The Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center (ND-TEC) and the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study (NDIAS) have partnered to offer three faculty Technology Ethics Fellowships during the 2020-2021 academic year. The Fellows will spend all or part of the year in residence at the University of Notre Dame working on a technology ethics-related project within the broader NDIAS theme, the Nature of Trust.

“ND-TEC is thrilled to be able to work with the NDIAS to offer these new fellowship opportunities,” said Mark McKenna, acting director of ND-TEC and the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law. “As always, our goal is to nurture world-class scholarship in the area of technology ethics and this partnership with the Institute presented a great avenue to make that possible. We can’t wait to have these fellows in our community.”

The Technology Ethics Fellows are:

• Barbara Lauriat, senior lecturer at King's College London, for her research, “Global arbiters of reasonableness and selectors of standards--technology and trust.”
• Mutale Nkonde, fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and executive director of AI for the People, for her study, “Facial Recognition Tool Kit: A guide for black and other advocates of color.”
• Michael Robillard, research fellow at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, for his project, “Privacy, Social Knowledge, and Accountability: Building trustworthy institutions in the Age of Big Data.”

All NDIAS Faculty Fellows for the 2020-2021 academic year will complete a substantial research project investigating dimensions of trust from a broad range of disciplines, including sociology, psychology, anthropology, political science, history, philosophy, and engineering. Fellows include top researchers from universities, such as the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia, in addition to faculty from the University of Notre Dame.

“We are grateful to have developed such a strong class of fellows for this inaugural theme-driven year of the NDIAS faculty fellowships,” said Meghan Sullivan, director of the NDIAS and the Rev. John A. O’Brien Collegiate Professor of Philosophy. “These ND-TEC fellows are going to add serious depth to our discussions of ways trust is fostered - and hindered - by recent developments in AI and AI policy. We can’t wait to welcome them to the community.”

ND-TEC is also collaborating with the NDIAS to host a campus-wide conference in 2021 on the humanistic dimensions of technological innovation with science fiction writer Ted Chiang, artist in residence at the NDIAS during 2020-2021. Chiang has received numerous awards, including Nebula, Hugo, and Locus awards, and is known for critically-acclaimed stories such as “Tower of Babylon” and “Story of Your Life,” which was adapted into the science fiction film “Arrival.”

ND-TEC convenes global thought leaders in academia, industry, non-profit organizations, and governmental agencies to develop ethical and legal frameworks that keep pace with technological development. To learn more about the Center, please visit techethics.nd.edu.

The NDIAS convenes an interdisciplinary group of faculty fellows, top doctoral candidates, and undergraduate scholars to study questions that require a joint focus, benefit from sustained research and discussion, and advance our understanding on core issues that affect our ability to lead valuable, meaningful lives. To learn more about the fellowship program and the Institute, please visit ndias.nd.edu/fellowships.

Contact:

Kristian Olsen / Fellowships, Outreach, and Operations Program Manager

Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study / University of Notre Dame

kolsen1@nd.edu / 574.631.2830

ndias.nd.edu / @NotreDameIAS

About Notre Dame Research:

The University of Notre Dame is a private research and teaching university inspired by its Catholic mission. Located in South Bend, Indiana, its researchers are advancing human understanding through research, scholarship, education, and creative endeavor in order to be a repository for knowledge and a powerful means for doing good in the world. For more information, please see research.nd.edu or @UNDResearch.