BBC Tech Now Interview

An interview as part of a BBC documentary following a growing AI chatbot phenomenon which allows people to 'talk to the dead'.

BBC 3 Free Thinking

What objects do we value most and what do we give away to charity shops? Matthew Sweet talks to researchers whose work is being featured in the Being Human Festival that takes place in November across a series of UK universities.

His guests are anthropologist and soprano Jennifer Cearns from UCL, George Gosling, a historian at the University of Wolverhampton, and Georgina Brewis, of University College London, at the Institute of Education.

'Through the Looking Glass?' The Collapse of Self/Other in AI Mental Health Apps

In this talk, I discuss how Generative AI is challenging some of the analytical frameworks we think about self and other with, specifically regarding the rapid rise of AI in mental health care.

Researcher Spotlight

A short overview of the research I'm carrying out in my new role as Lecturer in AI at the University of Manchester

Anthropology & UX

In this seminar, hosted by UCL's Department of Anthropology, I reflect on my attempts to maintain parallel careers both within and without of academia, as an applied anthropologist in the healthcare sector, as well as a Fellow in Public Anthropology.

Response-Ability Summit Talk

In this short talk, I discuss the conceptual and ethical complications in designing digital mental healthcare tools that utilise Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to simulate a version of "human" empathy.

Illustrating Anthropology exhibition (2020)

Drawing has long been part of anthropological research and communication, in the form of maps, field-note sketches, and kinship diagrams. But now anthropologists are increasingly recognising the phenomenal story-telling power of illustration as a way to return their research to the communities they work with, and to share their findings far and wide.

This exhibition was curated by Laura Haapio-Kirk and Jennifer Cearns, with support from the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, where they are Leach/RAI Fellows in Public Anthropology. The entries to the exhibition were also judged by Dr Benjamin Dix, Founding Director of PositiveNegatives, who produce comics, animations, and podcasts about social and humanitarian issues.

​

A selection from this exhibition was shown at the Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool between 12th – 30th November 2020, and at Bloc Projects in Sheffield between 8th – 12th December 2020 as part of Being Human – the UK’s national festival of the humanities.

RAI x Fringe! Queer Ethnographic Film Festival

The Royal Anthropological Institute and the RAI Film Festival teamed up with Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest throughout July 2020 in celebration of Pride, to hold a short online film festival called Queer Eyes.

Throughout the month we held online screenings of 3 key documentaries which welcome us into the lives of different queer communities around the world, followed by a public Q&A hosted by Jennifer Cearns and Laura Haapio-Kirk to explore some of these central questions of gender, identity and sexuality through the lens of different cultures.

New Books Network

An interview by Katie Coldiron exploring my new books, published in 2023 by University Press of Florida.

The Human Show Podcast

In this podcast, I talk about balancing multiple career paths at once, and how I get my creative and intellectual 'fix' from mixing different careers as a soprano. anthropologist, and UX researcher.

Under Surveillance podcast

This episode is an edited recording of a panel at the King's College London 2024 AI Festival, chaired by Dr. Matan Shapiro, in which I discuss the role of AI in mental healthcare, and how this sits within a historical context of self-surveillance and economies of 'wellness'.