The LINAS Seminar series is student-led and organised by Dr Meg Schwamb and the doctoral scholars on the programme.

The speakers will be:

Anna Montgomery, a second year LINAS doctoral scholar, will be presenting a paper titled ‘The Smart Home as a Site of Control for Victim-Survivors of Domestic Abuse’.

Jason McKillen, a third year LINAS doctoral scholar, will be presenting a paper titled ‘Who designs AI security systems? Locating actors and identifying structures in the development of AI-enabled security tools’

Dr Anastasia Ershova, - Lecturer in the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, will be presenting a paper titled ‘Negotiating European Integration Council Responsiveness to Public Opinion’.

Abstract: The Council of Ministers, representing the member state governments in EU law-making, has long operated away from public scrutiny. However, the enhanced transparency of its decision-making over the last two decades has subjected it to the public purview. Simultaneously, the increased contestation of European integration has put an end to citizens' permissive consensus for elites to shape the nature, direction and speed of integration. We argue that these developments have incentivized electorally accountable ministers and, consequently, the Council to be attentive to the citizens' policy preferences over EU policy action.

We further expect more responsiveness of the Council's position to public opinion in the member state, in which citizens view the given policy as salient and are relatively united in their support for or opposition to further EU action in that policy. Focusing on legislative negotiations in the post-Lisbon period (2009-2020), we estimate the Council's level of support for the expansion of the EU's policy authority in individual acts using semi-supervised machine learning. To capture the level of public support for EU policy action across member states, we rely on the Eurobarometer surveys. The findings confirm our expectations, offering further evidence for the model of territorial representation in the EU.

We would love it if as many of you as possible could join us for this Seminar. Refreshments will also be provided!