New Humboldt Professorship at the Faculty: Prof. Dr. Vincent C. Müller
Prof. Dr. Vincent C. Müller was selected for a Humboldt Professorship for Artificial Intelligence – Germany’s most valuable research award – and will be receiving a call to FAU. Negotiations will begin shortly; if they are successful, the prize will be awarded in 2022. For FAU, this is the fifth successful nomination in a row!
Prof. Dr. Vincent C. Müller conducts research in the fledgling discipline of Philosophy and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and can rightfully be considered a pioneer, as he has been working on this topic even before it entered the public consciousness. With his expertise, he will now help to develop a guiding vision for humane AI in Germany.
As a Humboldt professor at FAU, Vincent C. Müller will be bridging the gap between technology and humanities, and beyond the borders of the university into industries and public administration. He will be establishing a new, international and interdisciplinary Centre for Philosophy and AI Research (PAIR), which will become the network for AI philosophy at FAU. To support the development of trustworthy AI systems, the centre will also be cooperating with the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits based in Erlangen.
About
Born and raised in Germany, Dr. Vincent C. Müller has been professor in the Philosophy and Ethics Group of Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands, since 2019. In 1999, he received his doctorate from the University of Hamburg. Following that, he became Assistant, Associate and finally Full Professor at the Anatolia College in Thessaloniki, Greece. He has held visiting Professorships at universities in the US and UK (2005-06 in Princeton, 2011-14 in Oxford, 2016 in Leeds, 2018 Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute in London). He is president of the EUCognition – European Society for Cognitive Systems as well as chair of the Topic Group „Ethical, Legal and Socio-economic issues“ at euRobotics, the international non-profit association for all stakeholders in European robotics.
He is also widely renowned in computer science: one of the few people outside of IT to receive a call to the Alan Turing Institute London. He also makes his expertise available to policy advisors, for example as an expert in the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, a global initiative which was founded in 2020 to support responsible development and use of AI and which Germany is also taking part in.
The Alexander von Humboldt-Professorship
With a funding volume of up to five million EUR, an Alexander von Humboldt-Professorship not only grants optimal financial conditions but also maximized flexibility for excellent research in Germany. With the new Humboldt Professorships, universities can refine their profile and compete internationally. The award is granted by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
The prize will be awarded to the renowned researchers in 2022, once call negotiations with the German universities that nominated them are completed.
Additional funding for Humboldt Professorships in the field of AI will be available until 2024. These professorships can, like that of Prof. Dr. Müller, also be concerned with societal, legal, or ethical aspects of Artificial Intelligence.