About Atlas Research

Focused by design

Atlas does not try to cover the entire field of AI. It builds depth in three connected areas: epistemic status, human capability and epistemic systems in practice. Projects can involve external researchers and specialist partners when the question requires it.

Credibility should come from work that can be read, questioned and reproduced—not from institutional theatre.

Founder

Robert Schouten is a philosopher and AI governance practitioner and the founder of Atlas Research. He co-founded the Swedish consulting firm dBSC with his business partner Ward de Beer, and together they run the company.

Robert combines research on AI ethics and the changing organisation of work with hands-on organisational consulting. His background also spans healthcare, finance, process improvement and management. His work focuses on professional judgement, tacit knowledge, employee-led AI adoption and translating governance principles into workable processes that preserve the human capabilities required for responsible AI use.

Research, experiment and delivery

Atlas Research develops philosophical arguments, research and methodological blueprints. Atlas Labs turns selected ideas into tests, research infrastructure and prototypes. Where appropriate, dBSC translates selected work into products, consulting engagements, governance programmes, lectures and workshops.

Robert and Ward de Beer co-own and jointly run dBSC. The connection between Atlas Research and dBSC is intentional: dBSC translates research insights into consulting practice, while experience from organisations generates new and better research questions. To safeguard the independence of the research, roles, funding, authorship and intended use are disclosed for each engagement.

Research developed with and for others

Atlas also incorporates relevant research developed through earlier assignments and collaborations. Work prepared for SAIER on employee-led AI adoption, shadow learning, deskilling and labour justice forms an important starting point for our programme on AI, work and institutional power.

The origin of such work remains visible. Atlas distinguishes between original Atlas publications, work developed for partner organisations and commissioned research. Proper attribution is part of research integrity.

What we produce

• Atlas Essays — philosophical and normative long-form writing.
• Research Briefs — concise syntheses for policy and practice.
• Working Papers — developed arguments open to criticism and revision.
• Lab Notes — transparent accounts of experiments, prototypes and negative results.
• Dialogues — conversations across disciplines and social perspectives.

Research integrity

• Clients can commission a question and scope, not a predetermined conclusion.
• Funding, commercial relationships and intended use are made explicit.
• We distinguish argument, empirical evidence, hypothesis and speculation.
• Methods and limitations are reported in proportion to the claims made.
• Errors are corrected openly and version histories remain visible.

Our principles

Practice before abstraction. Transparency before authority. Human scale before hype.