The DEMGES Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences invites you to Algorithmic Governance in Public Administration, a two-day workshop on 4-5 November 2026 (afternoons only).

Day 1 sets the scene with first-hand ‘inside the machine’ accounts from Finland, Austria and the Netherlands, tracing how algorithms and humans jointly steer a single administrative decision from start to finish. In an interactive afternoon session, participants use the REAL card-deck to map real public-sector cases - unemployment benefits, tax audits, child protection, migration, healthcare - surfacing invisible human labour, emerging value conflicts, and open questions of discretion and accountability.

Day 2 opens to the public at lunchtime with a Democracy Lab devoted to the Dutch experience: how the Netherlands translates ‘responsible AI’ into everyday administrative practice, drawing on critical-friend advisory panels, impact assessments and audits, and capacity-building for civil servants - including hard-won lessons from past scandals. The day closes with an Ask Me Anything with our Dutch guests.

It is an invitation to rethink what it means to govern - and be governed - by algorithms.