Coordinator 

Prof. B. Roessler 

Current members of the research group 

Beate Roessler, Marjolein Lanzing, Eva Groen-Rijman, Hao Wang, Gerrit Schaafsma, Marijn Sax, Aybuke Ozgun, Huub Dijstelbloem. 

Description of the research program 

New information and communication technologies are radically transforming our personal, social, and political lives. Big Data and the near-comprehensive surveillance of our daily lives as consumers by the tech giants, as well as the surveillance of citizens, raise questions about how to safeguard and protect our privacy. But the possible loss of private life constitutes only one particular aspect of the comprehensive development that is called, the digitization of society. This digitization permeates every fiber of our everyday lives, our relationships, our self-understanding, and influences, impacts, and changes us. Under the influence of increasingly intelligent algorithmic systems, the fundamental challenge is to understand and critically discuss the transformation of our society and ultimately of ourselves. In this research group, we investigate ethical and political aspects of this transformation. 

Envisaged results 

Organization of lectures and workshops, in close cooperation with the Philosophy and Public Affairs group and the PEPT; Articles in Journals; submission of proposals for funding 

Societal relevance 

The research in this program aims to deepen the understanding of the ethical, political, and legal dilemmas in which the digitization of the society is involved and contribute to the critical vocabularies necessary in the debates on the development as well as the consequences of digital technologies. This way, the research helps policy makers to get a deeper insight into the ethical-political issues surrounding new technologies and their meaning for liberal democracies in the digitized world.