is a Postdoc in philosophy at the University of Zurich, working on meaning in life, identity and authenticity in ethics of technology and medical ethics. Her current research project investigates the risks and opportunities presented by virtual reality technology and generative AI for meaning in life.