It has fundamentally been concerned with the "problem of structure and agency", that is with justifying these as irreducible entities with their own emergent properties and powers.
Her research is in the area of philosophy of social science. She was President of the International Sociological Association 1986-90. Professor Archer served as President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences until 2019. She was also a professor at l'Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. Archer has a PhD from London School of Economics, is a sociologist, who spent most of her academic career at the University of Warwick, UK, where she was Professor of Sociology. He was president of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE). From 2002 to 2009, he was director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) based in Washington DC.
von Braun is President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Vatican member of German National Academy of Science - Leopoldina, Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), Academy of Arts and Science North Rhine-Westphalia, fellow of African Academy of Science and of American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. His research is on economic development, science and technology policy, poverty reduction, food and nutrition security, resource economics and trade. He received his doctoral degree in agricultural economics from the University of Goettingen, Germany. Joachim von Braun is Director of the Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn University, and Professor for economic and technological change. The attendant ethical and religious dimensions of these technologies are addressed and implications for regulatory policies on the use and future development of AI/robotics technologies are elaborated. This volume covers multidisciplinary research, examines current research frontiers in AI/robotics and likely impacts on societal well-being, human – robot relationships, as well as the opportunities and risks for sustainable development and peace. While there has been considerable attention devoted to robotics/AI applications in each of these domains, a fuller picture of their connections and the possible consequences for our shared humanity seems needed. The emergent technologies have for instance implications within medicine and health care, employment, transport, manufacturing, agriculture, and armed conflict. This open access book examines recent advances in how artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics have elicited widespread debate over their benefits and drawbacks for humanity.