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Neuroscience, robotics, AI and medical informatics: New insights with diversity & ethics

Simisola Akintoye is the Data Protection Officer for the European Union Future and Emerging Technologies Human Brain Project. She is an international privacy practitioner, data protection consultant and law lecturer at De Montfort University Institute of Evidence-based Law Reform where she is the convenor of Privacy, Ethics and Responsibility. 
Her work involves continuous, up-to-date collaborative research in privacy and data protection. As a legal expert, she regularly sits on panels involved in critical dialogues on balancing the competing interests of privacy and innovation at national and international levels. She holds a Phd in Law – Corporate Governance and Regulation in Emerging Economies (Sheffield), LLM International Commercial Law (Dundee), LLM Business Law and Taxation (France), Certified Data Protection Practitioner (PC.dp) on European Union General Data protection Regulation (EU GDPR) from Privacy and Data Protection (PdP) London.

Lecture title: Data Protection and Data Ethics: Balancing Big Data and Data Driven Research

There is ongoing debate regarding the conflict between ethical and legal frameworks and the use of big data in research. At the heart of the dichotomy between protecting privacy and conducting data driven research is the recently in force EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For many researchers, the GDPR is perceived as a hindrance to the development of big data projects including the HBP. In the session, the speakers will explain the GDPR framework, the challenges it creates for research, and how these challenges can be approached in a way that respects ethical and legal considerations, while still producing research results.

More specifically, the session will look at how appropriate data governance can ameliorate the problems facing big data projects such as the HBP, and how the HBP itself implements novel data governance strategies to tackle such challenges.

Michele Farisco is part of Uppsala University Centre for Research Ethics and Bioethics neuroethics research team. He holds a MA in Philosophy, a PhD in "Ethics and Anthropology. History and Foundation" and a Master degree in Biolaw. He is the author of four books and several articles about posthuman philosophy and philosophical, ethical and legal implications (ELSI) of genetics and neuroscience. Michele Farisco is currently working on his second PhD about the neuroscientific and conceptual issues of consciousness and its disorders. He is a member of the neuroethics and philosophy work package of the HBP's Subproject 12.

Lecture title: Neuroethics and philosophy in RRI

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is an important ethical, legal, and political theme for the European Commission. Although variously defined, it is generally understood as an interactive process that engages social actors, researchers, and innovators who must be mutually responsive and work towards the ethical permissibility of the relevant research and its products. The framework of RRI calls for contextually addressing not just research and innovation impact but also the background research process, especially the societal visions underlying it and the norms and priorities that shape scientific agendas. In my talk I will focus on potential contribution of philosophical reflection to RRI, referring to specific works done within SP12.

Benedikt Feldotto received a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics from Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) complemented with work experience in industrial pre-development for automation and an engineering project in the USA. Based on his general engineering education he specialized in intelligent robotic systems with the Master of Science program in "Robotics, Cognition, Intelligence" at Technical University of Munich (TUM). In 2017 Benedikt Feldotto started as Research Assistant at the “Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Real-Time” Systems chair at the Technical University of Munich and joined the research group of Neurorobotics in the European Human Brain Project (HBP). His research interests focus on biomimetic learning in neurorobotic systems and the interaction of robots with humans as well as the environment. As a contributing developer to the HBP Neurorobotics Platform for embodied brain simulations he also conducts user workshops all over the world. In 2016 he organized a discussion evening about “Artificial Intelligence – The beginning or ending of a better world”.

Lecture title: Robot stereotypes - What you see is not what you get

Biomimetic robots that imitate the learning process in human brains are central aspect of nowadays robotic research. While highly specialized robotic systems are already in use, sophisticated general robots such as humanoids are expected to enter our daily life soon. The appearance of robots here plays a central role for their acceptance, most popular in negative perspectives of movie doomsday scenarios with horrifying robot protagonists. Robots are anthropomorphized and character traits, capabilities and skills attributed based on morphological cues. Consequentially, the complex information processing algorithms behind are often not questioned but just accepted as a mystified black box called Artificial Intelligence.
In this talk we will introduce Neurorobotic research paradigms and show examples how breakthroughs in brain research can improve robot development. We will explain the diversity of the Artificial Intelligence landscape and outline the development process of intelligent machines. On the contrary we will relate research and development of intelligent machines to the user perception, the language used to describe AI tools and attributes assigned to robots from a user perspective. Among other examples we will underpin our argumentation with the capabilities of the Neurorobotics Platform developed in the Human Brain Project. Here, neural networks with various detail and functionalities can be modularly interconnected with arbitrary robot models. While for non-experts the visual and morphological appearance of robots is often the key to judge a robot, for developers it is just one design decision out of hundreds.
With insights on the diversity of robots and Artificial Intelligence we like to dispel stereotypes and discuss how we can really judge what makes a robotic system scary or cute and harmful or useful.

Jan Fousek is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of System Neuroscience at Aix-Marseille University, focusing on the personalization of Brain Network Models. He earned his PhD from Masaryk University (Faculty of Informatics) working on the High-Performance-Computing aspects of the Brain Network Models. During his doctoral studies, he also engaged in several interdisciplinary projects, bringing the HPC and modeling expertise to projects in neuroscience, computational chemistry, or digital humanities.

Lecture title: Personalized whole-brain models: Capturing the human diversity in medical treatment and research

Individual approach in brain-health context is crucial for diagnosis and intervention planning. Similarly, neuroscience research in general can profit from individualized approach for better mechanistic understanding of the phenomena at hand. Personalized whole-brain models allow to facilitate such individual approach by integrating data from different neuroimaging modalities in a single framework. On the other hand, relying on the individual data raises challenges related to personal data protection, which need to be addressed both in clinical praxis and in research. This talk will give a summary of the modeling work-flow and its implications with emphasis on the ethical and data protection aspects.

Danny A. J. Gómez-Ramírez is leader of the Network ARMANTE and the Meta-Project Artificial Mathematical Intelligence(.com) as well as associated researcher at the Institución Universitario Pascual Bravo in Medellín, Colombia. --> www.DAJ-GomezRamirez.com 
He has been selected for the student presentation slot at the workshop. 
Dr. Gomez-Ramirez is also researcher of the Set Theory Group of the Vienna University of Technology. He is a multidisciplinary researcher with a wide spectrum of academic interests including pure and applied mathematics (algebraic geometry, number theory and the foundations of mathematics), computational creativity, cognitive sciences, AI, philosophy of mind and philosophy of AI. He is also the current vice-president of the Vienna International Business Club, where he fosters the interaction between formal researcher and entrepreneurs not only in Austria but also in Latin America. His forthcoming book: Artificial Mathematical Intelligence: Cognitive, Metamathematical, Physical and Philosophical Foundations" (in Springer) sets the Multidisciplinary foundations of "Cognitive-Computational Metamathematics", which represents a new multifaceted scientific discipline with the aim of extending the original vision of Alan Turing of creating AI for mathematial(ly based) creative research.

Lecture title: How the fulfilment of artificial mathematical intelligence will shift the working purpose of formal researchers: A meta-analysis by means of the Human Values and Control’s (Asilomar) principles

Initially and for the purpose of contextualization, we describe very briefly the Artificial Mathematical Intelligence’s Program (AMI)¹: Based on an interdisciplinary approach involving (fusions of) methodologies used in cognitive science, computational creativity, artificial intelligence, computer science, physics and (pure and applied) (meta-)mathematics, (formalizations of) an initial taxonomy of the fundamental cognitive mechanisms used in mathematical creation are developed. These mechanisms serve, at the same time, as a grounding support for the construction of an artificial agent being able to solve conceptually highly complex scientific problems based on a mathematical setting.

Further, inspired by the Human Values and Control’s Alisomar² (ethical) principles for the coherent and altruistic development of AI technology, we give qualitative predictions regarding how the fulfilment of the global AMI program  would significatively change the main formal goals of the active researcher whose work involves the generation (and subsequently solution) of mathematically-based theoretical models. In other words, how the creation of an artificial agent with co-creative (meta-)mathematical abilities will shift structurally the way in which the former kind of researchers do their research, and, more generally, how a very large part of current science is done. Particularly, one would be strongly influenced to deal with the initial mathematical modeling of real-life (physical) phenomena, since the AMI artificial agent would be able to solve all the related purely theoretical issues involved in the starting model. We describe further important consequences of this paradigm-shifting fact, together with ontologically case-based support for its seminal importance in contemporary scientific research. Finally, we describe several concrete forms of benefits that ethically well-grounded materializations of the AMI project will provide in our society, e.g. a more efficient and beneficial redirection of research’s goals in exact and natural sciences and a more accurate and updated managing system in government structural and development plans.

¹ www.ArtificialMathematicialIntelligence.com

² https://futureoflife.org/ai-principles/

Karin Grasenick graduated in Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering. Her thesis on innovative non-invasive techniques to measure stroke volume led to a growing interest in inter- and transdisciplinary research, diversity in research content and equal opportunities in science. She lectures, coaches and supports teams, universities and international projects in diversity and change management. In HBP, she actively supports the recognition of diversity as a success factor for research and innovation. Together with her team she provides tools and techniques for researchers accordingly.

Hands-on session: Exploring RRI, diversity of research objects and target groups for your own research

This session is a hands-on workshop on how to include diversity aspects in scientific research. Participants are invited to bring their own research concepts, projects and papers to gain new insights. Based on guiding questions and practical tools, such as the HBP Research Guidelines and the European RRI tools group discussions will be facilitated, and feedback provided. Participants sending their abstracts beforehand will gain additional feedback from the lecturers at hand. Non-disclosure agreements will be considered if indicated as required for an open discussion by the participants.

Open dialogue: Explore consequences of possible biases and RRI responses in your field of research together with the lecturers of the workshop

What are the challenges and benefits of RRI, of diversity as research content and the consequences of biases in neuroscience, AI and robotics? What are expected developments in these fields that should be considered? Which research designs and processes have been proven to be beneficial to achieve ex-cellent outcomes? Lecturers will engage in an open dialogue with the participants, share experiences, give advice and feedback.

Harald Kleinberger-Pierer graduated in economic history with a special focus on the history of science and technology. He is especially interested in epistemology, methodology and communication strategies of science and technology in history. He is convinced that dealing with the history of science and technology through examples will help us to better understand the implications of today's research. Knowledge of how past science was performed and recognized diversity and ethics helps to reflect scientific work and outcomes today. In HBP, he was a team member of convelop. He supported the planning and implementation of activities to foster diversity, gender and equal opportunities, with a focus on the development of tools and guidelines. Currently, he is employed by the University of Applied Science (FH Joanneum) in Graz.

Lecture Title: A look back and forward: Feedback Session, summary & diversity and ethics in the history of science

History of science helps us to understand how science worked in the past, but also to reflect on current research. In this presentation I will investigate different historical models of ethics in research. In addition, I will show how diversity (e.g. gender / sex, religion / beliefs) was considered in history of science and how this influenced the outcome of science and technology. Historical examples will be linked to the topics that are presented by the other speakers in the workshop, like RRI and ethics in historical settings, gender and diversity aspects in recording, preservation and use of data in history, (pre-)robotic-humanoid interactions and how the image of the human has changed as a result of new findings in the fields of science, medicine and biology.  

Will Knight is the Ethics Compliance Manager for the Human Brain Project. He is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility at De Montfort University, where he conducts research into data governance, data protection, ethics compliance and research ethics. Dr Knight leads the Compliance Management task in HBP Ethics Support, which is a work package of HBP Subproject 12 – Ethics and Society. His current research focus is international data governance and research ethics compliance, seeking to gain a greater understanding of how we might find common ground between different ethical and legal practices held in different countries and cultures, and how this might lead to greater opportunity for international research collaboration. Dr Knight earned his PhD in Digital Economy research from the University of Nottingham (Horizon CDT)

Lecture title: Data Protection and Data Ethics: Balancing Big Data and Data Driven Research

There is ongoing debate regarding the conflict between ethical and legal frameworks and the use of big data in research. At the heart of the dichotomy between protecting privacy and conducting data driven research is the recently in force EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For many researchers, the GDPR is perceived as a hindrance to the development of big data projects including the HBP. In the session, the speakers will explain the GDPR framework, the challenges it creates for research, and how these challenges can be approached in a way that respects ethical and legal considerations, while still producing research results.

More specifically, the session will look at how appropriate data governance can ameliorate the problems facing big data projects such as the HBP, and how the HBP itself implements novel data governance strategies to tackle such challenges.

Ms. Sita Ramchandra Kotnis, MA in Anthropology, PhD Fellow in Anthropology, Aarhus University, Denmark. Sita is specialized in new and emerging technologies and innovation, particularly within the new biological sciences-complex, and has experience with health-related technology, bioethical deliberation and foresight. She is currently working for the Danish Board of Technology, facilitating AI activities in the Human Brain Project.

Lecture title: Societal impact through engagement of publics and experts in the HBP

How can we steer the outcome of science and technology toward realising societal benefits? The concept and practice of responsible research and innovation (RRI) argue that alignment of research and innovation with societal values may be achieved through a structured and attentive process. Engagement with lay and professional audiences is one of the key practices to achieving such alignment. In my talk, I will explain how we conceive and work with engagement of publics and expert stakeholders in the Human Brain Project on the topic of responsible dual use.

Robert Legenstein is a computer scientist working specifically in the fields of computational / theoretical neuroscience, novel brain-inspired computing paradigms, and neural networks. His research focuses on models for computation and learning in spiking neural networks. The aim of his research is to better understand the organization of computation and learning in nervous systems, as well as to apply such paradigms to artificial computing devices.

Lecture title: Welcome address / Introducing computational/theoretical neuroscience, novel brain-inspired computing paradigms

The Institute of Theoretical Computer Science investigates fundamental problems in information processing such as the design of computer algorithms, the complexity of computations and computational models, automated knowledge acquisition (machine learning), the complexity of learning algorithms, pattern recognition with artificial neural networks, computational geometry, and information processing in biological neural systems.
Its research integrates methods from mathematics, computer science and computational neuroscience. The lecture will analyse practical experiences, challenges and benefits of interdisciplinarity and diversity at the institute.

Martina Mara is an Austrian tech psychologist and an expert on human-robot relations. She earned her doctorate in Psychology at the University of Koblenz-Landau with a dissertation on the user acceptance of anthropomorphic machines. After having worked for non-university research institutions such as the Ars Electronica Futurelab for more than a decade, she was appointed Professor of Robopsychology at Johannes Kepler University Linz in April 2018. Her current research interests include public attitudes towards robotics and AI, psychological effects of simulated human-likeness and intention signaling of mobile and collaborative robots. Martina Mara is a member of the Austrian Council on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. In her newspaper column „Schöne neue Welt”, she regularly writes about critical or funny aspects of technology in everyday life.

Lecture title: The demystification of the robot: Why we need informed people and explainable machines

Robotics and Artificial Intelligence entail many opportunities for humanity: From improving medical diagnoses to enabling greater autonomy for the elderly, from cleaning the house to optimizing energy efficiency. In the public discourse, however, smart technologies are customarily represented by the stereotypical image of the android, the artificial replication of the human being. Based on findings from psychological research, Mara argues that a human-centered approach towards technological development must foster new visions of complementary human-machine relationships instead of fueling fears of substitution. Furthermore, as many outside the expert circles still lack information about technical functions and feel uncomfortable with technology they don’t understand, there is a need for user empowerment: By explaining basic technological concepts to the public and by designing machines that are explainable themselves.

Alessandra Nostro - Questions such as how do we think, feel, and interact with the world around us, or what makes our thinking, feeling and interacting so unique, have always fascinated me. I have studied biology and Neuroscience to look for answers. My interest gravitated towards understanding individual differences, personality traits in particular, and how they relate to differences with brain structure and function. The main goal of my PhD consisted in assessing gender-common or gender-specific neural correlates of personality traits (assessed by the Big Five) in a multi-modal approach combining grey-matter volume or resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) in hundreds of participants. Interestingly, while we found robust correlated of personality traits, they were different across gender (Nostro et al., Cerabral Cortex, 2016; Nostro et al., Brain Structure and Function, 2018).

Thereafter, I decided to move to the Social Brain Lab at the NIN where I currently perform experiments that track moral learning signals in the brain while participants have to learn to choose between actions that trade off gains for the self in combination with pain for others.

Lecture title: The role of gender in the multimodal characterization of biological substrates of personality traits

The Five-Factor Model (FFM) provides a comprehensive assessment of personality, defined as the combination of five major domains: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. Although several studies have already investigated structural and functional correlates of these five traits, it is still difficult to delineate a clear picture on the neurobiological correlates of the FFM. One major limitation can be found in considering gender as covariate of no interest. Indeed, despite the vast knowledge of the effect of gender on both the brain organization and on the self-reported personality scores, most of the studies in the field of personality neuroscience did not consider it in the neural underpinnings of personality. I will be therefore talking about my discovers on gender effects on both structural (Voxel-based Morphometry) and functional (Resting-State Functional Connectivity) neural correlates of personality.
The combination of these studies, therefore, corroborates the notion of a neural foundation for the Big Five, but, most importantly, that structural and functional changes supporting each trait might differ between male and female brains.

Alois Saria started his research career investigating functions of neuropeptides in the autonomic and central nervous system and then moved to work on neuropeptides in the central nervous system and mechanism of action of psychoactive drugs and narcotics. More recently his research focused on systems neurobiology, particularly reward systems, and pharmacokinetic and -dynamic aspects of antidepressants and antipsychotics relevant for therapeutic drug monitoring in psychiatry. Techniques applied include behavioural animal models in psychiatry, most recently for addictive behaviour, immunohistochemistry, in-situ hybridization, in-vivo microdialysis, cell and tissue culture, quantitative determination of signaling substances with immunoassays and LC-tandem-mass spectrometry. In the current SPIN projects multielectrode-array recordings and optogenetic methods are in the process of being established.

Lecture title: The Human Brain Project at the halfway point

The Human Brain Project is one of the Flagship Projects funded by the European Union for a period of ten years. The project started in October 2013 and has now reached the half-way point. The core project currently involves 131 partners from 19 European countries and 7 partnering projects. The mission of the project is to explore the multi-level complexity of the brain in space and time and to transfer the acquired knowledge to brain-derived applications in medicine, computing and technology. At the moment, 6 ICT-platforms have been established where consortium members, in collaboration with other scientists, carry out experiments that already lead to a number of success stories with impact on creating more detailed digital brain atlases,  treatment of brain diseases, development of electronic devices or building a brain-like, so-called “neuromorphic” computer architecture. For the remaining funding periods the focus will be on building a sustainable infrastructure which can be accessed by researchers from anywhere for novel experimental approaches to brain research using most advanced high-performance and brain-inspired computer technologies.