Professor portrait: Vasilis Galis found his way in research on the Athens metro

On 28 March 2025 at 14:30, Professor Vasilis Galis from the section Technologies in Practice will present his inaugural lecture in Auditorium 0 at the IT University of Copenhagen. The lecture is entitled “Research against dead time”.

Written 13 March, 2025 09:18 by Mette Strange Mortensen

Riding the metro in Athens, on his way to have coffee with a friend, Vasilis Galis found his research field and motivation. His friend was wheelchair-bound and living in a city that is quite inaccessible to wheelchair users. But the Athens metro was accessible, even for people in wheelchairs, and they got to talk about this. “When I take the metro, it feels like my wheelchair disappears,” said his friend Nikos, and it made Vasilis Galis think about his own privileges as an able-bodied person. “This experience made me want to do research that matters to society, against the dictatorship of the normal, as a refusal to the current, against dead time,” says Professor Vasilis Galis.

Vasilis Galis started his research career as a PhD student in the field of economics and innovation, but it did not feel quite right until that day on the metro with his friend.

“I wanted to conduct research about something that had an impact on and for social groups, who are often overlooked and marginalised. I needed my research to be in closer contact with society than it was when I first started my PhD,” says Vasilis Galis.

On 28 March 2025 at 14:30 Vasilis Galis will present his inaugural lecture entitled “Research against dead time”.

“My inaugural lecture will reflect my research. I want my research to go a bit outside of the prism of the market, without compromising on the academic standards. I think a lot of research focuses on how to create value for the industry, but I want my research to focus on creating value for societal and grassroot movements,” says Vasilis Galis.

Vasilis Galis’ research has mainly revolved around how technical and digitalization projects affect social groups: migrants, people with disabilities, or Indigenous populations, amongst others.

“My research is in epistemic solidarity with social groups who are often marginalised, and I try to bring their perspectives forward without becoming an avant-garde translator of their interests,” says Vasilis Galis, “I hope my research will have an impact in the real world. I try to make sure that my results do not just stay in academia but come back to the people associated with it.”

Eleven years ago, Vasilis Galis came to ITU. While being here his research has had an increased focus on how the public sector in Denmark is being digitalized and especially the police and their use of surveillance.

“I have recently completed a research project on the digitalisation of the Danish police. Digitalisation appears like a necessity for both the government and the media, but it is not as straight forward as it seems or just a technical matter. Through my research, I want to create awareness about e.g. surveillance, the involvement of big tech in critical sections of the state, such as law enforcement, and the outsourcing of police infrastructure. I think people should be aware of how police work affects them, and how data is used by the police, the migration authorities, in courts and so on” says Vasilis Galis:

“This is especially timely and important in a volatile world as ours. My hope is that my research can be used against contemporary technopolitical totalitarianism.”