Jakob Laage-Thomsen
Postdoc, National Center for AI in society, University of Copenhagen and Department of Management, Danish Technical University
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Hi!
Hi!
I study professional decision-making and expertise in public policy and public administration. I use comparative, computational and historical methods and much else. I am postdoc at the National Center for the Study of AI in Society at the University of Copenhagen and the Department of Management at Danish Technical University. Before then I studied the use of AI and predictive algorithms in public administration, as part of the 'Algorithms, Data, and Democracy' project.
I completed my PhD thesis at the Department of Organization at Copenhagen Business School, with supervision from Professor Leonard Seabrooke and Associate professor Anders Blok. I am most familiar with issues related to generative AI, machine learning, behavioral economics and public health security. Please consult my publications, or reach out if you want to know more or get in touch!
I have a masters degree in Sociology from the University of Copenhagen, and enjoy coding, social theory and political economic history. I also have an ongoing interest in new forms of green and environmental engagement in urban contexts.
I am on the editorial board of Dansk Sociologi, journal of the Danish Sociological Association.
Publications
Publications
On Artifical Intelligence and Public sector digitalization
Laage-Thomsen, J., & Ratner, H. F. (2024). Kunstig intelligens i den offentlige forvaltning: sammenhænge mellem algoritmisk regulering og automatisering af beslutninger i de danske AI ”signaturprojekter”. Politica, 57(2), 21–42.
Laage-Thomsen, J., Ratner, H. F., & Schrøder, I. (2025). The beginning of AI-driven welfare? A mapping of how public sector AI experiments shape the post-digital welfare state. In V. Galis, & V.-S. Vlassis (Eds.), Welfare After Digitalization: Digitalizing welfare, outsourcing responsibility Edward Elgar Publishing.
Schrøder, I., Laage-Thomsen, J., & Ratner, H. F. (Accepted/In press). An Emerging Welfare Data Economy? In K. Asdal, & L. Dogonova (Eds.), Value economy: versions, sites, and tools Mattering Press.
On Policy Advice
Laage-Thomsen, J. (2025). The politico-administrative and politico-ideational foundations of comparative Policy Advisory Systems. In Handbook of Policy Advice (pp. 575-588). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob (2025 in publication) "Ideational change in Policy Advisory Systems" for Handbook of Policy Advisory Systems published by Routledge
On Public Health Security
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob, Søren Lund Frandsen (2022) Pandemic preparedness systems and diverging COVID-19 responses within similar public health regimes: a comparative study of expert perceptions of pandemic response in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Globalization & Health 18, 3.
Frandsen, Søren Lund, Jakob Laage-Thomsen (2025) Knowledge mandates: A comparative approach to independent agencies’ legal, technical, and moral authority. Working paper.
Frandsen, Søren Lund; Jakob Laage-Thomsen (2020). Pandemic intellectuals. Acta Sociologica.
On Expertise and Behavioral Insights
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob, Søren Lund Frandsen (2023) Faglighedens Fødsel: Historien bag faglighedsbegrebets indtog i dansk uddannelses-, arbejdsmarkeds- og forvaltningspolitik (Translated title: The Birth of "Faglighed": The History behind a National Concept of Professionalism and Its Success in Danish Educational, Labor and Administrative Politics), Økonomi og Politik 96(4)
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob (2022) Nudging the Norse: How experts connect across politico-administrative and expert ecologies to establish Behavioral Insight professionalism in public policy, Working paper
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob (2021) Professional expertise in policy advisory systems: How administrators and consultants built behavioral insights in Danish public agencies. Public Administration; 1– 16.
On Tax Policy
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob, Leonard Seabrooke (2021) Actors and Authority in the International Tax Ecosystem. In: Combating Fiscal Fraud and Empowering Regulators - Bringing Tax Money Back into the COFFERS. (Ed.) Brigitte Unger; Lucia Rossel; Joras Ferwerda. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 8-26.
On Green transitions and Civic Engagement
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob, Søren Lund Frandsen, Marte Mangset, Johan Christensen (2025) Environmental States in Norway and Denmark 1990-2024: Embattled, Dismantled and Resurrected?. Working paper
Blok, Anders; Juvik, Amanda; Kvist Møller, Anna; Raaschou-Pedersen, Jonas; Laage-Thomsen, Jakob (2022) The place of greening: comparing civic engagement scenes of urban natures across Danish cities. City & Community.
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob; Anders Blok (2021) Varieties of Green: On Aesthetic Contestations Over Urban Sustainability Pathways in a Copenhagen Community Garden. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, Vol. 4, No. 2, 6.2021, p. 275-295.
Anette Gravgaard Christensen; Jakob Laage-Thomsen; Anders Blok (2020) Urban Green Communities : Towards a Pragmatic Sociology of Civic Commonality in Sustainable City-making. In: The Role of Non-State Actors in the Green Transition: Building a Sustainable Future. ed. /Jens Hoff; Quentin Gausset; Simon Lex. Abingdon : Routledge, p. 114-135 (Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies)
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob; Anders Blok (2020) Civic Modes of Greening the City?: Urban Natures In-between Familiar Engagement and Green Critique. Local Environment: The international journal of justice and sustainability, Vol. 25, No. 2, 2020, p. 162-178.
Christensen, Anette Gravgaard; Troels Krarup; Jakob Laage-Thomsen; A.K. Juvik (2020) ”Fælleshed som by-naturens ”sted”: Metodologiske tilgange til ”familiært engagement” i bygrønne fællesskaber” for Dansk Sociologi (2019-4)
Presentations and commentaries
Presentations and commentaries
Non peer reviewed commentaries or articles:
Podcast interview (May 2025) “Evaluering af de offentlige AI-signaturprojekter”, AI Danmark
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob & Helene Friis Ratner (June 2023) ”Forskeren forklarer: Her er tre måder at anskue påvirkningen fra kunstig intelligens i vores skoler” in Altinget
Lund Frandsen, Søren, Jakob Laage-Thomsen (April 2022) ”Nordisk ekspertuenighed under COVID-19” in Best Practice Nordic
Blok, Anders; Annette Gravgaard Christensen; Troels Krarup; Jakob Laage-Thomsen (2019) “The civics of urban greening: topics, tendencies, and tensions from the frontlines of sustainable transition” in Discover Society.
Select presentations
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob ; Helene Friis Ratner (July 2024) « AI in potentia: Danish AI welfare projects between unlimited potentiality and never quite cancelled projects » paper presented at 40th EGOS Colloquim Milan
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob (April 2024) « Algoritmisk regulering- Kortlægning af ‘signaturprojekter’ med kunstig intelligens i kommuner og regioner” at Den Datadrevne Velfærdsstat II, Aarhus University
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob (April 2024) « What are Large Language Models and how do they Affect Education? » presentation at Department Seminar Institut for Sociologi og Socialgeografi
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob (march 2024) “Seeing professional projects through the ‘expert ecology’: A comparative analysis of Behavioral Insights as a professional project in Denmark, Norway and Sweden” presented at Money Professionals Workshop in Paris
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob (November 2023) « Artificial Intelligence as Regulation and decision-support: ‘signature projects’ in Danish Public Administration » at ADD-REPAIR Workshop, Copenhagen
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob (february, march, april 2023) « What are Large Language Models and how do they Affect Education? » presented at Department of Education, Aarhus University and IBC International Business College, Kolding
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob (2022) Nudging the Norse: How experts connect across politico-administrative and expert ecologies to establish Behavioral Insight professionalism in public policy. Presented at 30th Nordic Sociology Association Conference
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob; Lund Frandsen, Søren (2021, June) Mandate to protect and mandate to heal: Changing Knowledge Mandates on Pandemic Preparedness in the Nordics. Presented at 33st Annual Meeting. SASE
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob; Lund Frandsen, Søren; (2021, May) Overflowing Knowledge Mandates: Reconfiguring Socio-Technical Systems of Preparedness Expertise in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden during COVID-19. Presented at Nordic STS conference 2021
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob (2020, July) Building Behavioral Insights into Administrative Expertise: External Knowledge Advisors in Danish Public Agencies. Presented at 36th EGOS Colloquium.
Christensen, Rasmus Corlin; Oddný Helgadóttir; Jakob Laage-Thomsen; Leonard Seabrooke; Saila Stausholm; Duncan Wigan (2019) Tracing Corporate Forms Across Sectors, Utrecht : Coffers 2019, 23 p. (Coffers Project Deliverables, No. D4.8)
Laage-Thomsen, Jakob (2019, June). Characterizing the Market (s) for Management Consulting Services to Public Organizations in Denmark. Presented at 31st Annual Meeting. SASE.
Blok, Anders and Jakob Laage-Thomsen (July 2018) Modes of urban greening? Civic urban natures in-between familiar engagement and green critique. Presented at EASST2018, Lancaster University
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