Last week, our Prof. Renata Włoch from DELab at the University of Warsaw was invited to present at the "Theorizing Data and AI" 2026, held this year at the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Now in its fourth edition, this annual gathering brings together scholars from across Europe and beyond to reflect on the evolving role of data and artificial intelligence in organizations and society, with a particular focus on building rigorous social-scientific frameworks for understanding AI.

Prof. Włoch's contribution focused on the methodological approach developed within INAiR's project, specifically on how the project diagnoses AI skills needs and gaps in the retail sector. At the heart of her presentation was the use of online job postings as a data source: by collecting and analysing tens of thousands of job advertisements from retail and e-commerce platforms across Cyprus, Germany, Italy, Poland and Romania, the INAiR research team was able to map what digital and AI-related competencies employers are actually demanding — or, notably, not yet demanding — from workers in the sector.

Presenting this work at a venue like the LSE's "Theorizing Data and AI" conference reflects the broader scientific ambition of INAiR: not only to deliver practical training resources for retail businesses, but to contribute to the theoretical and methodological debate on how to study AI in the workplace.

The conference's emphasis on social science perspectives on data and AI made it an ideal forum for sharing INAiR's interdisciplinary approach, which combines bibliometric analysis, statistical data from Eurostat, co-creation workshops with industry stakeholders, and labour market text mining.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us via the contact form: https://www.ai4retail.eu/en/contact