Workshop
PhD and ResMA workshop: AI and Your Research
- Date
- Tuesday 28 April 2026
- Time
- Location
-
Herta Mohr
Witte Singel 27A
2311 BG Leiden - Room
- 1.80 (plenary) and 1.129, 1.128, 1.31, 1.93 (breakout)
What can AI do for your research, and how can you make this happen? Join this half-day workshop to find out. To register, please fill out the form at the bottom of the page.
The use of generative AI in academic research has grown explosively. This can be a blessing or a scourge or something in between, depending on who you ask. AI can look like a threat—something that dulls individual expertise and will drown us in sameness, that facilitates deception and rides roughshod over copyright, that erodes core values of academic work. But it can also dramatically increase our scope of inquiry, and its output is growing ever more sophisticated. And perhaps it can bring us closer to a level playing field for international publishing, accelerate science to address global crises, etc.
This workshop will help you consider your position vis-à-vis this dizzying development in academic work. Our core question will be what AI can do for your research and how you can make this happen. We will address this in plenary sessions and breakout groups. We will focus on the experience of the individual researcher in the humanities and social science, across the range from the practical to the ethical and from the intellectual to the affective.
There’s room for up to 25 participants. Breakout groups will have four to five participants and a moderator for in-depth conversation. Breakout topics will be set in accordance with participant preferences (the registration form will ask you to pick your favorites from a list and to suggest alternatives if need be). Throughout the event, we will highlight various angles on AI and research, including those of scientific quality, productivity, ethics, field specificity, etc.
To prepare, you will pick and choose from a list of possible readings/viewings that will be circulated ahead of time. You will also submit a personal statement of up to fifty words, to start the conversation. This can be an observation, a proposition, or a question.
Programme
| 13.00-13.50 | Plenary session: the basics and some pitches |
| 14.00 | Breakout sessions, round 1 |
| 14.45-15.15 | Tea break |
| 15.15 | Breakout sessions, round 2 |
| 16.00 | Tea break |
| 16.15 | Key observations, debate, and what's next |
| 17.00 | Drinks and pizza (on location) |
Register here
To register, please fill out this web form link by Tuesday 28 April. Thank you!