The second edition of the Social Contagions, Artificial Intelligence & Democracy Workshop convenes leading scholars, practitioners, and students to explore how digital technologies—especially AI—mediate the spread of ideas, beliefs, and practices across social systems. Building on the foundations laid in the inaugural workshop, this gathering places greater emphasis on translating theory into actionable insights for democratic societies.
We invite participants from diverse fields—computational science, political science, sociology, psychology, economics, public policy, network science, and beyond—to engage in cross-disciplinary dialogue on the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of contagion phenomena and AI-enabled systems.
Goals & Themes
- Advance interdisciplinary frameworks that integrate contagion science and AI research for understanding social dynamics
- Foster new collaborations and research directions across UVA and partner institutions
- Bridge scholarly and practical domains by connecting research to policy, governance, and social impact
UVA Speakers
- Yong-Yeol (YY) Ahn, Quantitative Foundation Distinguished Professor, School of Data Science
- Renée Cummings, Assistant Professor of Practice in Data Science, School of Data Science
- Joshua Earle, Assistant Professor AGF, School of Engineering
- Alex Gates, Assistant Professor of Data Science, School of Data Science
- Mar Hicks, Quantitative Foundation Associate Professor of Data Science, School of Data Science
- Matthew Kirschenbaum, Commonwealth Professor of AI and English, English Department., College of Arts & Sciences
- Lana Swartz, Associate Professor and Shannon Mid-career, Media Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Please note that the workshop will follow the Chatham House rule.
Our goal is to make this event as inclusive as possible. If you require accessibility accommodations, please send details to [email protected] as soon as possible or no later than January 2, 2026.
Paid parking is available at the Central Grounds parking garage.
Organized by: UVA’s Biocomplexity Institute; Center for Business Analytics, McIntire School of Commerce; Contagion Science; Digital Technology for Democracy Lab, and Emotion and Behavior Lab.
Organizing committee: Parantapa Battacharya, Steven L. Johnson, Jane Kulow, Lucius Lichte, Maria Lungu, Madhav Marathe, and Adrienne Wood
