Lunch Seminar with Dr Susanne Lloyd-Jones

When: Wednesday 11 June 2025 1pm – 2pm

Where: Deakin Burwood Campus, LC7.032 Moot Court Boardroom or via zoom.

National Security Assemblages and Quantum Sensing Technology: Options for redirecting and reshaping quantum sensing technology applications through democratic innovations to protect from abuses of governmental and corporate power.

Emerging technologies are central to a nation state’s security. Technology supports national security functions, especially military and defence functions. New and emerging technological capabilities can enhance and expand a country’s actual and ostensible military and defence capacity and ability to respond to threats. There is growing interest in how certain quantum technology companies – especially those companies with ‘near-term’ capabilities – are connected to state policy and practice at a national and international level. Limited research has been conducted on the governance of quantum technologies. This is to be expected in the field of emerging and disruptive technology. Using assemblage theory as an aid to analysis, this paper highlights how quantum sensing technologies are being developed in shifting complex relationships and networks of public and private actors with multiple functionalities and affordances, defined as national security assemblages. The paper asks how quantum sensing applications are being shaped by current distributions of power and resources. It considers whether there are available and emerging democratic governance innovations to redirect and reshape its application to protect from abuses of governmental and corporate power.

Dr Susanne Lloyd-Jones:

Dr Susanne Lloyd-Jones is a Lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney Faculty of Law. Before joining UTS, Susanne completed a 3-year Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CSCRC) Post Doctoral Fellowship based in the School of Law, Society and Criminology at the UNSW Faculty of Law and Justice. Her professional background spans academia, government, industry, and private practice. Susanne’s research and publications focus on emerging technology, cyber security law and policy, critical infrastructure regulation, law and technological change, and national security regulation in complex industry sectors, such as telecommunications, broadcasting, news media, digital platforms, and cloud services. Susanne’s socio-legal research seeks to apply ideas from public law, regulatory theory and political economy to improve understanding of the national security obligations of regulated industries and develop effective legal and policy responses to problems posed by emerging technologies. Susanne has presented her research at domestic and international conferences, including at CyberCon (2022), PlatGov (2023), the University of Adelaide’s RUMLAE Digital Resilience Conference (2023), the 11th Annual Governance of Emerging Technology and Science Conference at Arizona State University (2024) and the British and Irish Law Education and Technology Association (BILETA) annual conference (2025). Susanne’s publications include peer-reviewed journal articles, a book chapter, research reports and related outputs.

Email law-as-protection@deakin.edu.au if you would like to attend this event.

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