In 2023 we will further operationalise the ELSA concept in new case studies, together with our partner organisations. We’ll also be conducting surveys and interviews with citizens and journalists and applying the sandbox method to shed light on human-centered AI tools in the media. To help realise these ambitions, we have welcomed new colleagues in the field of communication science, law and computer science.
Sophie Morosoli completed her PhD at the University of Antwerp and was part of the research group Media, Movements and Politics (M²P). For her dissertation, she investigated how individuals engage with online misinformatio. At the Lab, Sophie will study the effects and uses of AI from a microlevel perspective.
Hannes Cools (PhD) is postdoctoral researcher at the AI, Media & Democracy Lab and the Digital Democracy Centre (DDC) at the University of Southern Denmark. Formerly, he was a PhD-candidate at the Institute for Media Studies (IMS) of the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium. At the Lab, he will work on the potential effects of news personalization at public broadcasters like the BBC, NOS, and VRT. Apart from news personalization, his research interests include computational journalism, algorithmic recommender systems and news automation.
In his doctoral research, Laurens Naudts operationalised the notion of equality as an interpretative lens to strengthen the evaluation and regulation of algorithmically guided decision-making practices in light of the inequalities they (risk to) produce. He is eager to critically and socially engage with, and learn from, other research disciplines, civil society, media, and industry to reflect upon solutions to key social issues, such as the inclusion and representation of invisible or historically marginalised communities within media production, curation, and dissemination.
Sanne Vrijenhoek is working on the topic of Diversity in News Recommendations. In her research she works towards algorithmic news recommendations that are not only based on how likely a user is to click on an article but are also in line with editorial- and societal norms and values. To this end she closely collaborates with different academic disciplines and aims to create approaches and solutions that could work in practice. Sanne is eager to share ideas and collaborate, so please don’t hesitate to reach out.
