"Human-Centred AI in Digital Higher Education: Trust, Adoption and Learner Success"

Artificial intelligence is reshaping digital higher education, from personalized learning and academic support to assessment, student engagement and institutional decision-making. Yet successful adoption depends not only on technological capability, but also on human factors such as trust, transparency, inclusion, faculty readiness, student agency and responsible governance. This Special Session invites research that examines how human-centred approaches to AI can improve meaningful adoption and measurable learner success across online, blended and digitally enabled higher education.

The session seeks to bring together scholars, educators, practitioners and institutional leaders to examine the opportunities and challenges of human-centred AI in digital higher education. It welcomes conceptual, empirical, design-oriented and practice-based contributions, with particular interest in evidence connecting responsible AI implementation to learner experience, engagement, retention and outcomes.

Session Chairs:

Prof. Gadapa Mallikarjuna, Manipal University Jaipur, India
Dr. Anadi Trikha, Manipal University Jaipur, India

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Trust, explainability, transparency and perceived fairness of AI-enabled learning systems
• Student and faculty adoption of generative AI and other educational AI tools
• AI literacy, digital competence and faculty professional development
• Personalized learning, adaptive support and learner engagement
• Learning analytics, early alerts, retention and learner success
• Human–AI collaboration in teaching, assessment and feedback
• Ethics, privacy, bias, accessibility and inclusion in AI-supported education
• Student agency, well-being and responsible use of generative AI
• Institutional governance, policy and change management for AI adoption
• Cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives on AI in digital higher education

Submission Methods:

Submit your Full Paper (no less than 5 pages with two columns) or your paper abstract-without publication (200-400 words) via Electronic Submission System, then choose Special Session 5 (Human-Centred AI in Digital Higher Education: Trust, Adoption and Learner Success)

Introduction of Session Chairs:

Prof. (Dr.) Gadapa Mallikarjuna Manipal University Jaipur, India Prof. (Dr.) Gadapa Mallikarjuna is an accomplished higher education administrator and digital education leader with over 27 years of experience in academic leadership, online education, assessment, and institutional governance. As Director of the Centre for Distance & Online Education at Manipal University Jaipur, he has spearheaded the development and expansion of online degree programmes serving over 100,000 learners across 80+ countries. His areas of expertise include AI-enabled education, digital learning ecosystems, academic quality assurance, learning outcomes, and technology-driven higher education transformation. He has chaired international conferences, contributed to scholarly publications, and participated in academic forums on digital education and educational innovation.

Dr. Anadi Trikha Manipal University Jaipur, India Dr. Anadi Trikha is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management at the Centre for Distance & Online Education, Manipal University Jaipur, India. Her academic interests include digital higher education, technology-enabled learning, artificial intelligence in education, and management education. She is actively involved in academic research, scholarly collaborations, and initiatives promoting international academic engagement. She is also serving as a Guest Editor for an Emerald Publishing special issue titled "Reimagining Business Schools as Anchor Institutions for Sustainable Futures Beyond 2030." Through her academic and collaborative initiatives, she seeks to promote interdisciplinary research, innovation, and meaningful international partnerships in higher education.