We are delighted to announce that the winner of our 2025 Dissertation Prize is Levina Purewal from Durham University.
Her dissertation, “‘I can’t think without ChatGPT’: A Cognitive Sociotechnical Assemblage Analysis of Student-AI Entanglement at Durham University”, examines how students at Durham University engage with ChatGPT across their academic lives, and what these interactions reveal about the distributed nature of thinking, authorship, and subjectivity.
Through a novel intra-viewing AI method, alongside questionnaires, diaries, and interviews with students, Levina unpacks how ChatGPT reshapes academic cognition and subjectivity by participating in a cognitive sociotechnical assemblage, where thinking and selfhood emerge through affective, infrastructural, and technological entanglements.
Levina’s dissertation scored very highly in all our assessment criteria. However, reviewers particularly praised the quality of Levina’s critical analysis and discussion, the clear contribution the research makes within the field, the multi-method research design and the overall ambition of the project.
Levina will have an opportunity to share more about her work via our channels over the coming months. Stayed tuned for this and for news of our 2026 Dissertation Prize offering.