NERDS at D3A
2024-02-01 - 2024-02-02
https://d3aconference.dk/program/
SESSION #3 – AN INTERDISCIPLINARY DIVE INTO CLIMATE IT
ROOM: Sal G
The climate emergency is a multidimensional and wicked problem that requires a range of responses at various scales (local, regional, national, and planetary). Whether the issue of concern is renewable energy and carbon reduction, biodiversity loss, transport, agriculture, the circular economy, mitigation and adaptation, or more desirable economies, IT plays a central role. This seminar engages with the intersection between climate and digital technologies from different disciplinary perspectives to highlight how this intersection is multilayered and fraught with tension.
Our first speaker will show how data-driven analysis can help urban planners design better infrastructure for active mobility like cycling. By addressing active mobility infrastructure from a system-wide and strategic angle, data science can identify shortcomings in, for example, cycling accessibility and help build more sustainable cities. In this talk they will present how network science can guide investments in cycling infrastructure, introduce the importance of incorporating subjective perceptions when quantifying bikeability, and finally discuss the limitations and criticism of bicycle network research.
Our second speaker will add to this perspective by looking at applications of spatiotemporal data analysis and forecasting in topics related to sustainability. Connecting to the previous talk, the speaker will give examples of data gaps in last mile logistics and how prediction models can have a positive impact on the efficiency and sustainability of delivery systems. Secondly, she will discuss spatiotemporal data processing in the use case of renewable energy, particularly wind power prediction. The speaker will discuss new machine learning approaches that leverage location information to predict wind power output and the associated costs of running more complex large models.
Finally, the third speaker will present a framing of the overall session by asking ‘what is meant by “Climate IT”?’ And discuss this concept in relation to related discussions of ’twin transition’. The paper will consequently turn to what we legitimately can expect and demand of the role of IT in green transitions and processes of sustainability. After these three short talks, there will be room for discussion with input from the audience.
Overall, the panel aims to explore the tense relations between digital technologies and climate change. On the one hand, it highlights the ways in which these technologies can create the fact-based, large-scale knowledge that can equip us to tackle the very complex problems our societies are faced with. On the other hand, the panel also critically engages with how the revolutionary promises made by digital technologies often make us gloss over their growing climate impact. Together, the different perspectives enable us to gain a deeper and more nuanced understanding of how to address arguably the most pressing challenge of our times, the climate emergency.
Format
Seminar with three short talks for questions and discussion.
Theme
The role of digital technologies in addressing societal challenges
Target Audience
The session is meant for anyone with an interest in climate change, both academics from different disciplaines and IT professionals.
There is no maximun number of participants for the session.
Organizers

Ane Rahbeck Vierø, Ph.D. Fellow, Department of Computer Science, IT University of Copenhagen
Maria Sinziiana Astefanoai, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, IT University of Copenhagen
Steffen Dalsgaard, Professor at the Department of Business IT, Head of Center for Climate IT, IT University of Copenhagen

Data Science Seminar with Paul Smaldino
2025-09-24 12:30 - 13:15 (Europe/Copenhagen) | ITU, 3F07, Kaj Munks Vej 11, Copenhagen, 2300, Denmark
Title: Why Use An Evolutionary Perspective To Study Culture?
Abstract: Theodosius Dobzhansky famously wrote in 1973, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution.” Biology is, of course, the study of living things. Humans are living things. Therefore, to study humans is to engage in biology. Yet, despite the prominent of Darwinian theory in the study of non-human animals, there is still widespread resistance to an evolutionary mindset when studying humans. Much of this is understandable. In the 1970s, Darwinian theory had little to say about human behavior and culture. Contributions from “social Darwinism” were racist and misguided, while evolutionary psychology has largely failed to capture the richness of the human experience. I will discuss an expanded view of evolutionary systems, including gene-culture coevolution and modern theories of cultural evolution, that show us why an evolutionary perspective offers much to the study of human cognition, behavior, and culture. I will highlight some of my own work in this area, focusing on formal models of identity, social learning, and collective problem-solving.
Biography
Paul Smaldino is a Professor of Cognitive and Information Science and a member of the Quantitative and Systems Biology graduate group at University of California Merced, and an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. Smaldino studies how behaviors emerge and evolve under social, cultural, or ecological pressures, often through the lens of mathematical and numerical modeling of social behavior and complex systems. Smaldino has degrees in physics and psychology and draws on this interdisciplinary background in his research.
Information for non-ITU participants: To enter the building (which is located in DR Byen), meet Jonas Juul here at 12:20 pm. He will let you in. Get in touch by writing Jonas Juul an email (see his website.)
