Core Research Themes

Our institute conducts work at the nexus of ethics, analytic philosophy, and contemporary technology. Here are some of our central themes:

  • Technology and Responsibility: Investigating questions of responsibility and liability in all phases of the development and use of technology.
  • Human Flourishing: Delving into the multifaceted impact of technology on human well-being.
  • Societal Progress and Justice: Analysing the intersection between technological advancements and societal progress, with a particular focus on the impact of technology on democracy and political processes.
  • Sustainability: Assessing the long-term sustainability of technological innovations, considering their environmental, economic, and social implications.
  • Consent: Examining the role of consent in the digital age, including various contexts of data collection and data processing.
  • Art and Creativity: Investigating how artistic expression and technological innovation interact, focusing on their ethical implications, broader humanistic insights, and what aspects of creativity may be considered genuinely human.
  • Media and Technology: Evaluating how media and technology shape public opinion, influence democratic systems, and present ethical challenges in a globally connected environment.
  • Safety and Security: Probing the ethical dimensions of safety and security in technological developments, including questions about sufficiently robust reliability as well as resilience against malicious interference.
  • Fairness: Investigating the concepts of equality, justice, and diversity in the context of technological developments and developing methods to audit algorithmic decision-making with an eye to risks of discrimination.
  • Implementation: Developing actionable methods to implement abstract ethical principles, such as transparency, accountability, and human oversight, into concrete practice and sustaining a dialogue with various stakeholders on how to apply various forms of regulation.