Our Affiliates

Eilidh’s research explores the ethical dimensions relating to the adoption of companion robots to support ageing-in-place for older adults experiencing feelings of loneliness and social isolation.

Dr Adam Lopez is a Reader in the School of Informatics. His research for the past two decades has focused on language technology, spanning a wide range of related scientific, mathematical, and engineering problems. He is now most interested in problems related to fairness, accountability, and transparency of language technology.

Alice’s research looks at speech technology and human-computer interaction. Her project aims to explore the experiences, attitudes, and concerns of people who have speech difficulties in new contexts.

Amanda Horzyk is a PhD candidate in Responsible NLP. Her research bridges legal and technical perspectives in developing leading solutions to complex issues presented by Artificial Intelligence, the Internet and Virtual Reality.

Andrew is a third year PhD student with the Usher Institute, researching the implementation and evaluation practices of robotic surgery systems. Andrew’s research draws on his roots in moral theory, and its application to contemporary medical high technology, as well as practice theory empowered by an ethnographic methodology.

Ayça is a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh. She conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of law and human-computer interaction and focuses on fairness and child-centred AI in education.

Dr Benedetta Catanzariti is a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow in Science, Technology and Innovation Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Her work explores the social, ethical, and political dimensions of data-driven technologies, with a focus on machine learning and its related data practices. She is also a core member of the Edinburgh-based network AI Ethics & Society.

Burkhard is Professor of Computational Legal Theory, with a particular interest in the use of technology in the justice system, legal responses to technological developments, and the changing vision of the just society under the rule of law.

Carolina studies the transhumanist movement - which seeks to transform biology with nanotechnologies, biotechnologies and AI - and its critiques; by resorting to computer scientists, continental philosophers and theologians, her research aims to mediate this battle and develop an interdisciplinary technology ethics.  

In her research, Caterina weaves together philosophical dimensions of digital technologies and the analysis of creative practices to investigate the impact that emerging technological innovations have on the creation, consumption, and ownership of content.

Claudia’s research is at the intersection of neurotechnology and law. They aim to provide a comprehensive framework to counteract neurohacking and safeguard brain data.

Des Higham is Professor of Numerical Analysis in the School of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh with interests that include the study of vulnerabilities in Artificial Intelligence systems.

Dr Emily Postan is a Chancellor's Fellow in Bioethics in Edinburgh Law School. Her research focuses on the ethical implications of the ways that encounters with health data and health technologies affect our identities and relationships to others. 

Dr Gavin Sullivan is a Reader in International Human Rights Law at Edinburgh Law School and Principal Investigator on the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship project, Infra-Legalities: Global Security Infrastructures, Artificial Intelligence and International Law.

Gemma is a writer and researcher focused on corporate futurism and the cultural economy of deep tech. She is a PhD researcher at Edinburgh University and a Research Associate at Glasgow University. She is author of 'Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It'.

Giles is a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Philosophy. His courses include Ethics of AI (MSc). He explores normativity, agency, and the ethical dimensions of AI in his research.

Dr Giulia De Togni is an experienced ethnographer and an interdisciplinary social scientist specialising in Science and Technology Studies. Her work focuses on responsible research and innovation for AI and robotics applications in the health and care sectors.

Dr Giulia De Togni is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow based at Edinburgh Medical School and PI of the project “Caring Machines.” She is an interdisciplinary social scientist working on science communication, risk governance, and responsible innovation for AI and robotics in healthcare.

Jacqueline’s PhD research explores how to make Natural Language Processing tools and technologies safer, fairer and more equitable for speakers of marginalised languages, drawing on her interdisciplinary background in linguistics, human rights and computer science.

James Garforth teaches ethics, social responsibility and teamwork to undergraduate students in the School of Informatics, and supervises projects to develop tools and practices supportive of responsible development. 

Joe is a PhD researcher, working with the University of Edinburgh, Glasgow and National Library of Scotland, ascertaining how cultural heritage organisations can help build up technical fluency in using AI systems for handwritten text recognition. 

Karen Gregory is a digital sociologist and ethnographer. Her work explores the nature and experience of self-employment in the platform economy with a focus on risk, precarity, and worker data rights.

Kimberley is researching community-based approaches to NLP and exploring how participatory methods can make generative AI safer for Queer people by challenging technocratic structures and centering grassroots knowledge in AI and data governance.

Louise joined the University of Edinburgh in 2022 as a Postdoctoral Fellow, having previously studied for her Master's degree in Socio-Legal Studies (2016) and PhD in Law (2021) at the University of Bristol. She currently works on the Trustworthy Autonomous Systems: Making Systems Answer project.

As a PhD student in the School of Informatics, Lucy is conducting research on approaches to recalibrating machine learning for social biases; she works at the intersection of natural language processing, cultural heritage, and design.

Dr Marc Juarez is a Lecturer in Cyber Security and Privacy at the University of Edinburgh. His research addresses the privacy and security risks of the widespread application of machine learning techniques. He is also interested in algorithmic fairness and has collaborated with the MD4SG’s “Bias, Discrimination, and Fairness” working group.

Dr Marion Boulicault is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh and a Co-Director of the Harvard GenderSci Lab. Her research applies a feminist approach to questions in the philosophy of science and technology. 

Dr Matthew J. Cull is an interdisciplinary research fellow at the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society. A philosopher, they work on a variety of areas in social and political philosophy, ethics, and feminist philosophy.

Melody has a background in human-computer/robot interaction and product-service system design. Her work focuses on using creative methods and participatory approaches to address open, complex, dynamic, and networked sociotechnical challenges.

Mike is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the project “Democracy, Rights and the Rule of Law in the Data-driven Society” where he applies insights from republican political theory to issues in AI involvement in governmental decision procedures. Mike recently received a PhD with distinction for his thesis “The Kantian Republic” at the University of Groningen.