[Commlist] PhD Summer School on AI and Democracy,

Date: 18 - 22 May 2026
Location:  Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzone di Cortona (AR)
Total hours: 32
Max participants: 25
Language: English
Application deadline: 15 March 2026
Target audience: PhD students

The Cosmos PhD School is open to 25 PhD students or early career 
researchers with an interest in themanifold implications of recent 
advances in artificial intelligence for democracy, the public sphere, 
the production of knowledge, labor, war, and the environment.

Description
Over the past two years, generative artificial intelligence and its 
various and fast-evolving applications have been seizing the public 
debate and imagination, in particular for their potential of disrupting 
the labor market and eliminating qualified jobs in the publishing 
industry, education, film, music, design, fashion and programming, among 
others. Moreover, the threat of automation has extended to the political 
sphere, raising the possibility that unethical uses of AI may transform 
political campaigning or that specific political choices may be 
justified on the exclusive basis of AI-generated data. But how 
well-founded are these anxieties? Andwhat is the impact of AI on the 
current crisis of representative democracy and political polarization in 
the digital public sphere?This PhD School examines these questions by 
examining critical issues at the core of the development of generative AI.
The PhD School consists of three full days and two half days with 
lectures by prominent scholars in the field of AI studies and social and 
political impact in the morning and practical sessions in the afternoon. 
The students will have atheoretical sessionand amethodological 
sessionevery day, followed by a lab in which they apply the methods that 
they learn. Students will also get feedback from experts in the field of 
AI studies about their own research projects.

Themain topicsof the PhD School are:

Does AI strengthen or weaken democracy?

* AI ethics and questions of democratic control

* AI and the Automation of Labour

* AI and the Automation of Warfare

* AI and Environmentalism

* AI and the Future of Journalism

Among the featuredguest speakersare Peter Asaro, The New School New 
York; Antonio Casilli, Polytechnic Institute of Paris, Mark 
Coeckelbergh, University of Vienna, Marco Deseriis (SNS); Silvia Keeling 
(SNS), Fieke Jansen (University of Amsterdam); Iva Nenadic, (Centre for 
Media Pluralism and Media Freedom, European University Institute), 
Matteo Pasquinelli, (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia); Hans-Joerg Trenz 
(SNS).

Application procedure and requirements

Applicants must submit acurriculum vitaeand ashort cover letter(no more 
than 1 page) outlining how their research focus fits with the topic of 
the PhD School and how participation in the School would benefit their 
research. These materials should be submitted as one PDF by sending an 
email to Prof. Marco Deseriis ((marco.deseriis /at/ sns.it)) and Prof. 
Hans-Joerg Trenz ((hansjorg.trenz /at/ sns.it)) no later thanMarch, 15th 2026.

Accepted candidates will be notified not later than April, 1st 2026.

The PhD School is tuition-free: no fees will be required.

Admission to the PhD School includes participation in the lectures, the 
educational material, lunch and coffee breaks. Travel and accommodation 
costs for the duration of the stay need to be covered by the participants.


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