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Technology has always intersected with the human body, from the food that we eat to the clothes we wear, the jobs we do, and the materials that make up our environment. The types of technology might vary - mechanical, industrial, electronic, and, increasingly, digital, but we have always responded to technology in embodied ways. We cannot think, or feel, outside of our own physical and cognitive processes. And technology affects the body in gendered and racialised ways that reinforce individual, social, global hierarchies. These processes demand in-depth ethical and critical reflection.

The Centre for Technology and the Body is part of the Digital Futures institute, that explores how we live well with technology. We welcome collaborative, critical investigation of the history, present and future of technology, and how it intersects with our physical, sensory, and emotional worlds.

The Centre for Technology and the Body director Fay Bound Alberti is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and historian of medicine, emotions and the body. Fay directs the project Interface, which explores the history and meanings of the human face.

 

People

Alfie Abdul-Rahman

Senior Lecturer in Computer Science

Ruba Abu-Salma

Lecturer in Computer Science

Btihaj Ajana

Professor of Ethics and Digital Culture

Aliya Amirova

Research Associate in Epidemiology/Biostatistics

Rikke Amundsen

Lecturer in Digital Media and Culture

Ned Barker

Lecturer in Digital Culture and Technology

Projects

Image missing an alt value
Interface

Asking critical questions about the meanings of the human face in the past and in the present - what is a face? And why does it matter?

Image missing an alt value
Living Well with Email

A broad analysis of email and communication practice within King's and externally.

Image missing an alt value
The Past and Present/Presence of Disability in Higher Education

Exploring bodies and technology through the lens of the history of disability, with special attention on bodies in academia and higher education.

News

Living Well With Technology series returns with new events

The Digital Futures Institute series continues its Living Well with Technology series with a new season of events exploring the Digital Futures of a variety...

Audience and speakers at the Digital Futures of Literature event

COMMENT: The reconstruction of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman's face makes her look quite friendly – there's a problem with that

This newest facial reconstruction, based on research at the University of Cambridge, invites us to empathise and see the story of Neanderthals as part of a...

Reconstructed face of 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman. BBC Studios/Jamie Simonds

New book expounds the philosophical conceptions of yoga

Dr Karen O'Brien-Kop's The Philosophy of the Yogasutra highlights its status as a significant work of philosophy

Dr Karen O'Brien-Kop_book image

Material Minds? The rise of Chat GPT and AI

With the rise of language-learning models such as Chat GPT and discussions around AI almost keeping pace with the technology itself, King's hosted a workshop...

Material Minds1

Digital Futures Institute to help 'understand what it means to live well with technology'

A new Institute, due to launch publicly in April, will investigate the relationship between humans and the technologies that have helped extend our capacities...

DFI Story

Events

11Jun

Interdisciplinarity between the arts and humanities and the health sciences at King’s: Workshop 4 – Developing interdisciplinary ideas and supporting funding applications

The final of four workshops organised by the Digital Futures Institute's Centre for Technology and the Body.

Please note: this event has passed.

20May

Interdisciplinarity between the arts and humanities and the health sciences: Interdisciplinary seeds & small grants

The third of four workshops organised by the Digital Futures Institute's Centre for Technology and the Body.

Please note: this event has passed.

02Apr

Interdisciplinarity between the arts and humanities and the health sciences at King’s: Workshop 2 – Building interdisciplinary relationships and establishing research themes and questions

In this workshop, we will focus on developing interdisciplinary relationships and establishing interdisciplinary research themes and questions, framed by...

Please note: this event has passed.

05Mar

Interdisciplinarity between the arts and humanities and the health sciences at King’s: workshopping opportunities and challenges

The first of four workshops organised by the Digital Futures Institute's Centre for Technology and the Body.

Please note: this event has passed.

03Dec

Can we - and should we - abolish death?

Ariel will be in discussion with historians, literary scholars and ethicists including Richard Ashcroft, Steve Connor, Caitjan Gainty, Catriona Byers and Fay...

Please note: this event has passed.

People

Alfie Abdul-Rahman

Senior Lecturer in Computer Science

Ruba Abu-Salma

Lecturer in Computer Science

Btihaj Ajana

Professor of Ethics and Digital Culture

Aliya Amirova

Research Associate in Epidemiology/Biostatistics

Rikke Amundsen

Lecturer in Digital Media and Culture

Ned Barker

Lecturer in Digital Culture and Technology

Projects

Image missing an alt value
Interface

Asking critical questions about the meanings of the human face in the past and in the present - what is a face? And why does it matter?

Image missing an alt value
Living Well with Email

A broad analysis of email and communication practice within King's and externally.

Image missing an alt value
The Past and Present/Presence of Disability in Higher Education

Exploring bodies and technology through the lens of the history of disability, with special attention on bodies in academia and higher education.

News

Living Well With Technology series returns with new events

The Digital Futures Institute series continues its Living Well with Technology series with a new season of events exploring the Digital Futures of a variety...

Audience and speakers at the Digital Futures of Literature event

COMMENT: The reconstruction of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman's face makes her look quite friendly – there's a problem with that

This newest facial reconstruction, based on research at the University of Cambridge, invites us to empathise and see the story of Neanderthals as part of a...

Reconstructed face of 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman. BBC Studios/Jamie Simonds

New book expounds the philosophical conceptions of yoga

Dr Karen O'Brien-Kop's The Philosophy of the Yogasutra highlights its status as a significant work of philosophy

Dr Karen O'Brien-Kop_book image

Material Minds? The rise of Chat GPT and AI

With the rise of language-learning models such as Chat GPT and discussions around AI almost keeping pace with the technology itself, King's hosted a workshop...

Material Minds1

Digital Futures Institute to help 'understand what it means to live well with technology'

A new Institute, due to launch publicly in April, will investigate the relationship between humans and the technologies that have helped extend our capacities...

DFI Story

Events

11Jun

Interdisciplinarity between the arts and humanities and the health sciences at King’s: Workshop 4 – Developing interdisciplinary ideas and supporting funding applications

The final of four workshops organised by the Digital Futures Institute's Centre for Technology and the Body.

Please note: this event has passed.

20May

Interdisciplinarity between the arts and humanities and the health sciences: Interdisciplinary seeds & small grants

The third of four workshops organised by the Digital Futures Institute's Centre for Technology and the Body.

Please note: this event has passed.

02Apr

Interdisciplinarity between the arts and humanities and the health sciences at King’s: Workshop 2 – Building interdisciplinary relationships and establishing research themes and questions

In this workshop, we will focus on developing interdisciplinary relationships and establishing interdisciplinary research themes and questions, framed by...

Please note: this event has passed.

05Mar

Interdisciplinarity between the arts and humanities and the health sciences at King’s: workshopping opportunities and challenges

The first of four workshops organised by the Digital Futures Institute's Centre for Technology and the Body.

Please note: this event has passed.

03Dec

Can we - and should we - abolish death?

Ariel will be in discussion with historians, literary scholars and ethicists including Richard Ashcroft, Steve Connor, Caitjan Gainty, Catriona Byers and Fay...

Please note: this event has passed.

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