International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW)

Research group: Media ethics, philosophy of technology & AI

Future vision (around 1930)

The research group media ethics, philosophy of technology & AI conducts research from an interdisciplinary perspective on philosophical, political and media science topics that are raised by information technologies as media and tools of a digital society. The focus is currently on concepts and questions of ethics and culture of the digital society in relation to artificial intelligence, data, security, infrastructures, children's rights, digital afterlife, metaverses and media ethics issues of (online) journalism and social media.

Lead

Prof. Dr. Jessica Heesen

Media and AI ethics, applied ethics, philosophy of technology, social philosophy, philosophy of science

Team

Andreas Baur

Infrastructures × Politics, privacy and data protection, AI, (cyber-) security, technology ethics

Dr. Lou Brandner

AI and data ethics, sociology, qualitative social research

Jana Hecktor

Philosophy of technology, AI, digitalization, machine learning systems, prediction discourses

Dr. Martin Hennig

Digital Cultures, Media and AI Ethics, Narratology, Technology Discourses, Surveillance, Media and the Public Sphere.

Dr. Katharina Krause

Critical Security Studies, Visual IR, Global Health Governance, Care Ethics

Dr. Anna Louban

AI & Society, Integrated Technology Development, Qualitative Social Research, Migration Studies

Dr. Matthias Meitzler 

Qualitative social research, sociology of the body, sexuality, knowledge and death, mediatization research

Maria Pawelec

Deepfakes, disinformation, theories of democracy, qualitative methods

Prof. Dr. Marta Severo

Humboldt Fellow, head of the Department of Information and Communication, Paris Nanterre.

Dr. Markus Spöhrer

Digital games, dis/ability, science and technology studies (STS), surveillance

Dr. Ingrid Stapf

Media and communication ethics, children's media ethics, media pedagogy, practical philosophy.

Jingyu Wang

Human–AI Interaction, Media and Technology Studies, Digital Intimacy, AI Companionship, Sociolinguistics

Katharina Wezel

Critical security studies, feminist perspectives on health security, global health governance, sociology of knowledge

Christopher Zysik

Aesthetics of popular culture, popular music and media culture theory, cultural phenomenology

 

Current projects

Infra-SouveraenAI Infrastructures for Sovereignty and Self-DeterminationAndreas Baur2026–2029
Heilbronn Criteria ListSubproject: Ethical Criteria for AI Tool EvaluationMartin Hennig, Markus Spöhrer2026–2027
VITraDesTrustworthy Information and Transparency Regarding Algorithms and Machine Learning Systems in JournalismKatharina Krause2026–2029
KIKIAI Applications Aligned with Children’s Rights: Empowering Children and Enabling Educators to Foster Safe and Child-Appropriate Digital ParticipationIngrid Stapf

2026-

2028

DEEP-PRISMAProtecting citizens' privacy and other rights from abuse by deepfakesMaria Pawelec, Anna Louban2026–
2029
SIGELSafe childbirth in vulnerable living conditionsKatharina Wezel2025–
2027
Conversational Agents in EducationEthical reflectionLou Brandner, Martin Hennig

2025–

2028

PriMetaPrivacy, ethics and IT security in metaversesMatthias Meitzler, Maria Pawelec2024–2027
PriBizzWeb analytics business models for privacy-by-design and the support of citizens' informational self-determinationJana Hecktor2023–2026
JVMGJapanese visual media graphMartin Hennig, Christopher Zysik2023–2026
DiversPrivatDiversity-oriented privacy protection in digital environmentsMartin Hennig2023–2026
KI AllianzAI data platform for business and societyAndreas Baur2023–2026

IZEW-UNC

 

Scientific cooperation and partnership between the Universities of Tübingen and North Carolina at Chapel HillJana Hecktor, Lisa Koeritz 
Plattform Lernende SystemeGermany's Platform for Artificial Intelligence of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and SpaceJessica Heesen 

Publications (selection)

  • Baur, Andreas (2026), European ambitions captured by American clouds: digital sovereignty through Gaia-X? Information, Communication & Society 29(2), 417–434. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2516545
  • AI Governance & Democracy: A Statement of Principles and Transatlantic Research Goals. Position paper of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and the University of Tübingen, Tübingen and Chapel Hill, August 2025, https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/285402
  • Hansen, Marit/Baur, Andreas/Bieker, Felix (2025), Freiheit by Design in digitalen Infrastrukturen. In: Michael Friedewald et al. (eds) Freiheit in digitalen Infrastrukturen. Privatheit und Selbstbestimmung in der digitalen Welt, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 53–76. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748953371-53
  • Meitzler, Matthias/Heesen, Jessica/Hennig, Martin/Ammicht Quinn, Regina (2024), Digital Afterlife and the Future of Collective Memory. Memory Studies Review, 1–18, https://doi.org/10.1163/29498902-202400013
  • Baur, Andreas (2024), European Dreams of the Cloud: Imagining Innovation and Political Control. Geopolitics 29 (3), 796–820. https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2022.2151902
  • Heesen, Jessica (2024), Technikfolgenabschätzung für freie Kunst und Kultur. In: Elisabeth Ehrensperger u.a. (eds): Gestreamt, gelikt, flüchtig – schöne neue Kulturwelt? Digitalisierung und Kultur im Licht der Technikfolgenabschätzung (Reihe: Gesellschaft – Technik – Umwelt, Band 25), Nomos: Baden-Baden, 33–47, https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748943815
  • Pawelec, Maria (2024): Decent deepfakes? Professional deepfake developers’ ethical considerations and their governance potential. In: AI and Ethics, pp. 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-024-00542-2
  • Brandner, Lou/ Mahlow, Philipp/Wilken, Anna/Wölke, Annika/Harmouch, Hazar/Hirsbrunner, Simon (2023), How Data Quality Determines AI Fairness: The Case of Automated Interviewing. Proceedings of the 2nd European Workshop on Algorithmic Fairness, Winterthur, Schweiz. https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3442/
  • Heesen, Jessica et al. (2023), Künstliche Intelligenz im Journalismus. Potenziale und Herausforderungen für Medienschaffende. Whitepaper aus der Plattform Lernende Systeme, München, https://doi.org/10.48669/pls_2023-1
  • Schelenz, Laura (2023), Diversity and Social Justice in Technology Design: Reflections on Diversity-Aware Technology. International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies 5(2): 33–53, https://doi.org/10.13169/intecritdivestud.5.2.0033
  • Stapf, Ingrid/Bieß, Cora/Pfetsch, Jan/Paschel, Felix (2023), Respecting children's rights in research ethics and research methods. Journal of Children and Media.  https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2023.2235815
  • Hennig, Martin (2022), Die Apparatur überwinden: Zur Repräsentation von KI in digitalen Spielen. In: Lukman, Christopher (Hg.): Kontrollmaschinen. Zur Dispositivtheorie des Computerspiels. Münster: LIT, 149-179.

Completed projects (selection)

FAIRFair Automated and Intelligent Recruiting2023–2025
SIKIDSafety for children in the digital world - improving regulation, networking stakeholders, implementing children's rights2021–2024
EdilifeEthics, law and security of digital survival2022–2024 
Bildungsmaterial für LehrkräfteEthics of digitalization and artificial intelligence2023–2024
KITQAR AI test and training data quality in the digital working society2021–2024
PRIDSPrivacy, democracy and self-determination in the age of AI and globalization 2021–2023
WeNetWeNet – The Internet of Us 2019–2023
KoBeLU Context-aware learning environment for training and further education 2016–2019
Forum Privatheit Forum Privacy and self-determined life in the digital world 2013–2021
You can find more completed projects in our archive.