Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
I’m a Senior Lecturer and ARC Future Fellow in the Emerging Technologies Research Lab, Department of Human Centred-Computing, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. I’m also an Associate Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making & Society.
I study the political economy of information technology and risk governance with a focus on the insurance industry. My current project—funded by a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council—focuses on critically studying the polycrisis of insurance insecurity and climate risk governance. I am especially interested in analysing the political economic and socio-technical systems that influence the construction of knowledge about climate risk and mediate the relationships between (re)insurance industry, risk modellers, local governments, and vulnerable communities.
Previously, my work on the political economy of the insurance technology market was supported by an ARC DECRA Fellowship (2022-2024). See these journal articles for an overview of the critical agenda and theoretical approach that motivates much of my research on insurtech.
My first book — Too Smart: How Digital Capitalism is Extracting Data, Controlling Our Lives, and Taking Over the World (MIT Press, 2020) — lays out how the pursuit of power and profit is being materialized through smart technologies that have infiltrated all of society. My second book — The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism (UC Press, 2025) — goes even deeper into demystifying the material relations that underlie these systems and showing why technological capitalism must be dismantled so we can build a better world, bit by bit. These two books are best paired together.
In addition to publishing work in a range of academic journals, I also regularly write and speak about the politics of technology in many major media outlets. All of that can be found on my CV.
I also co-host a weekly podcast on technology and political economy: This Machine Kills. You can listen and subscribe anywhere fine podcasts are distributed.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology, Doctor of Philosophy, Arizona State University
Award Date: 9 Aug 2016
Research area keywords
- smart technology
- digital technology
- automation
- data and society
- political economy
- inequality
- urban geography
- social theory
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
-
Crisis, Insurance, and the Techno-Politics: Crisis, Insurance, and the Techno-Politics of Climate Risk Governance
Sadowski, J. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
ARC - Australian Research Council
1/01/26 → 31/12/29
Project: Research
-
Implications of ‘data hunger’ in rental housing: protecting Australian tenants
Maalsen, S. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Martin, C. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Rogers, D. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Wolifson, P. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Humphrey, J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Sadowski, J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Soundararaj, B. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Clarke, A. (Chief Investigator (CI)) & Przhedetsky, L. (Chief Investigator (CI))
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute
12/08/24 → 25/07/25
Project: Research
-
Everyday Insurtech: Impacts of Emerging Technology for Insurance
Sadowski, J. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
1/01/22 → 31/12/24
Project: Research
-
VSL Project: City of Melbourne: Visual Sensing Language
Sadowski, J. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Lanzeni, D. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Dahlgren, K. (Chief Investigator (CI)) & Pink, S. (Chief Investigator (CI))
Melbourne City Council (City of Melbourne)
12/06/20 → 21/09/20
Project: Research
-
Computer-vision research is hiding its role in creating ‘Big Brother’ technologies
Sadowski, J., 25 Jun 2025, In: Nature. 643, 8070, p. 41-42 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment / Debate › Other
-
Machine's Eye View: Postmodern Data Science and the Politics of Ground Truth
Sadowski, J., 17 Apr 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Science Technology and Human Values. 26 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access1 Citation (Scopus) -
The Mechanic and the Luddite: A RUTHLESS CRITICISM OF TECHNOLOGY AND CAPITALISM
Sadowski, J., 2025, Oakland CA USA: University of California Press. 283 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book › Research › peer-review
11 Citations (Scopus) -
When algorithmic management was new Engineered standards and the managerial prerogative in Australia
O’Neill, C., Kelly, L., Goldenfein, J., Phan, T. & Sadowski, J., 30 Jun 2025, In: Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation. 19, 2, p. 244-260 17 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
‘It's not personal, it's strictly business’: behavioural insurance and the impacts of non-personal data on individuals, groups and societies
Bednarz, Z., Lewis, K. & Sadowski, J., Apr 2025, In: Computer Law and Security Review. 56, 14 p., 106096.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)
Prizes
-
-
Most cited article – Antipode
Sadowski, J. (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
-
Most cited article – Big Data & Society
Sadowski, J. (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
-
Most cited article – Science, Technology & Human Values
Sadowski, J. (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Press/Media
-
The energy costs of staying at home
Dahlgren, K., Sadowski, J., Strengers, Y., Nicholls, L. & Pink, S.
21/08/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Article/Feature