I am glad to advertise the opening of the Topical Collection (TC) Untangling the Quantum Ecology: Charting the Impact of Quantum Theory and Quantum Technologies on Technoscience and the Digital Transformation, guest edited by myself and Prof. Robert Braun (Centre of Advanced Studies, Vienna) in the journal Digital Society.

The TC remains open from the 1st of January to the 30th of September 2026, during which time it welcomes contributions of research articles (8000 words) or commentaries (3000 words). Contributions will be reviewed on a rolling basis and (if accepted) published as soon as they are ready.

This TC aims to shape a novel dialogue at the intersection of critical data studies, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and societal-oriented readings of quantum theory (Barad 2007; Wendt 2015; Calzati & de Kerckhove 2024).

To do so, we experiment with the notion of Quantum Ecology intended as both an onto-epistemological framework – drawing on principles and phenomena such as uncertainty, superposition, entanglement, complementarity – and a disruptive technological paradigm shaped by Quantum Technologies (QTs) , whose impact has profound implications for the digital transformation, including AI.

On the one hand, through quantum theory, a space opens for a critical reframing of technoscientific practices and sociotechnical effects of the digital transformation, which challenges Newtonian and Cartesian objectivism, binarism, networkedness, advancing alternative ways to think and enact physical, social, and digital worldmakings.

Hence, for instance, how can issues of digital sovereignty be rearticulated via a quantum onto-politics? How can human and other-than-human agencies be rethought through the quantum ecology? How might a genealogy of the datum beyond its “natural” givenness be critically sustained by/though quantum theory?

On the other hand, by engineering quantum phenomena – such as superposition and entanglement – into their workings, QTs are set to reconfigure the scope of the possible, i.e., what is scientifically and technologically graspable and how to process it. Therefore, the consolidation of the quantum technological paradigm brings to the fore new sociotechnical tensions, potentialities, and threats, which warrant further exploration.

For example, what are the political and ethical implications of mapping the physical and the social worlds through quantum sensing devices that introduce ever new in/visibilities? How is data sharing impacted by/through quantum communication? How does the intersection between QTs and AI reshape imaginaries and practices across fields, from health to economy, from public sector to architecture?

Please, feel free to share with whoever might be interested!