Rethinking Humanity in the Age of AI - Panel Discussion

Rethinking Humanity in the Age of AI 

AI is already changing how we learn, work and understand the world. It is shaping the information we access and the decisions governments make about our lives. As its use expands, how can governments develop policies that better protect people’s rights and ensure communities around the world have a say in the societal transformations affecting them? 

Join eight scholars from across six continents for a panel discussion on the vital role of the humanities and social sciences in responding to the impacts of AI. Drawing on different geographic and disciplinary perspectives, panellists will explore how research can inform policy and help people understand and engage critically with AI. They will also consider the opportunities and challenges it brings to research and teaching. 

Chaired by Professor Kate McGregor and Professor Jacqueline Dutton, the discussion opens the Global Humanities Alliance’s program of events at the University of Melbourne from 26-30 October 2026. 

Event details:  

Title: Social Sciences and Humanities in The Age of AI  

Date: Tuesday October 27, 2026  

Time: 5pm for pre-event refreshments and networking, 6pm-7.45pm for panel discussion  

Location: Old Quad Building, No. 150, The University of Melbourne, Parkville (map)
 

About the panellists:  

Dr Ananya Sharma - Assistant Professor of International Relations at Ashoka University conducts research at the intersection of visual aesthetics, popular culture and authoritarianism, with a focus on India. They have been published in Global Studies Quarterly, Review of International Studies, International Studies, Oxford Encyclopedia of International Studies,  South Asian Survey, Economic and Political Weekly (EPW), and in edited collections including the Elgar Encyclopaedia of International Relations,  Oxford Handbook of International Studies Pedagogy and the Routledge Handbook of South Asia.

Dr Nuntamon Kutalad - Lecturer under the MA in Museum Studies programme at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia at Mahidol University is a museum studies scholar whose work focuses on experiential museology. Her research engages with museum management, interpretive experiences for exhibition design, and the transformative museum concept to advance audience-centred museology in Thailand and to connect museum practice with broader design and service innovation frameworks. Currently, she is a lecturer under the MA in Museum Studies programme at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University, Thailand.

Professor Katherine Strasser - Professor, School of Psychology, Dean of the College of Social Sciences at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile  obtained her Bachelor in Psychology from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in 1995, a Master of Science in Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan in 2000, and a PhD in Education and Psychology from the same institution in 2003. Her areas of interest are early language and literacy development, including classroom experiences that promote vocabulary development and later reading comprehension, and public policies that support them. She is also interested in studying and promoting the classroom and individual conditions that support teachers’ use of responsive and enriching interactions with children, including book sharing, games, and continued professional development strategies

Dr. Nur Saktiningrum, Vice Dean for Academic and Student Affairs at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, UGM (Universitas Gadja Mada) has built her academic career at UGM since 1995 and holds Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees from UGM, completed in 1994, 1998, and 2014, respectively. She has progressed through various academic ranks and currently holds the rank of Pembina Utama Muda (IV/c). She has also participated in professional development programs, including UGM’s Academic Leaders Management Programme (ALMP) for faculty/school leaders. She teaches literature in the English Study Program and the Graduate Program in American Studies. Her academic work began with her undergraduate and doctoral research on religion and religiosity in literature, which subsequently provided the foundation for her broader research trajectory. Her current research focuses primarily on American literature and culture, with particular interests in the intersections of literature, religion, woman and cultural studies.

Professor Panos Sousounis - Associate Dean (International) for the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Manchester is program director of one of the UK's largest undergraduate social science programmes. His work focuses on internationalisation strategy, transnational education, and the role of the humanities in global engagement — including science diplomacy forums bringing together academic and diplomatic communities to explore how humanities disciplines can shape international policy and cross-cultural understanding. A Senior Fellow of Advance HE, he has over a decade of experience leading international partnerships, TNE programme development, and academic governance across UK and overseas institutions. His scholarly work examines pedagogy, curriculum innovation, and student learning in an internationalising higher education landscape, and he publishes in peer-reviewed journals and presents at international conferences across the US and Europe. He serves as an external adviser and validator to universities across the sector on their international and TNE strategies. 

Professor Andrea Carson - Professor of Political Communication and Director at the Centre for Advancing Journalism and Information Integrity in the School of Culture and Communication, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne is a political scientist and was an award-winning journalist (The Age and ABC). Her research examines the media ecosystem and misinformation and its impact on democracy. She advises governments, think tanks and platforms. She was a research fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford and has extensively published and taught on investigative journalism, misinformation, election campaigns, and gender equality. She is recipient of three ARC grants on political trust, public policy responsiveness and women's representation in local government. She is a research fellow of the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia and served as President of the Australian Political Studies Association. Her latest book is Women's Pathways to Power: Cracking the Glass Ceiling. 

Professor Peter Wasamba - Professor of Literature & Law Scholar at the University of Nairobi is a distinguished Kenyan scholar and advocate whose expertise includes African oral literature, human rights law, and academic leadership. As Professor of African Literature at the University of Nairobi, he has taught for over twenty-seven years and held roles such as Chairman of the Department of Literature, Associate Dean, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts. He also lectures in law and serves as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. Prof. Wasamba holds BA, MA, and PhD degrees in Literature, LLB and LLM degrees from the University of Nairobi, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law. He has published extensively on African oral literature and ethnographic research, pioneering approaches that integrate indigenous knowledge, human rights jurisprudence, and digital technologies. His work has received international recognition and fostered collaborations across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. 

Professor Christy Anderson - Member of the Department of Art History at the University of Toronto and the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design teaches the history of architecture. Her work centres on early modern Europe, yet reaches across oceans and into contemporary design. At the University of Toronto she teaches in Art History and the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, for non-specialist undergraduates and professional students alike. Her current project takes the ship as mobile architecture, tracing the spaces that bind sea to shore and carry goods, people, and the natural world between ports. She has written a survey of Renaissance architecture (Oxford, 2013), rewriting the field, and Inigo Jones and the Classical Tradition (Cambridge, 2006), on reading and architectural education in England, with essays on classicism and gender, the failure of architectural language, and the politics of wonder. A Guggenheim Fellow in 2010, she holds a PhD from MIT, was a senior research fellow at Worcester College, Oxford, and has taught at Yale, MIT, and the Courtauld Institute of Art.

About the Global Humanities Alliance  

 The GHA is a signature international initiative of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne. We are one of eight founding members with Ashoka University (India), Mahidol University (Thailand), Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile (Chile), University of Toronto (Canada), Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia), the University of Manchester (UK) and the University of Nairobi (Kenya).  

The mission of the GHA is to raise the profile, social and political impact of the humanities and social sciences through an emphasis on research and teaching that takes up global issues, incorporates diverse global perspectives and brings scholars and students together with critical conversations.