Yousif Hassan | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
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Core faculty

Yousif Hassan

Assistant professor
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Yousif Hassan is an assistant professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and School of Information. His research focuses on the social, economic, and political implications of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, natural language processing, blockchain among other technologies with a particular emphasis on technoscientific innovation, development, and the digital economy. Hassan’s interest is at the intersection of social justice and technology and innovation policy. His most recent work investigates the development of AI and its innovation ecosystem across multiple African countries focusing on AI, data governance, the data economy, and the sociotechnical knowledge production and innovation practices of governments, scientists, and the tech industry.  

Hassan is a former Illinois distinguished fellow at the School of Information Sciences and a faculty affiliate with the Center for African Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was a research fellow at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He started his career as a software engineer, including as both a manager in multinational corporations and a co-founder of a tech company focused on AI, blockchain, and digital transformation, which led him to the academic field of science and technology studies.  

Educational background

  • PhD in Science and Technology Studies, York University, Canada
  • MA in Science and Technology Studies, York University, Canada
  • Master of Engineering, McMaster University, Canada
  • B.Sc. (Honors) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Khartoum, Sudan 

Professional affiliations

  • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
  • Society for Social Studies of Science (4S)
  • African Studies Association (ASA)
  • Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) 

Recent publications

  • Hassan, Y. (2024). The Politics of Memory: NLP Models as Liberating Artifacts. Science, Technology and Society.
  • Hassan, Y. (2024). Machine Learning as a State-building Experiment: AI and Development in Africa. In C. Borch & J. P. Pardo-Guerra (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Machine Learning. Oxford University Press.
  • Subramanian, V. & Hassan, Y. (2024). Peripheral Visions: STS and Digitalisation in the Non-West. Science, Technology and Society.
  • Hassan, Y. (2023). Governing algorithms from the South: A case study of AI development in Africa. AI & Society, 38(4), 1429–1442.
  • Hassan, Y. (2022). The Evolution of the Sudanese Authoritarian State: The December Uprising and the Unravelling of a ‘Persistent’ Autocracy. In Ö. E. Topak, M. Mekouar, & F. Cavatorta (Eds.), New Authoritarian Practices in the Middle East and North Africa (pp. 252–275). Edinburgh University Press.
  • Hassan, Y. (2020). The politics of sharing: Sociotechnical imaginaries of digital platforms. Information Polity, 25(2), 159–176.