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

Research group: Media ethics, philosophy of technology & AI

(Some) members of the Ethics Center 2023

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 ethics, ethics of artificial intelligence, security 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.

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.

Christopher Zysik

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

 

Current projects

Conversational Agents in EducationEthical reflection

Lou Brandner

Martin Hennig

2025–

2028

PriMetaPrivacy, ethics and IT security in metaverses

Matthias Meitzler

Maria Pawelec

2024–2027
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
FAIRFair automated and intelligent recruitingLou Brandner2023–2025
DiversPrivatDiversity-oriented privacy protection in digital environmentsMartin Hennig2023–2025
KI AllianzAI data platform for business and societyAndreas Baur2023–2025

IZEW-UNC

 

Scientific cooperation and partnership between the Universities
of Tübingen and North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Jana Hecktor

Lisa Koeritz

Maria Pawelec

 
Plattform Lernende SystemeGermany's Platform for Artificial Intelligence of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and SpaceJessica Heesen 

Publications (selection)

  • 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
  • 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. (Hg.): 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
  • Baur, Andreas (2022), Grenzenlosigkeit in Grenzen. Zur Politik globaler Cloudinfrastrukturen. Politikum 8 (2), 44–49. https://doi.org/10.46499/2032.2377
  • 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)

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.