International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW)

Dr. Anna Louban

Media ethics, philosophy of technology & AI

Anna Louban has been a research associate at IZEW since 2026. Her work focuses on two main areas: (a) the ethically responsible use of artificial intelligence in policing, and (b) the phenomenon of deepfakes and the threats that AI-generated or manipulated images and videos may pose to citizens’ privacy and personal rights.

More information

Her work at IZEW directly builds on several years of prior research at the Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR Berlin). There, she already worked on deepfakes as well as on the use of artificial intelligence in policing contexts.

Anna Louban completed most of her academic training at the University of Konstanz. She received her PhD in 2024 with a dissertation on German migration bureaucracy at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology. Prior to that, she completed a Master’s degree in Cultural Studies and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology at the University of Konstanz.

Career

Since 2026Researcher at the International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW), Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
2021-2025Researcher at the Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR Berlin) / Research Institute for Public and Private Security (FÖPS Berlin)
2024PhD (Dr. rer. soc.) at the University of Konstanz with a socio-ethnological dissertation on German migration bureaucracy 
Award: Bureaucracy Research Price. Awarded by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wirtschaft and the German Economic Institute (IW)
2012-2018Research Associate at the University of Konstanz / Cluster of Excellence “Cultural Foundations of Integration”
2004-2011Studies in Sociology, Slavic Studies, and Cultural Studies at the
University of Konstanz, as well as at RGGU in Moscow and JNU in New Delhi

Areas of expertise

  • AI & Society
  • Integrated Technology Development
  • Qualitative Social Research
  • Migration Studies
  • State, Law & Organizations (anthropological approach)