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.
Projects

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?

Living Well with Email
A broad analysis of email and communication practice within King's and externally.

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...

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...

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

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...

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...

Events

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Projects

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?

Living Well with Email
A broad analysis of email and communication practice within King's and externally.

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...

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...

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

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...

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...

Events

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Our Partners

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
