Dr Lorenn Ruster

Adjunct Research Fellow - Centre for Technology and Human Futures
PhD, Master of Applied Cybernetics, Master of International Management (CEMS MIM), Bachelor of Science (Advanced) / Bachelor of Arts)

Email: lorenn.ruster@nd.edu.au

  • Biography

    Dr. Lorenn Ruster is transdisciplinary scholar who assists organisations as they design, build, deploy, govern and adopt AI that honours human dignity. Creator of The Dignity Lens - the first framework operationalising dignity for AI - she brings both research and hands-on experience in practical responsible AI.

    She accompanies organisations and governments, convinced that they have a role to play in positively shaping technology. Together, we work out how to walk the talk on putting responsibility into action. Iteratively and authentically. In doing so, we are demonstrating what it takes to be the next generation of practitioners who centre humans in technology development.

    Following a decade in consulting, including as a Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers' Indigenous Consulting, she is currently an Adjunct Research Fellow at the UNDA Centre for Technology and Human Futures, a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian National University Complexity Leadership Lab, an independent advisor to organisations focused on making their responsible AI commitments real in practice, a Fellow with the International Humanistic Management Association and selected as one of the Australian Broadcasting Commission's Top 5 research voices for 2026.

  • Teaching Areas

    • AI Governance
    • Responsible AI
    • Leadership
    • Social / Responsible Innovation
    • Management

  • Research expertise and supervision

    • Responsible AI practices
    • Decision-making in complexity
    • Engaged Research with industry, community organisations and public sector
    • Transdisciplinary practice
    • Human-centred design

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    • Coggins, S., Saeri, A. K., Daniell, K. A., Henne, K., Ruster, L.P., Liu, J., & Davis, J. L. (2026).
      Affordance Analyses of AI Safety Policies: A Proof-of-Concept using OpenAI’s Preparedness Framework. Association for Computing Machinery Fairness, Accountability and Transparency Conference proceedings (ACM FAccT). https://doi.org/10.1145/3805689.3812331
    • Ruster, L. P. (2025). Responsible AI Practices: Histories, Definitions, Barriers and Future Directions. AAAI / ACM AI Ethics & Society Conference (AIES) Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1609/aies.v8i3.36708
    • Ruster, L. P. & Davis, J. L. (2025). The Gaps That Never Were: Reconsidering Responsible AI’s Principle-Practice Problem. Association for Computing Machinery Fairness, Accountability and Transparency Conference proceedings (ACM FAccT). https://doi.org/10.1145/3715275.3732024
    • Ruster, L. P. & Daniell, K. (2025). How to Operationalize Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence. MISQ Executive. https://aisel.aisnet.org/misqe/vol24/iss2/6
    • Ruster, L. P. (2025). Cybernetic Lookbooks: An emerging visual approach for organizational understanding. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change. https://doi.org/10.47061/jasc.v5i2.10308
    • Lamberton, C., Ruster, L. P.,  Ghai, S. & Saldahna, N. (2025). Counterpoint: Dignity, Properly Used, Could be a Useful Construct in AI Ethics. Patterns. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2025.101396
    • Seymour, M., Ruster, L. P., Riemer, K., Peter, S. & Kautz, K.  (2025). The Challenges of Researching AI in IS: AI and the Boundaries for IS Research and AI in Information Systems: Ethical and Methodological Challenges - Reports and Contextualization of Two ACIS Panels. Communications of the Association of Information Systems. https://aisel.aisnet.org/cais/vol57/iss1/77/
    • Ruster, L. P. (2023). Dignity-centred reflective practice for responsible action in technology startups: A preliminary approach. Australasian Conference of Information Systems (ACIS) 2023 Proceedings. Australasian Conference of Information Systems. https://aisel.aisnet.org/acis2023/25
    • Ruster, L. P., Oliva-Altamirano, P., & Daniell, K. A. (2022). Centring dignity in algorithm development: Testing a Dignity Lens. Proceedings of the 34th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1145/3572921.3572938
    • Ruster, L. P. (2020). Scaling Dignity: An Antidote to Poverty. Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings, 1, 86. https://doi-org.virtual.anu.edu.au/10.1111/epic.12013
    • Ruster, L. P., & Brown, G. (2020). Termination for Cultural Misalignment: Setting up Contract Terms to Ensure Community Well-Being in the Development of AI. International Journal of Community Well-Being, 3(4), 523–537. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42413-020-00081-8

  • Conference papers

      • Ruster, L. P. (2025). Five Characterizations of Responsible AI and their Affordances. CSIRO and AIML Next Generation Responsible AI Symposium [poster presentation].
      • Ruster, L. P. (2025). Multi-scalar pragmatist withness inquiry for designing responsible AI practices. European Group Organization Studies Conference (EGOS)
      • Ruster, L. P. (2024). Integrating ethics into early-stage tech development: Reflections from co-participatory action research with AI startups. European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) conference.
      • Ruster, L. P. (2024). Cybernetic Lookbooks: An emerging visual approach for organizational understanding. European Group of Organization Studies (EGOS) Conference.
      • Ruster, L. P., & Felstead, C. (2023). The Dignity Lens in practice: The case of Robodebt. CSIRO Diversity & Inclusion in AI Symposium. https://sites.google.com/view/diaicsiro/home
      • Ruster, L. P. (2023). Who’s prompting whom? How startups are experimenting with generative AI to ensure actions align with values. CSIRO Diversity & Inclusion in AI Symposium. https://sites.google.com/view/diaicsiro/home
      • Ruster, L. P. (2023). “Being Responsible” when building GPT-powered products: Cybernetic perspectives from a startup. ChatLLM23. https://youtu.be/SSY5eKuEVQc?si=88UWodeYpsrkYHC8
      • Ruster, L. P., & Daniell, K. A. (2022). Centring dignity in the responsible design of human-machine collaborations: An exploration. Human-Machine Collaboration in a changing world (HMC’22). https://algorithmicfutures.org/hmc22/program-schedule/hmc22-abstracts/ruster/
      • Ruster, L. P., & Daniell, K. A. (2022). Algorithmic impact assessments (AIAs): A case for moving beyond mitigating harms. Social Responsibility of Algorithms. https://algorithmicfutures.org/sra22-abstracts/ruster-daniell-algorithmic-impact-assessments-beyond-mitigating-harms/
      • Ajoke Ibrahim, M., Asadi, A., Cooper, E., & Ruster, L. P. (2022). The multi-level perspective of mobility management during a pandemic: Analysing the case of the Home Quarantine South Australia App. Social Responsibility of Algorithms. https://algorithmicfutures.org/sra22-abstracts/case-study-mlp-mobility-management-home-quarantine/ [equal contribution]
      • Ruster, L. P., & Snow, T. (2021). Dignity in government AI Ethics instruments. Response-ability Conference. https://response-ability.tech/programme/

  • In the media

    • Ruster, L.P. (2025) & Assaad, Z. (host). Human Dignity and AI: Insights from the Pope's Encyclical with Lorenn Ruster. Responsibility Bytes Podcast
    • Ruster, L.P. (2025) & Assaad, Z. (host). Dignity in Technology with Lorenn Ruster. Responsibility Bytes Podcast
    • Ruster, L.P. (2023) & Fong, N. (host). Lorenn Ruster on Dignity-Centered AI. Mindful AI Podcast Episode 4
    • Ruster, L.P. (2022) & Williams, R. (host). Bringing Dignity to Technology. ABC Science Show.
    • Ruster, L.P., Elias, A. & Posthuma, S. (host) (2022). The Fight for Ethics in Tech. Think: Business Futures.
    • Ruster, L.P (2022). MedTech, Renewable Energy & AI. ausbizTV.
    • Ruster, L.P  & Snow, T. (2021). Dignity-Centred Technology: Enabling Human Flourishing. With Lorenn Ruster and Thea Snow. Response-ability podcast.

  • Professional affiliations

    • Fellow - International Humanistic Management Association

  • Awards

    • Australian Broadcasting Corporation Top5 Humanities research voice for 2026

  • Other

      • Oliva-Altamirano, P., & Ruster, L. P. (2022). The ethics of automated classification: A case study using a dignity lens. Our Community. https://smartygrants.com.au/research/the-ethics-of-automated-classification-a-case-study-using-a-dignity-lens [equal contribution]
      • Ruster, L. P., & Snow, T. (2021). Exploring the role of dignity in government AI Ethics instruments. Centre for Public Impact. https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/partnering-for-learning/cultivating-a-dignity-ecosystem-in-government-ai-ethics-instruments