The 4th Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Digital Society: Societally Engaged AI

As AI reshapes our world, critical questions emerge about its role in addressing – or perpetuating – societal challenges. From algorithmic bias and environmental costs to the concentration of AI power in the hands of a few, we face urgent questions about how to develop AI systems that genuinely serve society’s needs. To tackle this, we need to reimagine AI development through a socially engaged lens: how can we create AI technologies that actively contribute to social justice, environmental sustainability, and democratic values? What does it mean for AI to be truly “societally engaged,” and how can we ensure it serves diverse communities and needs? To address these questions, researchers should bridge technical and social perspectives, combining rigorous technical expertise with deep understanding of societal implications.

IWDS ’25 – wrapped up

We had the pleasure of hosting the 4th Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Digital Society (IWDS). A keynote talk by prof. dr. Sennay Ghebreab was followed by a lightning talk and poster presentation by ten researchers from diverse backgrounds. The event ended with an “academic speed dating”, that saw participants discuss and propose future interdisciplinary research lines. This lead to two winner titles:

• Talk to us: using culturally aware language models to rewrite news for target audiences, by Reshmi Pillai & Rupert Kiddle
• The battle between clicks and emotions: designing a news recommender system using brain signals, by Maryam Alimardani & Damian Trilling.

Thank you again for your enthusiastic participation. We hope you gained new perspectives, seed ideas for future collaborations, and, most importantly, had fun!

Below are the posters presented during the workshop. Click on posters below for their large version.

IWDS ’25 – details

The 4th Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Digital Society is be a half-day event held on 25th February, 2025 at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, organized by the Network Institute. Our primary goal is to create a welcoming space for researchers from different backgrounds interested in collaborating and to provide a low-threshold opportunity to present your work. This year’s theme is societally engaged AI.

• When: 25th February, 2025, 12.30 – 17.00h
• Where: MF-Atrium, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Registration: Fill in this form before 19 Feb

The program includes:

• A keynote and Q&A by prof. dr. Sennay Ghebreab.
• Academic speed dating with drinks.
• Opportunity to win a research money voucher (all attendees are eligible).
• Lightning talks and poster presentations by
  • Evy Beijen – Connecting climate discourse and religious language
  • Rupert Kiddle – Osmotic News Recommendation: Facilitating Serendipitous Information Discovery in Digital Journalism.
  • Masuma Shahid – ‘Queering AI: how to make artificial intelligence more diverse, inclusive, fair and ethical for LGBTQIA+ individuals’
  • Maryam Alimardani – NeuroPAL: a social game for post-stroke neuro-rehabilitation
  • Sílvia Majó-Vázquez – Living with Technology: How Socially Interactive Robots Affect News Users Opinions towards Trust and Learning from News
  • Ahdiyeh Alipour – Would You Rely on an Eerie Agent? The Effect of the Uncanny Valley on Trust in Human-Agent Collaboration
  • Ethel Pruss – Emotional Coregulation in Human-Agent Interactions
  • Ilke Asal – How does understanding users’ mental model influence conversation between LLM and users?
  • Linlin Cheng – Automating Gaze Target Annotation in Human-Robot Interaction
  • Ivano Malavolta – The Ecosystem of Open-Source Music Production Software – A Mining Study on the Development Practices of VST Plugins on GitHub

Schedule:
12:30 – 12:45 Registration
12:45 – 13:00 Opening
13:00 – 14:00 Keynote Prof. Dr. Sennay Ghebreab
14:00 – 14:30 Lightning Talks
14:30 – 15:30 Posters session
15:30 – 16:30 Academic speed dating + drinks
16:30 – 17:00 Closing and Awards

For more information consult the dedicated page on the website: IWDS-2025