The panel on Social Responsibility of Informatics was held during ECSS 2019.

The following panellists were confirmed:

Guglielmo Tamburrini (Chair)

University of Naples

Philip Larrey

Pontifical Lateran University

Peggy Valcke

KU Leuven

Hannes Werthner

TU Vienna

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• Guglielmo Tamburrini (Chair)

  Short Bio
  
  Guglielmo Tamburrini is Philosophy of Science and Technology Professor at the University of Naples, Italy. His main research interests concern the methodology of robotics, AI and the cognitive neurosciences, in addition to ELS issues arising in the context of human-computer and human-robot interactions. He acted as coordinator of the first EC project on the ethics of robotics (CA ETHICBOTS, 2005-2008, VI FP). Visiting Scholar in 2009-10 at ZIF (Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Forschung, Universität Bielefeld, Germany), in 2014 he was awarded the Giulio Preti International Prize by the Regional Parliament of Tuscany (Italy) for his research and teaching activities on ethical and social implications of ICT and robotic technologies. He is member of ICRAC (International Committee for Robot Arms Control), USPID (Unione Scienziati Per Il Disarmo) and SILFS (Società Italiana di Logica e Filosofia della Scienza).

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• Philip Larrey

  Short Bio
  
  Philip Larrey, Ph.D., is a Catholic priest who holds the Chair of Logic and Epistemology at the Pontifical Lateran University in the Vatican. His publications deal with the philosophy of knowledge and critical thinking. He has published several books concerning the effects of the new digital era on society. Two of his recent works highlight this theme: Futuro ignoto (IF Press) and Connected World (Penguin). The Italian translation of this latter was published by Mondadori in 2018, entitled, Dove inizia il futuro.
  For years he has been following the philosophical implications of the rapid development of artificial intelligence. With candor, he challenges industry leaders he comes into contact with at the Vatican to discuss how technology is shaping the fabric of our society. His new book, Artificial Humanity, delves into a more philosophical discussion of what AI research means for all of humanity.

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• Peggy Valcke

  Short Bio
  
  Peggy Valcke is research professor in ICT and Media Law at KU Leuven, and visiting professor at the University of Tilburg. Before that she was part-time professor at the European University Institute in Florence, and visiting professor at Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. She is currently member of the management board of the Leuven Centre for IT & IP Law (formerly known as ICRI and CIR), and one of the research leaders in the Security Department of iMinds. Peggy has a broad experience with working in international and interdisciplinary research teams. In previous years she has been involved in over 30 research projects – funded by the European Commission, KU Leuven, Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders, the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology, iMinds, national authorities and regulators – dealing with legal aspects of IT and media innovation. Other topics she worked on include: fundamental rights of the digital citizen, data protection and media freedoms, data portability, right to be forgotten, big data, media convergence, social media, personalized media, user-generated content, online journalism, media concentration and ownership, market regulation and competition in media and telecommunications, public service broadcasting and state aid, co- and self-regulation in the media, privacy in electronic communications and social networks. She has published widely on these topics in English, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian and Chinese, and has served as an expert for organisations like the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the German Media Concentration Commission, as well as administrations and authorities in Belgium. Peggy is assessor of the Belgian Competition Authority and member of the General Chamber of the Flemish Media Regulator since 2008. She was a member of Google’s Advisory Council on the Right to be Forgotten and is currently a member of Digital Minds for Belgium, a working group convened by Belgium’s Minister for Telecommunications and Digital Agenda.

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• Hannes Werthner

  Short Bio
  
  Hannes Werthner is the Dean of the Faculty of Informatics, TU Wien, and Professor for e-commerce at the same University. Before that he was Professor at the University of Innsbruck, the Vienna University of Economics, and the University of Trento. In Trento he was also the head of the eCTRL (e-commerce and tourism research lab), a joint lab of fbk (Fondazione Bruno Kessler) and the University of Trento. At the Faculty of Informatics of TU Wien he served as Director of the Vienna PhD School of Informatics, and he founded i2c (Informatics Innovation Center), an innovation hub at the faculty. His research activities cover a wide range from e-tourism and e-commerce, service engineering, recommender systems and social network analysis. Hannes Werthner was member of the ISTAG strategic advisory board for the European research program IST in FP5, is on the editorial board of several journals and served as (Program) chair of many conferences. In the field of e-tourism the International Federation for IT and Tourism (IFITT) awards the “Hannes Werthner Tourism and Technology Lifetime Achievement Award” to outstanding academics and/or professionals in the field.

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The European Computer Science Summit 2019 gathered around 180 deans, department heads, research directors, senior academics, industry and public policymakers from over 30 countries in Rome, Italy.

See the conference highlights and photos.
Download the slides of the various talks on the ECSS 2019 program page.

Quick Links:

• Conference Program
• Leaders Workshop
• WIRE Working Group Workshop
• Bridging the Digital Talent Gap Workshop
  
• Keynote speakers and talks summaries

ECSS 2019 is the 15th Summit of Informatics Europe. It is the only place, once a year, where leaders and decision-makers in Informatics research and education in Europe gather to debate strategic themes and trends related to research, education, and policies in Informatics. It is a unique opportunity to meet leaders in the field and discuss critical issues of the discipline related to education, research, funding, entrepreneurship, management, career development, and policies.

ECSS conferences are organised by Informatics Europe in collaboration with a host institution, active member of the association. ECSS 2019 was co-organised by the International Research Area on Foundations of the Sciences of the Pontifical Lateran University and held at the Hotel NH Collection Roma Centro in Rome, Italy,  28-30 October 2019. The Summit was co-chaired by Enrico Nardelli, Informatics Europe, University of Rome "Tor Vergata" and Gianfranco Basti, Pontifical Lateran University with organisational support by Paolo Atzeni, Roma Tre University, Roberto Basili, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Alessandro Mei and Tiziana Catarci, "Sapienza" University of Rome.

The central topic of the 2019 Summit was "Social Responsibility of Informatics"

Chairs of the Social Responsibility of Informatics Sessions were:

• Elisabetta Di Nitto, Politecnico di Milano
  
• Paola Mello, University of Bologna.

Leaders Workshop

The 2019 Workshop for Leaders of Informatics Research and Education was held on 28 October, co-chaired by Gregor Engels, Department of Computer Science, Paderborn University and Geraldine Fitzpatrick, Faculty of Informatics, TU Vienna. The central theme was 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 environment.

WIRE Working Group Workshop

The Workshop of the Women in Informatics Research and Education (WIRE) working group was held on 28 October and brought together colleagues from all over Europe working on the forefront of the efforts to increase the number of women in Informatics research, education and profession. The workshop created a forum for experience reports from existing measures and best practices sharing and helped to bring forward a European network of actors and to increase the visibility of their initiatives. The workshop was organised by Erika Abraham, RWTH Aachen University, Lejla Batina, Radboud University, Alexandra Silva, University College London, and Cristina Pereira, Informatics Europe and sponsored by Elsevier.

Workshop Bridging the Digital Talent Gap

For the first time, Informatics Europe organised in partnership with the European Commission DG CONNECT the workshop Bridging the Digital Talent Gap - Towards Successful Industry-University Partnerships. The workshop brought together higher education organisations, industry, public policymakers and students to identify current challenges, opportunities and solutions to bridge the supply/demand gap in Europe for graduates with the skills needed by European businesses to grow and innovate.

Audience

The ECSS audience includes anyone with a stake in the future of Information and Communication Science and Technology in Europe. Traditionally, many department heads, directors of both industrial and academic labs, and other decision-makers make up a substantial share of ECSS participants. However, the scope of the conference is much broader and professionals from all levels and all sectors (academia, industry, government) would benefit from the discussions and critical debate on the future of the discipline.

Purpose of the European Computer Science Summit:

• Debate the future of the discipline, its role, and influence in both academy and society.
• Expand the international network of deans, heads of departments, and research directors in Informatics.
• Provide a forum for discussion and the exchange of solutions and best practices on common issues.
• Examine ways in which deans, department heads, and research directors in Informatics can work together to improve teaching and research, implement the Bologna process, can influence the policies of their universities, governments and the EU, and take joint initiatives on many other issues.
• Provide opportunities for liaisons with other groups pursuing relevant interests.

ECSS 2019 is organised by

Sponsored by