Spring 2022 series
You can find the recordings below.
11. February 2022 – "Election Technologies and Trust: Experiences from the 2017 Kenya Presidential Election”, Prof Carsten Schürmann, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Elections are devices to settle a civil conflict in a peaceful and orderly manner among the different stakeholder groups in society that represent opposing interests. Without trust, voters may not accept the result of an election, which can challenge peace, order, and human rights. In the lecture, Prof Schürmann will return to Kenya 2017 and analyze some of the challenges that election technologies have brought to the election.
BIO: Carsten Schürmann is a professor in computer science at the IT University of Copenhagen, where he heads the Center for Information Security and Trust. His research focuses on election security. He consults with governmental and non-governmental organizations on Internet Voting. He has worked with the OSCE/ODIHR as a senior election expert and has been a member of several election observation missions, to Kenya 2017 (the Carter Center), USA 2018 (OSCE/ODIHR), and Estonia 2019 (OSCE/ODIHR). Prior to moving to Denmark, Carsten was a member of the computer science faculty at Yale University. He holds a PhD degree from Carnegie-Mellon University.
11. March 2022 – “Social Affordances of
Agile Governance”, Prof Ines Mergel, University of Konstanz
Agile governance refers to management practices that were developed in software design teams to innovate based on user needs, incorporate them into the design of a digital process or product and continuously iterate to adapt to changing requirements. It focuses on a user-centric mindset, questioning one’s own assumptions, learning through iteration and prototyping. These practices are now transferred into public administrations and need to be adapted to a context that is not focused on daily innovations, but stability, resilience and linear administrative processes. This lecture therefore introduces the concept of social affordances that civil servants identify when they are confronted with the necessity to become more agile and adopt an agile mindset. Affordances reflect the possibilities and also outline the hindrances that civil servants perceive when they are asked to adopt a new mindset or management practice.
BIO: Professor Dr. Ines Mergel is full professor of
public administration and digital governance at the department of politics and
public administration, University of Kostanz, Germany. She is an elected fellow
of the National Academy of Public Administration (class of 2018). Before moving
to Germany, professor Mergel served as tenured associate professor of public
administration and international affairs at Syracuse University's Maxwell
School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Her research focuses broadly on
digital innovations in public administration. She is specifically interested in
understanding how innovative practices can be adapted to the linear
process-oriented routines of government.
8. April 2022 at 13 CET/14 EEST – " Preparing the state for the exponential age", Luukas Ilves, Estonia’s Government CIO and Undersecretary for Digital Development at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications
As we enter a period of ever accelerating change, how can the institutions of the Industrial Age adapt to the needs of today? Estonia’s remarkable digital transformation offers a key take on this question. Earlier this year Luukas Ilves took on the role as Estonia’s new Chief Information Officer, where he has the chance to influence this journey. In his talk, Luukas will give us an overview of the key questions he is asking in his new Office, as well as give us an insight into the major challenges and the drivers for digital transformation in the upcoming years.
BIO: Luukas Ilves is Estonia’s Government Chief Information Officer and Undersecretary for Digital Development at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. Most recently, Luukas was head of strategy at Guardtime, a leading blockchain company. He previously served in various positions for the Government of Estonia and the European Commission before joining the Lisbon Council, a Brussels-based think tank. Luukas is a graduate of Stanford University.