Sebastián’s research focuses on the governance of digital technologies from a global social justice perspective.

His current project, AI’s Nature, explores the connection between Artificial Intelligence and environmental justice. In this work, he has engaged with urban, peasant and Indigenous communities in Chile and Colombia mobilising against a data centre project, resisting lithium extraction and participating in a conservation initiative. Sebastián’s previous project, Scientific Data Colonialism, examined the governance of astronomy data in Chile.

Sebastián’s contributions lie in the fields of critical AI studies and critical data studies. His approach brings together ethnographic methods, science and technology studies, political ecology and decolonial thought. He has also contributed to conceptual developments on data friction, digital sovereignty and reflexivity.

Sebastián has collaborated with research teams on a Horizon 2020 project addressing the ethics of the Internet of Things (LSE). He holds a PhD in Data, Networks & Society from London School of Economics and received the 2022 Dissertation Award from the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR).

Research interests

• Critical AI Studies
• Critical Data Studies
• Digital Sovereignty
• Political Ecology
• Decolonial Thought

Teaching

Sebastián designed and taught the module 'Technology and Global Social Justice' at the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge. At King’s, he co-designed the module ‘Media, Technology and the Environment’ with Dr Güneş Tavmen.

Sebastián teaches and supervises students across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, both online and in person, in Digital Humanities. These programmes include the BA Digital Media and Culture, MA Digital Culture and Society and MSc Digital Economies.

Sebastián is a Fellow (FHEA) at AdvanceHE, a British charity and professional membership scheme promoting excellence in higher education.

Affiliations

Sebastián is a co-founder and co-lead of the Digital X Climates network. He is also a member of the Centre for Digital Culture and the Global Digital Cultures Research Group.

Outside KCL, Sebastián is a member of the International Panel on the Information Environment. He is also a fellow at the Centre of Governance and Human Rights and the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, both based at the University of Cambridge. He is also a member of the Tierra Común network. Previously, Sebastián was a member of the Future of Artificial Intelligence Research in Chile (2022-24) and a fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at Harvard University (2022-24).

Expertise and public engagement

Sebastián is committed to translating research into meaningful social change and ensuring that its benefits reach ordinary people and marginalised communities.

He regularly delivers talks at non-academic venues, such as UN agencies (UN Human Rights and UNCTAD) and NGOs, across different sectors.

Sebastián has been featured by media outlets such as the Associated Press (AP) and Deutsche Welle (DW). He has also been interviewed on podcasts such as Tech Won’t Save Us and The Good Robot.

Sebastián is a member and supporter of the Just Cloud Network, a global initiative initiated by MOSACAT in Santiago, Chile. The network comprises communities, activists, academics and journalists concerned about the impacts of data centres. This initiative obtained a grant from AHRC Impact Acceleration Account by King’s College London.

Sebastián also supports impact in his role as Impact Co-Lead at the Department of Digital Humanities. In this capacity, he is fostering a culture of impact among colleagues and contributing to the Department’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) submission. He has undertaken technical and leadership training in impact.

Selected publications

• Lehuedé, S. (2026). Minerals. In M. Hogan, S. Laser, E. Ongweso Jr, & H. A. Brown (Eds), Predictions: From Speculative Ethnography to Apocalyptic Testimony. Mattering Press. [Fiction short story]

• Lehuedé, S. (2025). An Elemental Ethics for Artificial Intelligence: Water as Resistance Within AI’s Value Chain. AI & Society.

• Lehuedé, S. (2024). The Double Helix of Data Extraction: Radicalising Reflexivity in Critical Data Studies. Technology and Regulation.

• Lehuedé, S. (2024). An Alternative Planetary Future? Digital Sovereignty Frameworks and the Decolonial Option. Big Data & Society.

• Lehuedé, S. (2022). When Friction Becomes the Norm: Antagonism, Discourse and Planetary Data Turbulence. New Media & Society.