Research Ethics in the Age of AI: Embracing Openness as a Path Forward

Speaker information

Prof. Dr. Dr.h.c. Karin Lochte

Karin Lochte studied at University Hannover and University Bangor, UK (Marine Biology, MSc, PhD). As a marine microbiologist she investigated carbon and nitrogen cycles in various regions of the ocean, in the deep sea and polar regions. The role of ocean biology in climate regulation was a main objective. She worked at GEOMAR Kiel, at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Rostock and was for 10 years director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research. She held professorships at the universities Rostock, Kiel and Bremen. She was member or chair of many national and international committees, served on the science council of Germany and is now in her retirement member of university advisory bodies and central ombudsperson of the Helmholtz Association.

Dr. Katrin Frisch

Dr. Katrin Frisch has been working as a researcher at the German Research Ombudsman since May 2020, specifically at the project "Discussion Hubs to Foster Research Integrity", with a focus on research data and, since 2023, also artificial intelligence. The aim of the project is to create practice-oriented recommendations supplementary to the DFG Code of Conduct "Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice" for ombudspersons and researchers. The project further aims at producing novel research on research integrity. The team has, among other things, published a monograph on fairness in science in October 2022. From March 2023 to March 2024, she also worked in the advisory office at the German Research Ombudsman.

Interesting publication for this workshop context:
Textgenerierende KI und gute wissenschaftliche Praxis“ (Katrin Frisch, Felix Hagenström und Nele Reeg; ZfBB, Jahrgang 70, Heft 6/2023). DOI: 10.3196/186429502370667

David Arranz

David Arranz is a physicist by training with a diverse professional background both in the private and public sector. He started his career in software development before joining the European Commission where he has worked for more than 15 years.
In the European Commission he has been working in different roles and policy areas.
For the last 2 years he has been working as policy officer in the ‘AI in science’ unit at DG RTD (Research and Innovation). The goal of this unit is to explore and anticipate how AI could change science, research and innovation, making them smarter and more productive. And facilitate the adoption of the technology by all kind of scientists in the EU.

X: @David_Arranz_
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidarranz/

Interesting publication for this workshop context:
Trends in the use of AI in science
AI in Science: Harnessing the power of AI to accelerate discovery and foster innovation

Theresa Willem, M.A.

Theresa is an AI Ethics Consultant at Helmholtz AI and manages the Munich Embedded Ethics and Social Science Lab at TUM. Currently finishing up her PhD in medical AI ethics at TUM’s School of Social Sciences and Technology, her research spans ethical and social aspects of AI and digital health. Theresa contributed to projects like TherVacB, exploring the ethics of patient recruitment via AI-powered social media platforms, and DR-AI, focusing on the ethics of AI applications for radiology and dermatology. Earlier, Theresa studied media sciences in Regensburg, Berlin, and Brussels and worked in the Berlin health tech startup ecosystem. Theresa is an alumna of the Bavarian Elite Academy and the German National Academic Foundation.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresawillem/

Interesting publications for this workshop context

Dr. phil. nat. Michael Schmuker, Visiting Professor (U Hertfordshire)

Dr Schmuker joined the Helmholtz Head Office in November 2023 to lead the Information and Data Science team. Previously he was Professor of Neural Computation at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, where he still retains a role as visiting professor. Dr Schmuker led data science efforts in in several national and international collaborative research projects funded by DFG, BMBF, EC/EU, MRC (UK).

LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/michaelschmuker

Interesting publications for this workshop context