Associate Professor, Sociology
My research focuses on the organization of expert judgments, evaluation technologies, selection mechanisms, and complex decision-making processes. More specifically, I study how organizations deal with the challenging task of distributing scarce resources and opportunities using the support from group deliberations and collectivized assessments, lotteries, or artificial intelligence. I am currently studying i) the social dynamics of academic peer review and the evaluation of research proposals, and ii) the use of algorithm-based recruitment systems and the human-AI interaction effects in hiring processes. In addition to this, I am also interested in the sociological conceptualization of chance and fate; philosophy of technology, and theories of judgment and decision-making.
Selected publications:
Roumbanis, L. (2024) “After the Algorithms: A study of meta-algorithmic judgments and diversity in the hiring process at a large multicite firm.” Big Data & Society 11(1): https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517231221758 (with Moa Bursell)
Roumbanis, L. (2024) “Status hierarchies, gender bias and disrespect in review panel groups: ethnographical observations from the Swedish Research Council.” In: Acker S., Ylijoki O-H., and McGinn M. The Social Production of Research: Perspectives on funding and gender. Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)/Routledge.
Roumbanis L (2023) “New arguments for a pure lottery in research funding: A sketch for a future science policy without time-consuming grant competitions.” Minerva https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-023-09514-y.
Roumbanis L (2022) “Disagreement and agonistic chance in peer review.” Science, Technology, & Human Values 47(6): 1302-1333.
Roumbanis L (2021) “The oracles of science: On grant peer review and competitive funding.” Social Science Information 60(3): 356-362.
Roumbanis L (2019) “Peer review or lottery? A critical analysis of two different forms of decision-making mechanisms for allocation of research grants.” Science, Technology, & Human Values 44(6): 994-1019.
Roumbanis L (2019) “Symbolic violence in academic life: A study on how junior scholars are educated in the art of getting funded.” Minerva 57: 197-218.
Roumbanis L (2017) “Academic judgments under uncertainty: A study of collective anchoring effects in Swedish Research Council panel groups.” Social Studies of Science 47(1): 95–116.