AMCIS2026 Human–AI Collaboration and Governance for Responsible and Sustainable Digital Ecosystems mini-track

As digital transformation accelerates, the convergence of AI, data governance, and ecosystem thinking is reshaping how organizations create strategic value, build competitiveness, and sustain innovation advantage. Digital and data ecosystems are increasingly complex, spanning cloud, edge, and decentralized architectures such as data meshes and lakehouses, raising critical questions of trustworthiness, responsibility, and sustainability in AI integration.

This AMCIS2026 mini-track (by Association of Information Systems (AIS)) explores how AI, including increasingly agentic systems, acts as both a strategic enabler and active participant in digital and data ecosystems, enhancing governance, augmenting and automating decision-making, and transforming how organizations create value, while raising important governance, ethical, and human-agency considerations. We invite research examining how these ecosystems can remain responsible, resilient, and sustainable, while enhancing organizational agility, competitiveness, and long-term strategic performance across sectors such as government, healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and education.

The track bridges perspectives from information systems, data science, AI governance, and sustainability research to understand how the strategic and responsible design and management of AI-driven data ecosystems can support long-term value creation, competitiveness, and societal transformation. We invite interdisciplinary contributions from fields such as computer science, management science, data science, process science, decision science, organizational design, policy-making, complexity, behavioral economics, and the social sciences. Submissions may include conceptual, design science, empirical, theoretical, or case-based studies, including literature reviews.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

  • AI for governance, accountability, and trustworthiness in digital and data ecosystems;
  • human–AI collaboration and delegation, human-in-the-loop and hybrid governance;
  • responsible, sustainable, and strategically aligned management of AI-augmented data ecosystems, including Green AI;
  • governance and data management in emerging architectures (e.g., data mesh, data lakehouse), including data quality, transparency, and explainability;
  • transition from centralized to decentralized data architectures – organizational and design challenges;
  • ethical, interoperable, observable, and explainable AI in connected and cross-sectoral data ecosystems;
  • co-evolution of digital and data ecosystem components;
  • coopetition between digital and data ecosystems;
  • resilience, sustainability, and long-term governance of digital infrastructures;
  • socio-technical, organizational, and policy approaches to trustworthy and responsible data ecosystems;
  • emerging technologies (e.g., blockchain, edge computing, generative AI, digital twins, IoT, AR/VR) shaping responsible, sustainable, and energy- or resource-efficient strategic ecosystem innovation;
  • empirical studies and sectoral case analyses (e.g., healthcare, finance, government, education) on evolving AI-driven ecosystems;
  • design science, conceptual, and interdisciplinary frameworks for responsible, sustainable, and strategically effective data ecosystem innovation.

This mini-track will serve as a platform for interdisciplinary dialogue on the critical role of responsible, sustainable, and strategically oriented digital and data ecosystems in driving competitive and societal innovation. Researchers and practitioners are invited to share insights, theoretical perspectives, and empirical findings in this rapidly evolving domain.

📌 Submission Deadline: March 1, 2026
📍 Venue: AMCIS 2026 — Reno, Nevada (August 20–22)

Mini-Track Chairs

Anastasija Nikiforova – University of Tartu, Estonia
Daniel Staegemann – Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
Asif Gill – University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Martin Lnenicka – University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
George Marakas – Florida International University, USA

Read more and submit papers via AMCIS2026 website.

PhD Opportunity: Responsible & Sustainable AI, University of Tartu

We are planning to open fully funded 4-year PhD position(s) starting in 2026/2027 (University of Tartu · Information Systems Research Group), seeking ambitious, motivated candidates to explore the frontier of Responsible and Sustainable AI. To this end, we open the call for Expression of Interest.

This PhD program is ideal for those interested in:
🔹 Sustainable / Green AI & AI lifecycle sustainability
🔹 Organisational capability development for Sustainable AI
🔹 Responsible AI adoption & governance in organisational or public sector contexts
🔹 AI for trust, transparency, and organisational impact

Illustrative example topics include but are not limited to Sustainable / Green AI capability models, Green AI lifecycle & data ecosystem sustainability, Responsible GenAI adoption & governance, AI-enabled ESG reporting and impact assurance. Candidates, however, are welcome and are even encouraged to propose their own research angle within the scope of Responsible or Sustainable AI.

Who can apply?

  • Backgrounds: Information Systems, Digital Government, Sustainability, Management, Computer Science, Public Administration, or related fields
  • Experience with qualitative/quantitative research, mixed methods, or Design Science Research is a plus
  • Strong motivation and interest can compensate for limited experience

📄 How to express interest? Send a brief note including:

  1. CV
  2. 1–2 page research idea
  3. Transcript of records
  4. (Optional) Writing sample

📬 Email: anastasija.nikiforova@ut.ee. Subject line: EOI — PhD in Responsible/Sustainable AI and Information Systems

Why express interest now?

  • This is pre-application, not the formal call, but can strengthen your chances in a competitive pool (50+ applications per position).
  • Selected candidates may receive guidance on refining research ideas and preparing a strong application aligned with the Information Systems focus.

🌟 Join us at the University of Tartu Institute of Computer Science, among the top 1% of globally cited universities, to shape the future of responsible, sustainable, and trustworthy AI.

Celebrating Our Contribution to the 50th Anniversary of Government Information Quarterly

Marking a half-century of shaping the field, Government Information Quarterly (GIQ) celebrates 50 years as the leading journal in digital government research—and I am honored that our latest article, “Reflections on the Nature of Digital Government Research: Marking the 50th Anniversary of Government Information Quarterly,” forms part of this milestone issue constituting an editorial.

This collaborative piece brings together a group of scholars—Marijn Janssen, Hong Zhang, Adegboyega Ojo, Anastasija Nikiforova, Euripidis Loukis, Gabriela Viale Pereira, Hans J. Scholl, Helen Liu, Jaromir Durkiewicz, Laurie Hughes, Lei Zheng, Leonidas Anthopoulos, Panos Panagiotopoulos, Tomasz Janowski, and Yogesh K. Dwivedi—each offering a distinct perspective on how digital government research has evolved, diversified, and responded to societal and technological transformation.

A special thanks goes to Marijn Janssen, former Editor-in-Chief of GIQ, whose vision and coordination made this anniversary reflection possible.

Looking Back: Five Decades of Digital Government Research

Over 50 years, GIQ has chronicled—and often anticipated—the evolution of digital governance: from early computational systems to open government, data-driven innovation, smart cities, and the rise of AI.
Throughout these cycles, the journal has remained the field’s intellectual anchor, publishing research that tackles foundational public sector challenges while engaging with emerging technologies such as blockchain, quantum computing, IoT, AR/VR, and the Metaverse.

Several characteristics continue to define GIQ’s identity:

• Methodological and epistemological pluralism
GIQ’s hallmark is its openness to diverse paradigms, methods, and theoretical lenses. Rather than promoting a single theory of digital government, it invites multiple angles—qualitative, quantitative, mixed, conceptual, comparative—to analyze complex governance realities.

• “Blue-sky” thinking without hype
GIQ encourages forward-looking, innovative, and boundary-pushing ideas, while maintaining analytical discipline. This balance keeps the field visionary yet grounded.

• Impact rooted in both theory and practice
The journal has consistently insisted that strong methodology must lead to meaningful insights—advancing academic understanding while speaking directly to policymakers and practitioners.

• Clear communication to a broad audience
GIQ’s readership extends well beyond academia. With government, industry, and civil society looking to the journal for guidance, clarity and accessibility are essential. As Shakespeare famously said, “brevity is the soul of wit.”

What Our Anniversary Article Contributes

Our contribution synthesizes insights from leading experts to illuminate the nature, evolution, and future of digital government research.
Several overarching themes emerge:

  • epistemological pluralism and interdisciplinarity as fundamental characteristics of the field;
  • contextualized, value-driven, and practice-relevant research as the journal’s core strength;
  • digital transformation as a socio-technical phenomenon, where institutions, technology, data, governance models, and citizen expectations co-evolve;
  • the importance of studying both technology and context, avoiding the pitfalls of black-boxing either side of the equation;
  • GIQ’s role as a platform for blue-sky research, innovation, and rigorous theorization that remains relevant across countries and governance systems.

We dedicate this article to the late Professor Soon Ae Chun, former Co-Editor-in-Chief of GIQ.
Her leadership, scholarship, and unwavering commitment to quality and community have left an enduring mark on the field.

The 50-year anniversary of GIQ is more than a celebration. It is a reminder that the future of digital government research depends on openness: in methods, theories, communication, and imagination. As digital governance accelerates, the journal’s role as a bridge—between disciplines, between theory and practice, and between local realities and global insights—has never been more essential.

Green-Aware AI 2025 Workshop at ECAI2025

Join us – Riccardo Cantini, Luca Ferragina, Davide Mario Longo, Anastasija Nikiforova, Simona Nisticò, Francesco Scarcello, Reza Shahbazian, Dipanwita Thakur, Irina Trubitsyna, Giovanna Varricchio (University of Calabria & University of Tartu) – at the 2nd Workshop on Green-Aware Artificial Intelligence (Green-Aware AI 2025) to take place conjunction with the 28th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI2025) in Bologna, Italy, October 25-30 to examine the sustainability challenges posed by widespread adoption of AI systems, particularly those powered by increasingly complex models, pushing toward responsible AI development and provide a timely response.

The widespread adoption of AI systems, particularly those powered by increasingly complex models, necessitates a critical examination of the sustainability challenges posed by this technological revolution. The call for green awareness in AI extends beyond energy efficiency—it encompasses the integration of sustainability principles into system design, theoretical modeling, and real-world applications.

Green-aware AI requires a multidisciplinary effort to ensure sustainability in its fullest sense, that is, where the green dimension is interpreted broadly, fostering the creation of inherently green-aware AI systems aligned with human-centered values. These systems should uphold sustainability principles such as transparency, accountability, safety, robustness, reliability, non-discrimination, eco-friendliness, interpretability, and fairness—principles reflected in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the United Nations. The ethical and sustainable advancement of AI systems faces diverse challenges across every stage, including architectural and framework design, algorithm conceptualization, user interaction, data collection, and deployment. This involves designing tools that are inherently green-aware or introducing mechanisms, such as incentives, to encourage agents in AI systems to adopt green-aware behaviors. This principle can be applied across various domains of AI, including but not limited to Algorithm Design, Fairness, Ethics, Game Theory and Economic Paradigms, Machine Learning, Multiagent Systems, and all their applications.

It is worthwhile noting that machine learning systems rank among the most energy-intensive computational applications, significantly impacting the environment through their substantial carbon emissions. Notable examples include the training of large-scale, cutting-edge AI models like those used in ChatGPT and AlphaFold. The creation of such systems demands vast resources, including high-performance computing infrastructure, extensive datasets, and specialized expertise. These requirements create barriers to the democratization of AI, limiting access to large organizations or well-funded entities while excluding smaller businesses, under-resourced institutions, and individuals. The lack of interpretability in AI systems further exacerbates these challenges, raising significant concerns about trustworthiness, accountability, and reliability. Such systems often function as black boxes, making it difficult to understand their underlying decision-making processes. This opaqueness can erode public trust and create barriers to holding developers accountable for harmful outcomes. Additionally, AI systems are prone to biases embedded in their training data and reinforced through user interactions, perpetuating discrimination and unfair treatment, disproportionately affecting marginalized and underrepresented groups.

By addressing these pressing challenges, the workshop aligns with the global push toward responsible AI development and provides a timely response to the environmental and social implications of AI technologies. The primary goal of this workshop is to foster discussions among scholars from diverse disciplines, facilitating the integration of technological advancements with environmental responsibility to drive progress toward a sustainable future. As such Green-Aware AI 2025 invites contributions around the following topics of interest (not limited to thm exclusively though):
💡Green-aware AI frameworks and applications;
💡AI methodologies for energy-efficient computing;
💡Human-centered and ethical AI design;
💡Reliable, transparent, interpretable, and explainable AI;
💡Trustworthy AI for resilient and adaptive systems;
💡Fairness in machine learning models and applications;
💡Impact of AI on underrepresented communities, bias mitigation, and exclusion studies (datasets and benchmarks);
💡Theoretical analysis of energy efficiency in AI systems;
💡Green and sustainable AI applications in environmental and social sciences, healthcare, smart cities, education, finance, and law;
💡Compression techniques and energy-aware training strategies for language models;
💡Approximate computing and efficient on-device learning;
💡Green-oriented models in game theory, economics, and computational social choice;
💡Green-awareness in multi-agent systems;
💡Security and privacy concerns in machine learning models.

Stay tuned about keynotes info on whom to come soon!

📆Important dates:
Abstract submission: May 23
Paper submission: May 30
Notification of acceptance: July 25
Camera-ready: July 31

Join us at Green-Aware AI to help facilitating the integration of technological advancements with environmental responsibility to drive progress toward a sustainable future.

Workshop is supported by the Future AI Research (FAIR), the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research and Italia Domani.