Alexander von Humboldt Professorship

Aimee van Wynsberghe is the Alexander von Humboldt Professor for Artificial Intelligence (AI). She is sponsored by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and its sponsor, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

• More information about Aimee van Wynsberghe and the professorship
• Promo video about the professorship (YouTube)

Current Appointments

• 2021 – present
  Alexander von Humboldt Professor for Applied Ethics of AI

• 2021 – present
  Director Institute for Science and Ethics

• 2022 – present
  Elected Member, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz

• 2022 – present
  Advisory Board Member, Konrad Zuse Schools of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (DAAD)

• 2015 – present
  President & Co-Founder, Foundation for Responsible Robotics

Past Appointments

• 2020 – 2021
  Assoc. Professor (Tenured), Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management
  Technical University of Delft, Netherlands

• 2019 – 2021
  Director, Artificial Intelligence Lab,
  Technical University of Delft, Netherlands

• 2019 – 2021
  Centre for the Edge Fellow, Deloitte

• 2019 – 2020
  Digital Ethics Content Expert, Deloitte

• 2018 – 2020
  Rapporteur, European Commission High-Level Expert Group on AI

• 2017 – 2020
  Assistant Professor (Tenure Track), Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management,
  Technical University of Delft, Netherlands

• 2014 – 2017
  Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, 
  University of Twente, Netherlands

• 2015
  Visiting Research Fellow, Information School, 
  University of Washington, USA

• 2012 – 2014
  Post-doctoral researcher, Department of Philosophy, 
  University of Twente, Netherlands

Areas of Specialization

• Artificial Intelligence Ethics

• Robot Ethics

• Digital Ethics

• Care Ethics

• Value Sensitive Design

Education

• 2012
  University of Twente (PhD, Applied Ethics)
  Thesis: Designing Robots with Care: creating an ethical framework for the future design and implementation of care robots.                           

• 2008
  Erasmus Mundus (M.A., Bioethics, Cum Laude)

• 2007
  Catholic University of Leuven (M.A., Applied Ethics)

• 2006
  University of Western Ontario (B.Sc., Honours-Cell Biology)

Awards, Grants, and Distinctions (selection)

• 2022
  Stiftung Mercator grant, 3.8 million Euros

• 2021
  Alexander von Humboldt Professorship grant, 3.5 million Euros

• 2020
  NWO, Gravitation Grant, 200,000 Euros

• 2019
  AirLab/Ahold Delhaize, Collaboration Grant, 250,000 Euros

• 2018
  British Academy, Small Research Grant, 9000 GBP

• 2015
  NWO, Veni Personal Research Grant, 250,000 Euros

Publications (last 7 years)

2024

• “Repairing AI”, (2024). In M.T. Young & M. Coeckelbergh (eds.) Keeping Things Going: Maintenance and Philosophy of Technology, Routledge (with Stone, T.).

• "Sustainable AI and the third wave of AI ethics: a structural turn", AI and Ethics, 1-10 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-024-00522-6 (with Bolte, L.)

2023

• “Challenging AI for Sustainability: what ought it mean?”, AI Ethics (2023).
  https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-023-00323-3 (with Falk, S.) 

• “Special Issue: Towards the Sustainability of AI; Multi-Disciplinary Approaches to Investigate the Hidden Costs of AI”, (2023). (Eds. with Vandemeulebroucke, T., Bolte, L. & Nachid, J.). Sustainability. MDPI.

• “Mind Who’s Testing – Turing Tests and the Post-Colonial Imposition of their Implicit Conceptions of Intelligence”, AI & Society (2023). DOI: 10.1007/s00146-023-01796-w. (with Fischbach, F. & Vandemeulebroucke, T.). 

2022

• “Special Issue ‘Towards the Sustainability of AI; Multi-Disciplinary Approaches to Investigate the Hidden Costs of AI’” (2022). Editorial. Sustainability 14(24), 16352. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416352 (with Vandemeulebroucke, T., Bolte, L. & Nachid, J.)

• “Social Robots and the Risks to Reciprocity”, (2022). AI & Society 37 (2), 479-485.

• “Care Ethics, Philosophy of Technology, & Robots in Humanitarian Action”, (2022). In Vallor, S. (ed), Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology, Vallor, S. (ed). Oxford University Press.

• “Our New Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure: Becoming Locked into an Unsustainable Future”, (2022). Sustainability 14 (8), 4829 (with Robbins, S.)

• “From an Ethics of Carefulness to an Ethics of Desirability: Going Beyond Current Approaches to Sustainable AI” (2022). Sustainability 14 (8), 4472 (with Bolte L. & Vandemeulebroucke T.).

• “Ethical Aspects of Human-Robot Collaboration in Industrial Settings”, (2022). The 21st Century Industrial Robot: When Tools Become Collaborators, 255-266 (with Ley M. and Roeser S.)

 
2021

• “Sustainable AI: AI for sustainability and the sustainability of AI”, (2021). AI and Ethics, 1-6.

• “Responsible Robotics and Responsibility Attribution”, (2021). Robotics, AI, and Humanity: Science, Ethics, and Policy, 239-249.

• “Steps Towards an Ethics of Environmental Robotics”, (2021). Philosophy & Technology 34 (3), 507-524 (with J Donhauser, & A Bearden).

2020

• “Artificial Intelligence: from ethics to policy”, (2020). STOA Options Brief, European Parliament. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2020/641507/EPRS_STU(2020)641507_EN.pdf

• “Toward an Ethics of Environmental Robotics”, (2020). Philosophy & Technology. In Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-020-00399-3 (with Donhauser, J.)

• “Digital platforms and responsible innovation: expanding value sensitive design to overcome ontological uncertainty”, (2020). Ethics and Information Technology, 22, 257-267 (with de Reuver, M., Janssen, M., & van de Poel, I.).

2019

• “Drones in Humanitarian Contexts, Robot Ethics, and Preserving Dignity”, (2019).  Ethics & Information Technology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-019-09514-1 (with Comes, T.)

• “A Paradigm Shift for Robot Ethics: from HRI to Human-Robot-System-Interaction”, (2019). Medicolegal & Bioethics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2147/MB.S160348 (with Li, S.)

• “Engaging Robots as Nursing Partners in Caring: Nursing as Caring Meets Care-Centered Value-Sensitive Design”, (2019). International Journal for Human Caring, 23(2), 157-167. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20467/1091-5710.23.2.157 (with Schoenhofer, S.O. & Boykin, A.)

• “Designing Nursing Care Practices Complemented by Robots: Ethical Implications and Application of Caring Frameworks”, (2019). International Journal for Human Caring, 23(2), 132-140. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20467/1091-5710.23.2.132 (with Grobbel, C., Davis, R., & Poly-Droulard, L.)

• “The Semblance of Aliveness: How the Peculiar Embodiment of Sex Robots will Matter”, (2019). Techne, 23 (3), 290-317. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5840/techne20191125105 (with J. Grunsven)

• “Critiquing the Reasons for Artificial Moral Agents”, (2019) Science and Engineering Ethics, 25 (3), 719-735. DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-018-0030-8. (with Robbins, S.)

2018

• “Socioethical Approaches to Robotics Development” (2018) IEEE Robotics Automation Magazine, 25(1), 26–28. https://doi.org/10.1109/MRA.2017.2787225 (with Sharkey, N. et al)

• “The Dawning of the Ethics of Environmental Robots”, (2018). Science and Engineering Ethics, 24 (6), 1777-1800. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-017-9990-3

• “Drones in the service of society.” (2018). Foundation for Responsible Robotics. https://responsible-robotics-myxf6pn3xr.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Drones-in-the-Service-of-Society1.pdf (with Soesilo, D. et al)