PhilosophyLab

PhilosophyLab is a research environment that connects philosophy and ethics of technology to design, art, and responsible innovation. It is embedded in the DesignLab of the University of Twente.

Current projects:

• Pride and Prejudice.
  Subproject on technology and interpretations of health, disease, and the body.  4TU project on chronic disease prevention through real-life monitoring and context-aware intervention design. Postdoc project Bas de Boer.
  
• TopFit. 
  Subproject on the ethics and epistemology of citizen science. Research project on citizen science in the context of health and disease prevention. From philosophy, one postdoc (vacancy) will work on the ethical and epistemic questions related to the CitizenLab that will be established. (vacancy)
  
• BRIdging Data in the built Environment (BRIDE)
  In the BRIDE-project, a team of philosophers, designers and computer scientists investigates how a 3D bridge can enhance citizens’ experience of “cityness”. The bridge, which is equipped with sensors, can respond to citizens’ interaction with the bridge. This will allow for the creation of new forms of smart urban space. Consortiumpartners: MX3D, Foundation for Responsible Robotics and Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions. Researchers: Dr. M. Nagenborg (UT), Prof.dr.ir. P.P.C.C. Verbeek (UT), Prof. dr. G.W. Kortuem (TUD), Prof. dr. mr. ir. N. Doorn (TUD) and Dr.ir. N. Meratnia (UT). Funded in the NWO Smart Culture / Creative Cities program.
  
• Designing for Controversies in Responsible Smart Cities
  As Amersfoort Municipality is building a new Internet of Things infrastructure, this consortium of public-private partners wants to develop a government-citizen-academic-industry collaboration platform that allows a wide range of stakeholders in a series of co-design sessions to discuss ethical, juridical, and social controversies, and foster broader support. Consortiumpartners: Gemeente Amersfoort, Marxman Advocaten, Aerovision, Kennislab voor Urbanisme and Design Innovation Groep. Researchers: Prof.dr.ir. M.C. van der Voort (UT), Dr. M.L. de Lange (UU) and Prof.dr.ir. P.P. C.C. Verbeek (UT). Funded in the NWO Smart Culture / Creative Cities program.
  
• Architectural Design: Postphenomenology and the Built Environment.
  External PhD project Liesbeth Stam (KU Leuven; co-supervision with Ann Heylighen)
  
• Expanding political theory of technology: Hannah Arendt, Gezi park, and online politics.
  PhD project Melis Bas (with Ciano Aydin)
  
• Environmental technologies: Material Engagement Theory, Postphenomenology, and the Internet of Things.
  PhD project Margoth Gonzalez Woge (with Michael Nagenborg)
  
• Wearable technologies: theorizing acceptance and mediation.
  PhD project Niek Zuidhof (with Somaya Ben Allouch)
  
• The Relational and Performative Abilities of Things.
  NWO-Artistic Research funded project about the role of objects in human existence. Funded by NWO: PhD in the Fine Arts. Researcher: Yvonne Dröge Wendel, PhD candidate.

Past projects on philosophy and design:

• Toward a Theory of Technological Mediation (finished 2019)
  NWO-VICI funded project on the mediating role of technology in knowledge, ethics, and metaphysics. Researchers: Peter-Paul Verbeek (PI), Bas de Boer (PhD candidate), Jonne Hoek (PhD candidate), Olya Kudina (PhD candidate), Nicola Liberati (postdoctoral researcher), Jan Peter Bergen (postdoctoral researcher).
• The ethics and politics of behavior-influencing technology (finished 2019)
  PhD project Ching Hung (with Michael Nagenborg)
• Technology and Online Morality (finished 2019).
  PhD project Jan Bats on the influence of technology on morality in online environments (with Rianne Valkenburg).
• Technology and Fashion: New Materialism, Phenomenology, and Human-Technology Relations (finished 2018).
  External PhD project Lianne Toussaint (Radboud University Nijmegen; co-supervision with Anneke Smelik) 
• Interaction Design, Design Research, and Postphenomenology (finished 2018).
  External PhD project Sabrina Hauser (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver; co-supervision with Ron Wakkary)
• Responsible design and use of drones and drone services (finished 2017).
  NWO-MVI (Responsible Innovation) funded project to develop an ethical and legal tool for the responsible design and use of drones and drone services. PhilosophyLab researchers: Peter-Paul Verbeek (UT), Peter Novitzky (postdoctoral researcher). Other researchers involved: Lesley Broos (UT), Michiel Heldeweg (UT), Irna van der Molen (UT), Haomiao Du (postdoctoral researcher)
• Thinking Space: an interdisciplinary approach to the spatial dimension of Ambient Intelligence.
  http://www.thinkingspace.eu. Austrian Academy of Science funded project. Researchers: Julia Grillmayr, Louise Horvath, Tanja Traxler. Funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
• Technology and the Limits of Humanity (finished 2013). 
  An inquiry into the anthropological and ethical aspects of technologies that affect the human being, like brain implants, pre implantation diagnistics, prostheses, and psychofarmaca. Which new relations between humans and technologies arise here, which ethical questions are connected to them, and which role can the philosophy of technology play here? (NWO-VIDI project). Investigators: Lucie Dalibert (PhD candidate), Theo Wobbes (PhD candidate), Peter-Paul Verbeek (researcher, supervisor/promotor)
• Telecare at Home (finished 2013). 
  Research project about telecare and its implications for the practices and experiences of patients and healthcare professionals. Part of the interdisciplinary research project Telecare at Home, directed by Nelly Oudshoorn, funded by NWO: Maatschappelijk Verantwoord Innoveren (Socially Responsible Innovation). Researchers: Asle Kiran (postdoc), Peter-Paul Verbeek (researcher)
• Theory and Ethics of Behavior-Influencing Technology (finished 2012). 
  An investigation of behavior-influencing technology and its ethical aspects. Funded by IOP-IPCR (Innovative Research Projects – Integral Product Creation and Realisation). Part of the 3TU project Design for Usability. Researchers: Steven Dorrestijn (PhD candidate), Peter-Paul Verbeek (researcher).
• Technology and the Matter of Morality (finished 2008).
  NWO-VENI project on the moral significance of technology and its implications for ethical theory, practical ethics, and technology development. Researcher: Peter-Paul Verbeek