ITeG Lec­tures 2021/2022

A banner shows the logo of the ITeG lecture on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the University of Kassel
Photo of guest speaker Professor Dr. Irene BertschekImage: © Anna Logue Fotografie

27. October 2021

Prof. Dr. Irene Bertschek,
ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim

"Digitalisation – A Vaccine for the Economy"

27. October 2021: Read More
portrait photo of guest speaker Professor Mark Coeckelbergh Image: ©Martin Jordan

24. November 2021

Prof. Mark Coeckelbergh, Ph.D.,
Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna

"AI Ethics: Responsibility in Digital Times"

24. November 2021: Read More
Portrait photo of the guest speaker Dr. Juliane Jarke

15. De­cem­ber 2021

Dr. Juliane Jarke,
Institute for Information Management Bremen,
University of Bremen

"Cui bono, Data Science?"

15. De­cem­ber 2021: Read More
Portrait photo of the guest speaker Prof. Dr. Christoph Becker

19. Ja­nu­ary 2022

Prof. Dr. Christoph Becker,
Digital Curation Institute,
University of Toronto
"The Design of Just Sustainability: IT and The Sustainable Development Goals"

19. Ja­nu­ary 2022: Read More
Portrait photo of the guest speaker Prof. Dr. Antonio de la Oliva Delgado

9. Fe­bru­ary 2022

Prof. Dr. Antonio de la Oliva Delgado,
Telematic Engineering Department,
UC3M Madrid
"Use Cases for 6G Wireless Communications – The Case of AI and Digital Twins"

9. Fe­bru­ary 2022: Read More

More information on the individual lectures:

"Digitalisation – A Vaccine for the Economy"

What are digital technologies and what makes them so revolutionary? This talk gives an overview about the features of digital technologies, their stage of diffusion and the changes they initiate in the economy. It is argued that digitalisation is a powerful asset for companies, enabling them to become more innovative and productive as well as making them resilient in times of crises. This resilience is then further scrutinised to include other contributing aspects, not only technological ones.

Recorded ZoomSession: Digitalisation - A Vaccine for the Economy

Prof. Dr. Irene Bertschek is head of the ZEW Research Department “Digital Economy” and professor of economics of digitalisation at Justus Liebig University Giessen. In May 2019, she was appointed as a member of the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI), advising the Federal German government.
Irene Bertschek studied economics at the University of Mannheim and at the Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, focusing on industrial economics and econometrics. She attended the European Doctoral Program and obtained a doctoral degree in economics from the Université catholique de Louvain. In her research, she investigates how digitalisation changes economic processes and how it affects firms’ labour productivity and innovation activity. Her methodological expertise lies in the field of microeconometrics and the analysis of firm-level data.

"AI Ethics: Responsibility in Digital Times"

Artificial intelligence raises many ethical issues. One of them is responsibility: how to deal with the question of responsibility when (previously) human activities are automated? This talk gives an overview of ethical issues raised by AI and discusses the question of responsibility in the light of automation. It is argued that we need a relational and global approach to responsibility.

Recorded ZoomSession: AI Ethics: Responsibility in Digital Times

Mark Coeckelbergh, (Ph.D., University of Birmingham) is Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology at the Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna since 2015. From 2014 to 2019 he was also (part-time) Professor of Technology and Social Responsibility at the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, De Montfort University, UK. He is former President of the Society for Philosophy and Technology (SPT) and a member of the steering committee of ETHICOMP. Coeckelbergh is member of the High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence for the European Commission, the  Rat für Robotik, inaugurated by the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, the Advisory Council on Automated Mobility (Beirat Automatisierte Mobilität), as well as member of the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) for the Foundation for Responsible Robotics.Currently, he is involved in European research projects in the area of robotics (DREAM, INBOTS, The SIENNA Project).
Previously, Prof. Coeckelbergh was Managing Director of the 3TU Centre for Ethics and Technology (2012 - 2014) and Assistant Professor at the Philosophy Department of the University of Twente, The Netherlands (2007 - 2014). He has been involved in interdisciplinary collaborations in the context of the European research projects INBOTS,  SATORI (ethical impact assessment of research and innovation), and has been co‐chair of the Technical Committee ‘Robot Ethics’ of the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society (2013-2015).

 

"Cui bono, Data Science?"

In the introduction to Ecologies of Knowledge: Work and Politics in Science and Technology (1995), Susan Leigh Star asks: “Cui bono? Who is doing the dishes? Where is the garbage going? What is the material basis for practice? Who owns the means of knowledge production?” These questions sum up an approach to the social studies of science and technology (STS) that takes science and technology “off the pedestal” (Chubin and Chu 1989) – by treating both as something that people do together, that understands science as practice and technology as socio-political.

Taking Leigh Star’s questions as a starting point, I will engage with some of the critical work on data science that has emerged in STS over the past decade. This includes questions about the invisible human labour required to run our AI-based infrastructures, questions about social justice and racial bias in AI-based systems as well as proposals for community-led design practices and socio-technical innovation. Overall, the talk provides a glimpse into the rich conceptual and methodological toolbox that STS scholars have developed to critically examine technology design and use.

Recorded ZoomSession: "Cui bono, Data Science?"

Dr. Juliane Jarke is a senior researcher at the Institute for Information Management (ifib) and the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen. She is co-founder of the Data Science Center at the University of Bremen. Her research focusses on the increasing relevance of digital data for society, related implications and design opportunities. Prior to Bremen, she worked as a research associate at the Centre for the Study of Technology and Organisation at Lancaster University. In 2014, she completed her PhD in Organisation, Work and Technology at Lancaster University Management School. Prior to her PhD studies, she earned degrees in MSc Information Technology, Management and Organisational Change (Lancaster University); MA Philosophy (Hamburg University) and BSc Informatics (Hamburg University). Since 2009, Juliane serves as an independent expert to the European Commission within the areas eInfrastructures, Data Infrastructures and Digital Science.

This lecture is organised in cooperation with the project group "Sustainable Intelligence - Intelligent Sustainability" of the Hessian Centre Responsible Digitality (ZEVEDI).
 

"The Design of Just Sustainability: IT and The Sustainable Development Goals"

We urgently need to transform our societies to address the climate crisis. Information Technology can play an important role in doing this. Current practice of IT development, however, has a conflicted relationship with environmental sustainability and social justice. This talk gives an overview of the role of IT in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, shows some promising opportunities, and then asks if IT is ready to live up to its promise.

 

Dr. Christoph Becker is Associate Professor of Information and a member of the School of the Environment at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on the design of just and sustainable information technology. As Director of the Digital Curation Institute at the University of Toronto, he brings together graduate students, appointed fellows, faculty colleagues and partners to conduct research at the intersection of sustainability, information technology, digital curation and systems design. As co-founder of the Karlskrona Initiative for Sustainability Design, he advocates an interdisciplinary approach to software systems research and practice. He is convinced that in order to build lasting positive change through information technology, we must better understand the social and psychological factors of systems design practice, and we need to examine the norms and assumptions that underpin computer science.
His work is supported by grants from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the Ontario Research Fund. Previously, it has previously been funded by the European Commission and by agencies in Germany and Austria. Before joining the University of Toronto, he developed and coordinated international consortia of universities, cultural heritage organizations and commercial partners, consulted for the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, and created award-winning decision support tools for digital curation. He received his doctorate in computer science from Vienna University of Technology in 2010.

 

"Use cases for 6G wireless communications - the case of AI and Digital Twins"

In this talk we will explore current understanding of the use cases that may drive the development of 6G together with some of the key technologies being investigated to cover these gaps. After exploring the use cases we will focus on a key use case which is attracting much traction, the digital twin. We will explore some of the digital twins applications being explored in the area followed with some results on how AI can be applied to the DT in the area of manufacturing.

 

Dr. Antonio de la Oliva Delgado is an Associate Professor at the Telematics Engineering Department of the University Carlos III of Madrid. His current lines of research focus on novel architectural approaches for 5G and Edge communications. He has served as Deputy Coordinator of the successful EU H2020 5G-PPP 5G-Crosshaul project and the EU/TW 5G-CORAL project, currently leading the EU/TW H2020 5G-DIVE project, selected for the first coordinated research action between EU and Taiwan. He is also participating in the HEXA-X project, driving the development of 6G in Europe. Antonio de la Oliva served as Vice-chair of the IEEE 802.21b task group and Technical Editor of IEEE 802.21d, contributing significantly to the development of the IEEE 802 standards for Media Independent Handover Services. He obtained his PhD in 2008 obtaining the Alcatel - Lucent award “ex-aequo” for the best contribution to new IPTV services, granted by the Royal Telecommunication Engineering Institute of Spain.