Keynote Speakers

Ethical/Social Responsibility Issues in Social Robots

Abstract

Social robots are poised to be the next revolution in robotics: while in the past developments in robotics mainly focused on manipulating the physical environment at a safe distance from people, new applications will require robots to operate amongst people. This will require these robots to be sensitive to the social environment in order to respond appropriately to us, humans. From self-driving cars assessing the intentions of human road users to social robots operating in the home, all will need revolutions in AI in order to correctly operate in a dynamic and human-first environment. With this come ethical and social responsibilities. These artificial systems will not just take in a neutral position in our daily lives, they will either by design or by their mere presence influence our beliefs and actions. This talk will give examples of the use of social robots in health care and education, and will show how simple social robots already can influence on us.

Short Bio

Tony Belpaeme is Professor at the University of Ghent and Professor in Robotics and Cognitive Systems at Plymouth University, UK (20%). He is a member of the IDLab at Ghent, of imec, and of the Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems at Plymouth. At Ghent and Plymouth he leads a team studying the science and technology of cognitive robotics and human-robot interaction. He was the coordinator of the H2020 L2TOR project, a large-scale European project bringing 7 partners together to study how robots can be used to support the learning of a second language to children. He coordinated the FP7 ALIZ-E project, which studied long-term human-robot interaction and its use in paediatric applications. And he is PI in the FP7 DREAM project, studying how robots can be used to support Autism Spectrum Disorder therapy.

Starting from the premise that intelligence is rooted in social interaction, Belpaeme and his research team try to further the science and technology behind artificial intelligence and social robots. This results in a spectrum of results, from theoretical insights to practical applications. The theoretical insights, in which he argues that interaction is central to natural and artificial cognition and that robots and machines should be sensitive to language and paralinguistic social mechanisms used by people, has drawn considerable academic attention. He complements this work by applying these insights in the design and implementation of robots and robotic applications. This work has been picked up by industry and has been taken up in clinical and educational practice, where robots are used to support and tutor children.

His research is used as a showcase of research success by various funding agencies, most recently the Research Councils UK, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the European Commission. Belpaeme’s research was exhibited at the Wellcome Trust, the London Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and the National Space Centre. His work often features in the international press (Le Monde, the Guardian, Sunday Times, Scientific American …) and media. In 2013, Research Councils UK chose his work as one of “ten life changing ideas under research at UK universities”, and in 2014 the Big Ideas for the Future report of RC UK and Universities UK mentioned his research as “20 new ideas from UK universities that will change the world”.

Responsible Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has huge potential to bring accuracy, efficiency, cost savings and speed to a whole range of human activities. Increasingly, AI systems will be taking decisions that affect our lives, in smaller or larger ways. The awareness that AI has the potential to impact our lives and our world as no other technology has done before, is rightfully raising many questions concerning its ethical, legal, societal and economical effects. However, AI is not magic. As computer science academics and educators, we have the responsibility to form coming generations of practictioners that are aware of this impact, and to contribute to the public awareness of what AI is, can be, and should be. In this talk, I will discuss the meaning of responsible AI and the means to ensure everyone involved in the design and development of autonomous and intelligent systems (A/IS) is educated, trained, and empowered to prioritize ethical considerations so that these technologies are advanced for the benefit of humanity.

Short Bio

Virginia Dignum is a Professor at the Department of Computing Science at Umeå University, Sweden where she leads the research group Social and Ethical Artificial Intelligence. She is a Fellow of the European Artificial Intelligence Association (EURAI) and also an associated with the Faculty Technology Policy and Management at the Delft University of Technology.

Given the increasing importance of understanding the impact of AI at societal, ethical and legal level, Virginia is actively involved in several international initiatives on policy and strategy guidelines for AI research and applications. As such she is a member of the European Commission High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, of the IEEE Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous Systems, the Delft Design for Values Institute, the European Global Forum on AI (AI4People), the Responsible Robotics Foundation, the Dutch AI Alliance on AI (ALLAI-NL) and of the ADA-AI foundation.

Leaders Workshop: Developing as a Leader in an Academic Context

The Workshop for Leaders of Informatics Research and Education addresses specific challenges they encounter in their role. The workshop is a unique networking forum for leaders of Informatics institutions and research groups, and focuses on concrete issues and practical solutions.
The central theme is Developing as a Leader in an Academic Context, with main focus on special skills and leadership training needed to play a leadership role at any level in an academic context.
This will be a highly interactive workshop, based on evidence-based leadership research, with a series of discussions/knowledge sharing/exchange in both large and smaller groups and summarising presentations that point to current research and practical guidelines.
To get more details about the content and topics covered, visit the Leaders Workshop web page.

Short Bio

Gregor Engels is Professor of Informatics and leads the Database and Information Systems Group in the Department of Informatics at Paderborn University, Germany. He holds degrees in Computer Science, with a focus on model-based software engineering, human-centric computing, and more recently, the impact of the digital transformation on the Future of Work. He leads two interdisciplinary Graduate Schools on Work 4.0 and Crowd Working, where around 20 PhD students study novel technologies as adaptive assistance systems, novel styles of cooperative work, as well as novel ways of digital leadership. He has extensive leadership experience in academic, research, and industry sectors in Germany and the Netherlands. He heads the Software Innovation Campus Paderborn (SICP), a technology transfer institute at Paderborn University, where research groups and industrial partners study aspects and impacts of novel digital technology. He is a co-founder of Informatics Europe and currently member of the Executive Board of Informatics Europe.

Leaders Workshop: Developing as a Leader in an Academic Context

The Workshop for Leaders of Informatics Research and Education addresses specific challenges they encounter in their role. The workshop is a unique networking forum for leaders of Informatics institutions and research groups, and focuses on concrete issues and practical solutions.
The central theme is Developing as a Leader in an Academic Context, with main focus on special skills and leadership training needed to play a leadership role at any level in an academic context.
This will be a highly interactive workshop, based on evidence-based leadership research, with a series of discussions/knowledge sharing/exchange in both large and smaller groups and summarising presentations that point to current research and practical guidelines.
To get more details about the content and topics covered, visit the Leaders Workshop web page.

Short Bio

Geraldine Fitzpatrick is Professor of Technology Design and Assessment and leads the Human Computer Interaction Group in the Informatics Faculty at TU Wien. She holds degrees in Computer Science, with a focus on socio-technical and people-centred perspectives of computing, and more recently, Applied Positive Psychology/Coaching Psychology with a focus on academic leadership. She is an ACM Distinguished Scientist, an ACM Distinguished Speaker and an IFIP TC-13 Pioneer Award recipient. She has extensive leadership experience in academic research, and industry sectors in Austria, the UK and Australia. She also has leadership experience in clinical contexts, having been in charge of operating theatres and other hospital departments as a nurse/midwife in Australia. She hosts the Changing Academic Life podcast series and is passionate about how we can craft better academic cultures, running workshops and programs for academics at all levels. For more information see http://igw.tuwien.ac.at/hci/people/gfitzpatrick and http://www.changingacademiclife.com

Short Bio

Luciano Floridi is the OII’s Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the University of Oxford, where he is also the Director of the Digital Ethics Lab of the Oxford Internet Institute. Still in Oxford, he is Distinguished Research Fellow of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics of the Faculty of Philosophy, and Research Associate and Fellow in Information Policy of the Department of Computer Science. Outside Oxford, he is Faculty Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute and Chair of its Data Ethics Group; and Adjunct Professor of the Department of Economics, American University, Washington D.C.
His research concerns primarily Information and Computer Ethics (aka Digital Ethics), the Philosophy of Information, and the Philosophy of Technology. Other research interests include Epistemology, Philosophy of Logic, and the History and Philosophy of Scepticism. He has published over a 150 papers in these areas, in many anthologies and peer-reviewed journals. His works have been translated into many languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
His lifetime project is a tetralogy (not his term) on the foundation of the philosophy of information, called Principia Philosophiae Informationis.
His most recent books are: The Fourth Revolution – How the infosphere is reshaping human reality; The Ethics of Information (volume two of the tetralogy); The Philosophy of Information (volume one of the tetralogy); Information – A Very Short Introduction. He has edited many volumes, including The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Computing and Information; The Cambridge Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics; and The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Information. His previous books include Scepticism and the Foundation of Epistemology – A Study in the Metalogical Fallacies; Internet – An Epistemological Essay; Philosophy and Computing: An Introduction; and Sextus Empiricus, The Recovery and Transmission of Pyrrhonism.

Speaking Law to Computer Scientists and Other Folks

Abstract

Law is architecture. Lawyers build and rebuild the foundational architecture of modern society. They develop and sustain the choice architecture that binds individuals, companies and society as a whole. The Rule of Law means that no one, not even the legislature or the administration, is above the law. In this keynote I will explain how the GDPR relates to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and how it speaks to computer science. I will argue - not prove - that the GDPR aligns with the methodological integrity of computer science and how it will contribute to a competitive advantage in the development of AI applications. Finally, I will conclude that text-driven law will have to ensure that legal norms are embedded in the architectures of computing systems, thus providing legal protection by design.

Short Bio

Mireille Hildebrandt is a tenured Research Professor on 'Interfacing Law and Technology' at Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB), appointed by the VUB Research Council. She works with the research group on Law Science Technology and Society studies (LSTS) at the Faculty of Law and Criminology. She also holds the part-time Chair of Smart Environments, Data Protection and the Rule of Law at the Science Faculty, at the Institute for Computing and Information Sciences (iCIS) at Radboud University Nijmegen.

Her research interests concern the implications of automated decisions, machine learning and mindless artificial agency for law and the rule of law in constitutional democracies. She has published 4 scientific monographs, 21 edited volumes or special issues, and over 100 chapters and articles in scientific journals and volumes. In 2018 she has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant for the fundamental research project ‘Counting as a Human Being in the Computational Law’ (CoHuBiCoL), on the cusp of law and computer science, see www.cohubicol.com

Ethics and Privacy in the Digital Societies: An Exoskeleton to Empower the User

Abstract

Software systems are increasingly autonomous in making decisions on behalf of potential users. The emerging digital societies are populated by such systems where often the power of self goes beyond the ability of substituting human agents operating on software systems and exceeds the system boundaries invading user prerogatives.
Privacy and ethical issues are at the top of the research agenda in (big) data management and AI, that offer a wide range of techniques often used as key (black box) components of autonomous systems. In this talk I discuss these issues from the software system’s developer perspective that uses such black box components and outline a new approach that empowers the user through a synthesized software exoskeleton that reflects her ethical preferences and accordingly mediates her interactions with the autonomous systems. The approach, behind technical challenges assumes that the user knows her ethical preferences and is fully aware of her rights. It will be evident that besides technology in favour of users, education here plays a central role in contributing to the making of the digital world citizen.

Short Bio

Paola Inverardi is a professor at University of L'Aquila, where she has been since 1994. From 2013 to 2019 she is Rector of University of L'Aquila. Her research interests are in the application of rigorous methods to software production in order to improve software quality. Her research interests mainly concentrated in the field of software architectures, automatic synthesis of connectors for heterogeneous systems, adaptive (mobile) systems. She has received a Honorary Doctorate in computer science at Mälardalen University Sweden and a Honorary Doctorate in engineering at Shibaura University, Tokio Japan. She has received the 2013 IEEE TCSE Distinguished Service Award. She is member of Academia Europea. 

Responsible Research and Innovation in ICT: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

The concept of responsible research and innovation (RRI) has been prominently adopted by the European Commission as a cross-cutting theme for the Horizon 2020 Research Framework Programme. It is also integrated into national funding schemes, for example in the Netherlands, Norway or the UK. But what does it mean to undertake research and innovation responsibly. The talk will outline the background and content of RRI, notably the AREA framework (Anticipation, Reflection, Engagement, Action) and the EU’s six pillars. Drawing on research undertaken in several EU and UK-funded projects, the current state of RRI is described which includes ways of integrating RRI principles and activities into research and innovation processes. The talk will discuss the degree to which this can contribute to ensuring that processes and products of research and innovation are socially acceptable, desirable and sustainable and which challenges RRI currently faces.

Short Bio

Bernd Carsten Stahl is Professor of Critical Research in Technology and Director the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. His interests cover philosophical issues arising from the intersections of business, technology, and information. This includes the ethics of ICT and critical approaches to information systems.