The Convergence program AI, Data & Digitalisation is proud to announce the launch of two Convergence AI Labs. One lab will focus on Social Empowerment in the Feminist Generative AI Lab, and the other on Immersive technologies. In the two labs researchers from Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam will join forces in their research.

Feminist Generative AI Lab

The Feminist Generative AI Lab is a joint research Lab based at TU Delft and Erasmus University of Rotterdam. The Lab pioneers research at the intersection of generative AI, design, and data feminism. Recognizing the recent developments in generative AI technology and its widespread impact, the lab addresses the ethical challenges and opportunities inherent in this transformative field through a theoretical feminist lens. A feminist approach to technology goes beyond gender. Broadly understood, it is an approach that aims for less dominating alternatives, thinks beyond binary oppositions and embraces pluralism and difference.

“The lab overarching goal is to mitigate discrimination and ensure that AI systems actively contribute to societal well-being and social justice, particularly within the context of social media and the web. The lab will critically examine the impact of genAI systems on marginalized communities, paying particular attention to issues related to algorithmic bias, representation, and power dynamics”.

Lab Directors and team:

Dr. Sara Colombo (Co-Director), Assistant Professor in Designing responsible AI at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft. Dr. Colombo’s research explores innovative approaches for the ethical design of AI applications and the critical examination of their societal impact. Her work involves engaging communities in envisioning AI futures with an emphasis on inclusivity and a participatory approach.

Dr. Francisca Grommé (Co-Director), Assistant Professor in Digitalisation in Work and Society at the EUR department of Sociology, and AIPact TopTalent Research fellow. As an ‘ethnographer of data and AI’ she follows these technologies across different domains of work to understand how they affect marginalized groups, social justice, governance arrangements and the quality of work.

Prof. Dr. Alessandro Bozzon – Professor of Human-Centred AI, Delft University of Technology

Prof. Dr. Claartje ter Hoeven – Professor of Organizational dynamics in the digital society, Erasmus University Rotterdam

For full information about the Feminist Generative AI Lab, please see this article.

Immersive Technology Lab

Immersive technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR), can transform how we perceive, interact, and communicate with the world and each other.

“With the Immersive Technology Lab, we want to help unlock more of the potential of immersive Technologies, by exploring fundamental questions and innovative application contexts. Our goal is to gain insights that are generally applicable, while simultaneously opting for concrete outcomes that can make a difference in this domain. In this way we want to build a basis for long-term effectiveness and sustainability of the lab. This requires a multidisciplinary setup, enabled by the collaboration of researchers from Erasmus and Delft, who cover a large spectrum of expertise.”

Prof. Dr. Ting Li – Professor of Digital Business, Rotterdam School of Management

Prof. Dr. Elmar Eisemann – Professor of Computer Graphics and Visualization, Delft University of Technology

About Convergence

TU Delft, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Erasmus Medical Center join forces in Convergence. The urgent and complex societal challenges of our time ask for fundamentally new forms of cooperation, whereby the boundaries between institutes and disciplines are crossed to create new perspectives and solutions. In that spirit the Convergence program AI, Data & Digitalisation has launched a series of educational projects and innovation centers in various societal and scientific domains in order to strengthen the regional economic and scientific AI-ecosystem and give an impulse to developments and innovations ‘in’ and ‘with’ AI towards the urgent and complex societal challenges.

Please follow our channels for more information on the new Convergence AI Labs! Recruitment of PhD-candidates to start soon!