Cohort: ESOL 38°

Topic of the thesis: Automated decision making for social assessment in the welfare state: The Italian case

Abstract: Automated decision making through intelligent algorithms is increasingly used by national governments to assess citizens in social policies. It is necessary to shed lights on how these new technologies will be implemented in social policies at national level and how their quality and fairness will be affected. The aim will be to analyze how new technologies are changing procedures of social assessment in the system of social assistance and how the society is responding to this change. In particular, the research questions will investigate the use of automated social assessment in a particular case of policy against poverty in Italy: the Reddito di Rittadinanza (RdC). The methodology will include a qualitative empirical social research and a participatory approach. The research will provide a new and fresh source of data in the Italian field and will allow comparability with the other cases already existing both in Europe and the world. At last, the project will contribute to the field of welfare studies and social policies and will provide a policy analysis to deepen the understanding of automated assessments as an absolute innovation in the field of social policies.

Research interests: Welfare state, social policies, social innovation, social inequalities

Graduated from: Università Cattolica di Milano (BA), Università degli Studi di Milano (MA)

Degrees obtained:Linguistic sciences for international relations (BA), Global Politics and Society (MA)

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