Dr. Funda Ustek Spilda is Guest Speaker at DiPLab Seminar (Feb. 20, 2026, 3PM CET)

Our DiPLab seminar is delighted to welcome our friend and collaborator, Dr. Funda Ustek Spilda, Senior Lecturer and South East Asia Programmes Lead at the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London, on 20 February 2026 at 3:00 pm CET.

The seminar will be held in person at ISC-PIF (Institut des Systèmes Complexes – Paris Île de France), 113 rue Nationale, 75013 Paris. To register, click on the button below and fill out the form. The seminar is free to attend.

Register here

The Digital Assembly Line: Upgrading Data Work within the Global Production Networks of AI

This paper investigates how service-based labour practices in data work sites, such as data labelling and content moderation, contribute to development within global production networks (GPNs). Service-based labour practices are gaining wider attention as governments in the Global South actively promote data services as a pathway to economic growth and seek integration to digital value chains. Against this background, the paper examines labour dynamics and managerial perspectives in data work, analysing their implications for economic and social development across diverse geographies. Drawing on upgrading literature within the GPN framework, the paper investigates the potential of service nodes to achieve economic, social and functional upgrading. The findings underscore the difficulties service nodes face in achieving upgrading due to structural dependencies and power asymmetries within the GPNs. Peripheral economies encounter additional barriers, including inadequate infrastructure, skill shortages and investment gaps. The study highlights the urgent need for structural reforms and collective action to counteract systemic inequalities in global production networks, paving the way for a more equitable integration of service-based labour into the global digital economy.

Dr. Funda Ustek Spilda is a Senior Lecturer and South East Asia Programmes Lead at the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London. She holds a DPhil in Sociology from the University of Oxford & St. Cross College, and has held various research positions at Goldsmiths, University of London (ARITHMUS), London School of Economics and Political Science (VIRT-EU), and the Oxford Internet Institute & University of Oxford (Fairwork). She studies topics related to labour, care, work and employment in the digital economy, from an ethics, justice and fairness perspective. Her full list of publications could be accessed at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/funda.ustek/