University of Gothenburg
  2. About the University
  3. Find staff
  4. Ylva Hård af Segerstad

Ylva Hård af Segerstad

Professor

Department of Applied IT, div CLIC
Telephone
+46 31-786 32 20
+46 766-18 32 20
Mail
ylva.hard-af-segerstad@ait.gu.se
Visiting address
Medicinaregatan 7B (Natrium)
41390 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 470
405 30 Göteborg

About Ylva Hård af Segerstad

About me

I am Professor of Communication at the interdisciplinary Department of Applied Information Technology at the University of Gothenburg, with a background in linguistics. My research concerns communication in a digitalised society, with an overarching interest in how digital technologies are entangled with people's everyday lives, relationships, and communicative and social practices. I work closely with researchers across disciplines and collaborate with partners outside academia.

Research and collaborations

A longstanding area of my research concerns death, grief, and digitalisation. I study the role of digitalisation in practices surrounding death, grief, memory, and relationships with the dead. My current research includes digital remains and grief over time, as well as critical studies of digital services and AI-based tools for grief and bereavement.

I am Visiting Professor at the Centre for Death & Society (CDAS), University of Bath, 2025–2028, and have been active in the Death Online Research Network (DORN) since its inception in 2013. I have also been active in the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) since 2000, which has been an important international community for both my research and my work in research ethics.

I also participate in several interdisciplinary research collaborations. In health and healthcare, I am affiliated with the Gothenburg Centre for Person-Centred Care (GPCC) at the University of Gothenburg and conduct research on AI-based tools for training in person-centred communication. I am Deputy Project Leader of AI Speak, which studies conversational AI for language learning and professional development. Other ongoing collaborations concern communication, information practices, and organisational learning in safety-critical settings.

Research ethics

Research ethics is a central and recurring strand of my work, both as a field of research and through national and international expert and advisory roles. I am particularly interested in ethical and methodological questions that arise as research methods, data, and technological conditions change.

I am Co-Chair of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) Ethics Working Group together with Michael Zimmer and Anja Bechmann. We lead the international work on AoIR's ethical guidelines for internet research, which are continuously developed in response to emerging technologies and research practices. I also serve as a scientific member of the Swedish Ethical Review Authority and as a member of the University of Gothenburg's Committee for Ethics in Research.

Teaching and supervision

I teach and supervise in the Master in Communication and the Master's Programme in Learning, Communication and Information Technology. My teaching primarily concerns research methods, research ethics and good research practice, communication, and digitalisation. I also teach at doctoral level and supervise Master's theses and doctoral researchers.