In 2019, Philip Alston, then UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty, warned of harms emerging from the rise of the digital welfare state, which he framed as the growing reliance on data and digital technologies to target and monitor social assistance recipients.

Mixed narratives about the digital welfare state continue to circulate: organisations like the OECD suggest the digitisation of aid and social services increases productivity and improves inclusivity, even as analyses draw attention to how such tools can embed biased assumptions about the populations they are meant to help.

This presentation reflects on empirical insights from a multi-year research project and collaboration focussing on case studies in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It highlights how these findings not only trouble popular narratives but also evince emergent contours of welfare governance. They illuminate new dimensions that can extend existing observations about what scholars commonly call the ‘regulatory state’.

About the speaker

Professor Kathryn (Kate) Henne is the Director of RegNet, the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance, and leads the Justice and Technoscience Lab (JusTech). She also serves on the executive of the ANU Integrated AI Network and holds honorary professorial appointments at Arizona State University and the University of Waterloo. Her research is concerned with how science and technology contribute to shifts in the governance of health, public safety, and social welfare.

COVID protocols

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This seminar presentation is a dual-delivery event. Registration is only required for Zoom attendance; registration for in-person attendance is not required as neither the ANU nor ACT Health conduct contact tracing any longer.

If you require accessibility accommodations or a visitor Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan please email regnet.communications@anu.edu.au.

Image credit: Graphic illustrating mobile phone with user profile silhouette overlaid with data science icons, indicating digital governance by AndSus used under Adobe Education License.