Our People

Dr Giulia De Togni is an experienced ethnographer and an interdisciplinary social scientist specialising in Science and Technology Studies. Her work focuses on responsible research and innovation for AI and robotics applications in the health and care sectors.

Des Higham is Professor of Numerical Analysis in the School of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh with interests that include the study of vulnerabilities in Artificial Intelligence systems.

Karen Gregory is a digital sociologist and ethnographer. Her work explores the nature and experience of self-employment in the platform economy with a focus on risk, precarity, and worker data rights.

Dr Gavin Sullivan is a Reader in International Human Rights Law at Edinburgh Law School and Principal Investigator on the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship project, Infra-Legalities: Global Security Infrastructures, Artificial Intelligence and International Law.

Milo Phillips-Brown is a Lecturer in the Philosophy of Technology at the University of Edinburgh and a Senior Research Fellow in Digital Ethics and Governance at the Jain Family Institute.

Dr Vaishak Belle is Reader at the University of Edinburgh, an Alan Turing Fellow, and a Royal Society University Research Fellow. He has made a career out of doing research on the science and technology of AI.

Professor Nehal Bhuta FRSE holds the Chair of Public International Law at University of Edinburgh and is Co-Director of the Edinburgh Centre for International and Global Law.

Dr Tom Boylston is a senior lecturer in Social Anthropology with research/teaching interests in psychotherapy, technology, and play. His recent work has focused on selfhood and mental health at the interface between humans and technology, especially videogames and Large Language Models/AI.

Dr Tara Capel is a Lecturer in Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh with an interest in how technology can support people’s wellbeing and empowerment. Her research combines participatory and feminist research, collaborative design (co-design), design probes and making practices to explore new areas of technology design.

James Garforth teaches ethics, social responsibility and teamwork to undergraduate students in the School of Informatics, and supervises projects to develop tools and practices supportive of responsible development. 

Dr Marc Juarez is a Lecturer in Cyber Security and Privacy at the University of Edinburgh. His research addresses the privacy and security risks of the widespread application of machine learning techniques. He is also interested in algorithmic fairness and has collaborated with the MD4SG’s “Bias, Discrimination, and Fairness” working group.

Dr Kokciyan is a Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence in the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh. Her research interests include human-centered AI, Privacy, Argument Mining, Responsible AI and AI Ethics. She is currently teaching 'Case Studies in AI Ethics (CSAI)' course in her School. 

Dr Adam Lopez is a Reader in the School of Informatics. His research for the past two decades has focused on language technology, spanning a wide range of related scientific, mathematical, and engineering problems. He is now most interested in problems related to fairness, accountability, and transparency of language technology.

In her research, Caterina weaves together philosophical dimensions of digital technologies and the analysis of creative practices to investigate the impact that emerging technological innovations have on the creation, consumption, and ownership of content.

Dr Emily Postan is a Chancellor's Fellow in Bioethics in Edinburgh Law School. Her research focuses on the ethical implications of the ways that encounters with health data and health technologies affect our identities and relationships to others. 

Burkhard is Professor of Computational Legal Theory, with a particular interest in the use of technology in the justice system, legal responses to technological developments, and the changing vision of the just society under the rule of law.

Nayha Sethi is Chancellor’s Fellow in Data Driven Innovation. Nayha’s research and teaching focusses on exploring blurred boundaries between, and building responsible regulatory approaches across healthcare, research and innovation.

Tillmann Vierkant is a Professor of Neurophilosophy of Agency and Free Will at the University of Edinburgh.

Dr Benedetta Catanzariti is a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow in Science, Technology and Innovation Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Her work explores the social, ethical, and political dimensions of data-driven technologies, with a focus on machine learning and its related data practices. She is also a core member of the Edinburgh-based network AI Ethics & Society.

Dr Matthew J. Cull is an interdisciplinary research fellow at the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society. A philosopher, they work on a variety of areas in social and political philosophy, ethics, and feminist philosophy.

Mike is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the project “Democracy, Rights and the Rule of Law in the Data-driven Society” where he applies insights from republican political theory to issues in AI involvement in governmental decision procedures. Mike recently received a PhD with distinction for his thesis “The Kantian Republic” at the University of Groningen. 

Louise joined the University of Edinburgh in 2022 as a Postdoctoral Fellow, having previously studied for her Master's degree in Socio-Legal Studies (2016) and PhD in Law (2021) at the University of Bristol. She currently works on the Trustworthy Autonomous Systems: Making Systems Answer project.

Giles is a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Philosophy. His courses include Ethics of AI (MSc). He explores normativity, agency, and the ethical dimensions of AI in his research.

Dr Fabio Tollon is a philosopher of technology with interests in the ethics of AI, moral responsibility, and free will. He is a postdoctoral researcher as part of the BRAID (Bridging Responsible AI Divides) Programme.

Dr Simeon Ximian Xu is Duncan Forrester Fellow, a joint fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and the School of Divinity’s Centre for Theology and Public Issues.

Amanda Horzyk is a PhD candidate in Responsible NLP. Her research bridges legal and technical perspectives in developing leading solutions to complex issues presented by Artificial Intelligence, the Internet and Virtual Reality.

Srravya’s research examines the work of data annotation for AI, paying particular attention to systemic challenges and frictions, to envision and inform just, equitable futures of AI design, policies and practice.

Alice’s research looks at speech technology and human-computer interaction. Her project aims to explore the experiences, attitudes, and concerns of people who have speech difficulties in new contexts.

Ayça is a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh. She conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of law and human-computer interaction and focuses on fairness and child-centred AI in education.

Claudia’s research is at the intersection of neurotechnology and law. They aim to provide a comprehensive framework to counteract neurohacking and safeguard brain data.

Venus examines the political and ethical implications of climate-smart innovations in agrarian south, focusing on questions of persistent inequality and dynamics of human agency through social change.

Carolina studies the transhumanist movement - which seeks to transform biology with nanotechnologies, biotechnologies and AI - and its critiques; by resorting to computer scientists, continental philosophers and theologians, her research aims to mediate this battle and develop an interdisciplinary technology ethics.  

As a PhD student in the School of Informatics, Lucy is conducting research on approaches to recalibrating machine learning for social biases; she works at the intersection of natural language processing, cultural heritage, and design.

Andrew is a third year PhD student with the Usher Institute, researching the implementation and evaluation practices of robotic surgery systems. Andrew’s research draws on his roots in moral theory, and its application to contemporary medical high technology, as well as practice theory empowered by an ethnographic methodology.

Gemma is a writer and researcher focused on corporate futurism and the cultural economy of deep tech. She is a PhD researcher at Edinburgh University and a Research Associate at Glasgow University. She is author of 'Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It'.

Joe is a PhD researcher, working with the University of Edinburgh, Glasgow and National Library of Scotland, ascertaining how cultural heritage organisations can help build up technical fluency in using AI systems for handwritten text recognition.