Digital Humanism is at the forefront of current debates concerning human-technology interaction. To foster academic exchange across disciplines and institutional boundaries, TU Wien Informatics, the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (CAIML), and IWM collaborate within the Digital Humanism Fellowship, starting March 2022.

Program Kick-off

On 17 March 2022, IWM’s new Digital Humanism Fellowship program was officially launched with an inaugural lecture by former Dean of TU Wien Informatics and DIGHUM initiator Hannes Werthner at IWM. The Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK) jointly initiated the program. Henriette Spyra, Director-General for Innovation & Technology at BMK, and Michael Wiesmüller, Head of the Department for Key Enabling Technologies in Industrial Innovation at BMK, emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary outreach through the Digital Humanism Fellowship program in their welcome speech. The program kick-off event addressed visions and challenges of Digital Humanism in a debate moderated by Ludger Hagedorn, Head of the Patočka Archive and program at IWM, involving the first Digital Humanism Junior Visiting Fellow Nena Močnik. Social scientist and humanitarian activist Nena Močnik develops the App “Moving Moms” to offer reproductive health-related knowledge and community support to refugee mothers in displacement.

Collaboration

The program aims to provide one Senior and two Junior Visiting Fellows per semester with the means to explore the complex interplay of IT and humanity.

The Center for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (CAIML) will primarily organize the joint activities of the faculty and IWM. As part of the program, Senior Fellows – highly respected international scholars in the field – are offered a visiting professorship at TU Wien Informatics. The first Senior Fellow and visiting professor will be Edward A. Lee, Robert S. Pepper Distinguished Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) at the University of California at Berkeley. TU Wien Informatics will also support IWM Junior Fellows with faculty resources – such as workspace, infrastructure, and supervision – and deepen its collaboration with IWM in outreach activities.

Visit IWM’s Youtube Channel to watch the Digital Humanism Fellowship Kick-off lecture and many more.