News about Society

Karen Lauterbach publishes paper on Music as Knowledge Production

Newly published research from Karen Lauterbach and colleagues followed a Ghanaian highlife band and community musicians producing music on water research

Contested Discrimination: A Theory of the Societal Struggle over Definition and Prevalence

This article argues that the disagreement is built into the concept itself, and that the disagreement about how common discrimination is grows over time

Two New Honorary Doctors at the Faculty of Law

At the University of Copenhagen’s traditional Annual Commemoration, the University's new honorary doctors are appointed.

Call for abstracts: XX Interdisciplinary Seminar on Climate, Energy and Sustainability

The Centre for Climate Change Law and Governance (CLIMA) is organizing a special edition of the Interdisciplinary Seminar on Climate, Energy and Sustainability with a focus on biodiversity.

New CMS Report about U.S. Minilateralism

The strategic competition between the United States and China is the most important driving force shaping the international order. As a result, U.S. foreign and security policy is increasingly focused on China and the…

Rising Inequality, Declining Mobility: The Evolution of Intergenerational Mobility in Germany

Moritz Bode and co-authors new research accepted for publication in Journal of Public Economics

Zygmunt Bauman’s Sociology of Freedom: Freedom as a Differential, Ambivalent and Moral Blessing (chapter 10)

How free are we – and at whose expense? In a new chapter in The Routledge International Handbook on Zygmunt Bauman (eds. Michael Hviid Jacobsen, Dariusz Brzeziński, Mark Davis and Jack Palmer), Poul Poder examines how…

N. Meltem Daysal will give keynote talk at the CHG workshop on Economics, Inequality and Health

Researchers gathered at the University of Gothenburg for the second CHG Workshop on Economics, Inequality, and Health to explore how economic and health factors shape inequality and well-being.

New bookchapter on the study of maritime infrastructure

Maritime infrastructure connects us to the sea more than ever before, yet it remains an under-explored field. In a new book chapter, Tobias Liebetrau presents three ways of studying the infrastructure of the ocean.

New research article on human control of artificial intelligence in land warfare

Artificial intelligence is rapidly making its way into military operations – not only in autonomous weapon systems, but also in the decision-support systems that analyse intelligence, suggest routes and identify…

Denmark needs legislation to rescue AI from the public sector’s digital graveyard

Unclear regulations are challenging the use of artificial intelligence in the public sector. Two legal scholars propose that new legislation providing a clearer legal basis for the use of AI in public administration…

Phone-free lessons boost marks, major experiment shows

Students perform better academically when they put their phones away during lessons. The effect is greatest among those who already have the lowest marks, according to a new international research project.

New guidelines address the EU AI Act and arbitrators’ use of AI

The Danish Institute of Arbitration presented its new Guidelines on the Regulation of Arbitrators’ Use of AI

Shared internship between research project at Saxo and the UN Library & Archives in Geneva

Shared internship at INNER_LEAGUE

Sympathy exchange and the making of soulmate friendships

A micro‑sociological study of adolescents with hearing loss in mainstream and boarding schools

Three promotions at MOBILE

Urška Šadl, Sarah Scott Ford and Christian Prener have been promoted.

“He’s a Jew, of course…” Popular crime novels are full of Jewish stereotypes

In Agatha Christie’s detective novels, Jewish characters are often portrayed as greedy and suspicious outsiders. Even after the Holocaust, Christie continued to write about Jews in prejudiced ways, albeit in a more…

Do we need dark emotional energy? A comment on “Rituals of Resentment”

New publication by Associate Professor Poul Poder.

Can your employer demand proof that you’ve slept well?

New technology may be able to improve our sleep. But without clear rules, we risk sleep becoming something that employers, insurance companies and other institutions feel entitled to monitor, researchers warn.

Dark Memes on Facebook: Coded Language, Hateful Humor, and Plausible Deniability

The article examines how dark memes on Facebook use coded visual and linguistic strategies to communicate hateful meanings while retaining plausible deniability.

Neutralization without Drift: The Aesthetics of Cruelty in Hateful Meme Sharing

The article examines hateful meme sharing in group-based social media and asks why users may circulate hateful content without seeing their behaviour as deviant.

New visiting researcher - Bhavya Gupta

Visiting from 10 to 15 November 2026.

Three experts appointed to support four-party initiative on pig production

The government has appointed three independent experts who will provide the academic foundation for the government’s four-party initiative on the future of pig production

Bending forwards at work may be an overlooked risk for pregnant women

Pregnant women who frequently bend forward at work could face an increased risk of miscarriage, according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen. The researchers believe that greater attention should be paid t…