Julia Velkova is a Professor of Media and Culture at the Department of Culture and Society at Link枚ping University. She is also a ) at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies; and a Research Affiliate at the Santa Barbara. Her research is on digital technologies, computing and software cultures, media infrastructures and media production from interdisciplinary perspectives grounded in media studies, science and technology studies, and anthropological approaches. Themes that she explores in her research focus on value conflicts, inequalities, ideas of sustainability and contingent temporalities that emerge with the development and dismantling of media technologies and infrastructures such as data centers, software, algorithms, and communication networks. She initiated the DataLab at Link枚ping University 2023.
Velkova has co-edited several books, among which ; ; AI Infrastructures and Sustainability: Expanding Perspectives on Automation, Communication and Media (in print/2025); as well as and .
She has received research grants as PI from the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation; CHANSE/FORTE; and the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies; and as co-PI from the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond; and the Swedish Energy Agency. She has also served as vice-chair of the Media Industries and Cultural Production Section of .
1. 鈥漌hen Communication Networks Come to Die: Socio-cultural perspectives on infrastructure dismantling鈥� (2023-2028). This project is the main focus of her Profutura fellowship. She works to develop socio-cultural perspectives on infrastructure dismantling, with focus on questions of power, regimes of value, and citizenship. Her empiric focus is on the ongoing decommissioning of the landline telephone network in Sweden.
2. 鈥滿egabytes vs Megawatts: Understanding Infrastructural Frictions between Data Centers and Energy Grids for Sustainable Digitalization鈥� (2023-2027), funded by Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation. This project explores attempts to make data center infrastructures sustainable, and novel problems that emerge in their interrelation with electricity grids in Sweden in a context of energy transitions.
Velkova is also the Swedish PI of REIMAGINE ADM: Reimagining public values in algorithmic futures (2022 鈥� 2025), funded by the Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe (CHANSE) that develops new vocabularies and methods to explore how algorithmic systems pressure social values in practice.
Velkova has co-edited several books, among which ; ; AI Infrastructures and Sustainability: Expanding Perspectives on Automation, Communication and Media (in print/2025); as well as and .
She has received research grants as PI from the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation; CHANSE/FORTE; and the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies; and as co-PI from the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond; and the Swedish Energy Agency. She has also served as vice-chair of the Media Industries and Cultural Production Section of .
Current research
Velkova currently directs two major research projects as PI:1. 鈥漌hen Communication Networks Come to Die: Socio-cultural perspectives on infrastructure dismantling鈥� (2023-2028). This project is the main focus of her Profutura fellowship. She works to develop socio-cultural perspectives on infrastructure dismantling, with focus on questions of power, regimes of value, and citizenship. Her empiric focus is on the ongoing decommissioning of the landline telephone network in Sweden.
2. 鈥滿egabytes vs Megawatts: Understanding Infrastructural Frictions between Data Centers and Energy Grids for Sustainable Digitalization鈥� (2023-2027), funded by Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation. This project explores attempts to make data center infrastructures sustainable, and novel problems that emerge in their interrelation with electricity grids in Sweden in a context of energy transitions.
Velkova is also the Swedish PI of REIMAGINE ADM: Reimagining public values in algorithmic futures (2022 鈥� 2025), funded by the Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe (CHANSE) that develops new vocabularies and methods to explore how algorithmic systems pressure social values in practice.
Past Research Projects
- From Earth Stations to Data Centers: Network buildings as transnational infrastructures and logistical media. (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, 2019 - 2022)
- Hush氓ll som infrastrukturknutpunkter (VR/Energimyndigheten, 2018 - 2022)
- [Resistans och Effekt: Smarta Eln盲t](https://smartgridsforthemany.se/)
(Kamprad Stiftelsen, 2019 - 2023)
- Kommuner i med- och motvind 鈥� L盲rdomar om m枚jligheter och utmaningar fr氓n kommuners planering f枚r vindkraftsetableringar sedan 2009
(2022-2024)
Read more about Julia's research on her personal webpage: .
