Erik Ljungberg

"Erik Ljungberg is a PhD candidate in the history of media and environment at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. His research explores the complex interplay between humans, the environment, and digital technologies, particularly as mediated through the scientific practices of environmental scientists using artificial intelligence.

His dissertation traces the entangled developments of machine learning and global forest monitoring systems driven by satellite data, from the 1990s to the present. Drawing on Peircean semiotics, cultural techniques, and Latour’sModes of Existence, Ljungberg also critically examines the near-mandatory use of satellite imagery under EU legislation to combat forest degradation. Sitting at the intersection of science, technology, and the environment, his interdisciplinary approach draws from critical media theory, science and technology studies, posthumanism, philosophy of technology, and critical AI studies.