Meeting with Olena Zlobina

How doctoral students in sociology work with AI

On 28 October 2026 doctoral students met Olena Zlobina, guarantor of the PhD programme in sociology, to discuss the use of artificial intelligence in research.

The meeting covered a number of topical questions:

1. What opportunities AI opens up for a researcher;
2. How doctoral students use AI when working with theory and for data analysis;
3. What problems and limitations doctoral students run into.

Participants shared their own experience of working with artificial intelligence at different stages of research. They singled out the key functions AI performs as a supporting tool for doctoral students, in particular searching for and organising sources, establishing substantive links between sources and ideas, and generating new research perspectives. Turning to the use of AI in data processing, the doctoral students stressed how important it is to anonymise data before passing it to AI services.

The discussion produced a number of recommendations. An AI tool is best chosen to suit the particular research task, for instance, and it is worth learning to write good prompts. Since clear rules for the use of AI have not yet taken shape, it is especially important to observe the professional ethics of a sociologist and the standards of academic integrity.

Exchanges of this kind help doctoral students integrate new technologies into their own research practice in an informed way, and build a community of mutual support.