AI Ethics and Qualitative Research
September 30th, 2025 | Online (Free)
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Session duration: 60 minutes | Language: English
To register, please follow the link at the bottom of the page.
This Panel Discussion is part of the pre-WCQR2026 program. The 10th World Conference on Qualitative Research (WCQR2026) will be held from 20 to 22 January 2026 at the Complutense University of Madrid – Faculty of Education, Spain, and from 02 to 05 February 2026 Online.
The employment of “Artificial Intelligence” (AI), especially Large Language Models (LLMs), in qualitative inquiry is the subject of much current discussion and debate. These concerns often focus on the ethics of deploying AI in qualitative research (e.g. Christou 2023; Marshall & Naff 2024). Less attention has been paid to 1) qualitative approaches to studying generative AI and its ethical implications in social practices, organizations, and relationships, and 2) how studying AI might (re-)shape the assumptions, approaches, and ethics of qualitative inquiry.
Our conversation will be animated by the following questions:
- How are you deploying qualitative research to study the ethics and values that are embedded in and shaped by AI/LLMs?
- What does your research help us understand about the ethics of AI?
- What are the implications of your research for studying “the human,” as qualitative research aims to do?
- And how does studying AI-human relations (re-)shape how you think about ethics and values in the conduct of qualitative research?
Gillian Lemermeyer (Moderator)
Gillian Lemermeyer, PhD, RN is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta, Canada. Gillian’s research employs phenomenological and other qualitative methods to explore questions situated in the embodied encounters between nurses and other healthcare practitioners with the people in their care. The focus is on themes of relational ethics, embodied knowing, and the ethics of artificial intelligence in healthcare. Recent and on-going projects include investigating the ethics and effects of AI and other digital technologies in K-12 education and the techno-ethics of electronic health record systems and AI scribes. She is the Associate Director of the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology, adjunct core faculty with the John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre, and co-lead of the AI and Health research Hub at the University of Alberta.
Ali Shiri (Panelist)
Ali Shiri is a Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies in the Faculty of Education and the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at the University of Alberta. He received his PhD in Information Science from the University of Strathclyde Department of Computer and Information Sciences in Scotland in 2004. Ali has been teaching, researching, and writing about digital information interaction and retrieval, Inuvialuit cultural heritage digital libraries, data and learning analytics, and more recently generative AI in research and higher education. Ali was a member of the University of Alberta Provost’s Taskforce on AI and the Learning Environment and is currently co-chairing the AI in Teaching and Learning Sub-committee at the University of Alberta. He has been leading several AI literacy initiatives for the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and has published and presented on AI literacy, AI in universities, academic integrity and generative AI, and AI and interdisciplinarity.
Vern Glaser (Panelist)
Dr. Vern Glaser is a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise in the Department of Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Management at the Alberta School of Business. He also serves as the Academic Director of the Alberta Business Family Institute, guiding family enterprises through strategic transitions and technology adoption. Vern’s research explores how organizations use AI and data analytics to transform decision-making and spark innovation—insights he weaves into the classroom with real-world case studies and interactive discussions. Drawing on years of industry experience in management consulting, merger integration, and operations, Vern empowers MBA students to develop practical strategies that tackle the complex challenges of modern business. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, an MBA from Duke University, and a BA in Economics from UCLA.
Additional information:
vernglaser.com
ualberta.ca/vglaser
Michael van Manen (Panelist)
Michael van Manen, MD, PhD, FRCPC (Pediatrics, NICU, CIP), is Director of the John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta. He also practices neonatal-perinatal medicine at the Stollery Children’s Hospital. Recognized internationally for his expertise in qualitative health research, Dr. van Manen grounds his work in the tradition of phenomenology and has developed and taught numerous workshops and courses on phenomenological inquiry. His research focuses on ethical decision-making, the experiential life of the fetus/newborn, the use of medical technologies in clinical encounters, and patient-family experiences of hospital care. His major publications include The Birth of Ethics: Phenomenological Reflections on Life’s Beginnings, Phenomenology of the Newborn: Life from Womb to World, and Classic Writings for a Phenomenology of Practice (with Max van Manen).
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