In April 2026 we held an internal Springer Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Festival. Across a series of keynote presentations, town halls, panel discussions, lightning talks, quizzes, and social events, we celebrated our rich HSS research output in book and journal article form, and our heritage, highlighting the impact and value of what we publish.  

This series of short videos, with accompanying blog posts, are developed from a group of initial lightning talks that were delivered by Springer Nature colleagues during the festival. They build on individual experience to tell compelling stories about what we publish and why we value our work with academic communities in the varied disciplines that comprise the Humanities and the Social Sciences.  

In a 'data-driven' society that is rapidly-changing and driven by AI, how can we ensure that society is also 'data empowered'?

In 2025, University College London hosted an event called “Building a Data Empowered Society” that I attended with @Beth Farrow . A data empowered society is a society where data and AI genuinely support well-being, inclusion and the public good and this event sought to bring together researchers, policy-makers, and local partners such as publishers to address this societal challenge.

In our event discussion group, the importance of humanities and social sciences (HSS) research and perspectives came through strongly. I wanted to share some key findings, condensed into 7 key HSS values:

Value 1. HSS can reveal the human meaning behind data

Data is great at showing patterns, but it cannot explain them. HSS provide the frameworks to interpret these patterns by examining how behaviour is shaped by culture, power, identity, emotion, history, and social norms.

Value 2. HSS shows who is missing from the data

Not everyone is equally visible in datasets. HSS disciplines are skilled at spotting these gaps and asking why they exist.

Value 3. HSS brings participatory and creative methods

Standard data collection can miss uncovering lived experience and perspectives where HSS leads in approaches such as co‑production, ethnography and arts‑based research.

Value 4. HSS strengthens policy by handling complexity

Policy often demands simple answers but social life is complex. HSS helps translate that complexity without stripping away what matters.

Value 5. HSS anticipates unintended consequences

HSS takes a long‑term, reflective view that is essential in times of rapid technological change, including the expansion of AI and data‑driven systems.

Value 6. HSS builds trust and public engagement

HSS excels at sense‑making: turning complex research and data into stories, frameworks and explanations people can understand and use.

Value 7. HSS embeds ethics and equity into technology

HSS provides ethical frameworks around fairness, justice, rights and inclusion—vital as innovation accelerates.

In summary, if we want a truly data‑empowered society—one that is fair, inclusive and responsive to real human needs—we must embed Humanities and Social Sciences at every stage: from how we collect data, to how we design technologies, policies and systems that shape people’s lives. 

I urge Humanities and Social science scholars to collaborate across disciplines with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) researchers through research projects, events and networks, and vice versa, supported structurally by funders and universities, to produce solutions that are not only innovative but trusted, socially grounded and sustainable.

A data empowered society needs Humanities and Social Sciences. What other values does HSS offer that I haven't included?

#Transdisciplinarity #AI #Data #HSS #ResearchMethods #Values #Ethics

Here is our video, What Makes us Human, highlighting highly impactful HSS research published by Springer Nature.