Rate My Professor Paul Henman

Professor Paul Henman is Professor of Digital Sociology and Social Policy in the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland. He holds a Bachelor of Science (Advanced Honours), a Doctor of Philosophy, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the University of Queensland, as well as degrees in computer science/pure mathematics, sociology/social policy, and higher education. Prior to his academic career, he worked in the Australian Public Service. His PhD, completed in 1996 from the University of Queensland, focused on a socio-technical study of computers, policy, and governance in Australia's Department of Social Security. Henman serves as Major Convenor for Sociology and is a Chief Investigator and Node Leader at the University of Queensland for the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society, leading the Social Services Focus Area.

With over 20 years of research experience, Henman's work examines the development, design, deployment, and evaluation of digital technologies, automated decision-making, and artificial intelligence in government and social services. He explores the implications of automation and AI for policy, service delivery, service users, citizenship, governance, and practices of power, including ethical, legal, social, and practical considerations. His scholarship has been influential in the Digital Welfare State and Digital Social Policy literatures. Key publications include Governing Electronically: E-Government and the Reconfiguration of Public Administration, Policy and Power (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), Administering Welfare Reform: International Transformations in Welfare Governance (Policy Press, 2006), and Performing the State: A Critical Appraisal of Performativity in Public Management (Routledge, 2018), as well as Digital Government in an Age of Disruption (forthcoming with Professor John Halligan). He has received multiple grants from the Australian Research Council, including for projects on government web portals, e-government institutional structures, and trauma-informed AI, and has provided submissions to the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, parliamentary inquiries, and United Nations reports.