28.01.2026Welcome Gemma Newlands

We are delighted to welcome Gemma Newlands as an assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology.

Prof. Dr. Gemma Newlands has joined the Department of Sociology and the Digital Society Initiative (DSI) as an expert in Societal Digitalization.

She leads a research team dedicated to examining human-AI hybridity in the workplace. Her team’s work investigates how digital technologies reshape socio-organisational processes, decision-making, and lived work experiences with particular attention to themes such as augmentation, transparency, and temporal trade-offs.

Her research has been widely published in leading academic journals on topics related to AI, occupational evaluation, digital labour, and algorithmic management. 

Her first teaching module (starting this spring semester 2026) is an elective titled Digital Society:

This course provides an in-depth sociological introduction to the debates, theories and concepts related to the impact of digital technologies on human society. Through weekly lectures, it offers a critical exploration of digital inequalities and the lifelong implications of inclusion, exclusion, and exploitation online.
Students will address how social interactions, from intimate relationships to violent conflicts, are influenced by platforms, algorithms, and changing privacy norms. The course tackles pressing issues such as the formation of online subcultures, the spread of conspiracy theories, and evolving tensions between human and artificial agents. Students will gain insights into how online political activity and digital financial services reshape everyday interactions, as well as how emerging technologies influence our sense of time and space. This course takes a global perspective, prioritising the inclusion of diverse and cutting-edge academic research.

Dear Gemma, we wish you a great start here in Zurich and all the best for your research!
- Best wishes the team at SUZ. 

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