The Civic AI Lab's main objective is the research and development of AI technology that promotes equal opportunity with a focus on societal challenges. But tackling inequality is a big challenge that requires a lot of effort and a diverse team of people working on it. That is why our Lab is growing!
On May we welcomed two new PhD candidates Mirthe Dankloff and Vanja Skoric as well as Dr. Fernando Santos and our project liaison Katerina Makrogamvraki.
Vanja Skoric - P.h.D. Candidate
Vanja obtained her LLM in International Public Law at UvA and has been working in civil society sector on protecting and promoting civic freedoms and rights. She is a Program Director at ECNL Stichting. She joined the Civic AI Lab as an external PhD, to pursue interdisciplinary research on inclusive and rights-based norm design for AI systems. Her interests include striking the right balance between AI development and safeguarding human rights and freedoms, with focus on participatory methods and frameworks for AI.
Mirthe Dankloff - P.h.D. Candidate
Mirthe obtained her bachelors degree in cognitive neuropsychology at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. Afterwards, she integrated two master programs at the Vrije universiteit: Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy of Culture & Governance. By combining both fields, she wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the ethical and societal issues in AI.
With Mirthe and Vanja exploring the governance and the ethical dimensions of AI development our lab aims to provide AI technology that uses equal opportunity as a basis.
Fernando P. Santos - Lab Manager
Dr. Fernando Santos as an Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam will be a great asset in our team assisting the effort of the Lab to “remove” bias and discrimination from AI. Dr. Fernando Santos is an Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam. He received his PhD in Computer Science and Engineering in 2018, from Instituto Superior Técnico (Lisbon, Portugal). Fernando’s research lies at the interface of AI and complex systems: He is interested in understanding collective dynamics in multiagent systems and in designing fair/pro-social AI. Before joining UvA, Fernando was a James S. McDonnell postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of Princeton University (Levin Lab).
The Civic AI Lab is a co-creation between partners and scientific institutions. We welcome Katerina, whose aim is to promote the vital collaboration between the City of Amsterdam and the lab.
Katerina Makrogamvraki - Project Liaison
Katerina obtained her bachelor’s in Industrial Management and Technology at the University of Piraeus of Athens and her master’s degree in engineering and Policy Analysis at TU Delft. With experience in community and project management, she is ready to create an impact assisting the collaboration between the City of Amsterdam and the Lab and communicate the lab’s vision on AI to the general public.
We are really excited to welcome our new team members, who share the same values and strive to help us create a more just society through the development of inclusive AI.