Through interdisciplinary collaboration and participation, critical inquiry, and creative conceptual design, the Ethics by coDesign in Digital Innovation (EDDI) unit aims to shape a future where digital technologies are not only innovative but also just, transparent, and human-centred. We are open to collaboration with academic, industry, public, and civil society.
Methodologies, Approaches and Goals
EDDI investigates how values, ethics, societal reflection, and legal requirements can successfully be embedded in the design, deployment, and governance of data-driven and (embodied) AI innovations. We approach technologies as tools (artefacts)—shaping, constraining, and transforming human practices. Our aim is to detect primary and secondary ethical effects that are the main cause for concern surrounding new technologies.
When we refer to collaboration and participation, this refers to two levels, there are external stakeholders, we often approach as users, non-users etc, and the internal stakeholders, the research consortium or innovators that develop a new technology. We guide both through multi-stakeholder methods to consider diverse perspectives that create more robust and society-ready innovations
We question technologies from within lived settings and through participatory research methods that focus on experiences and imaginaries (expected futures associated with a technology) of diverse and often marginalised actors.
We work in a wide range of domains, with a long track record in digitalisation in health and care, governments and public services as well as work environments (e.g. industrial but also sheltered workshops) and on topics such as privacy and data protection, meaningful human agency and oversight, acceptance and adoption of new technologies – currently a focus on robotics and different forms of AI), algorithmic governance and standards, impact, implementation and evaluation, ethical principles and fundamental rights, humanity-centered design,….
In doing so, we are guided by the following questions: What new theories, frameworks, vocabularies, methods, and tools are needed to study and develop new humanity centred technologies? What critical issues are emerging, and how can we tackle them? How are societal impacts and changes taking place, and how can we foresee them? What is needed, and how can we translate abstract principles into practice? Who do we include, and how can we make sure that no one is left behind?
EDDI brings together a diverse group of people working at the intersection of ethics, design, and digital transformation. Our team consists of both social science researchers (doctoral and postdoctoral) and technology ethics practitioners (Knowledge Centre Data & Society). An assemblage like this allows for a smooth bridging of the theory-practice, abstract-concrete, and academia-industry-society gaps.
We collaborate with fellow academics and with industry. We form partnerships with civil society organizations, and we build networks with citizens. We collaborate with SMEs, public institutions, and national and supranational bodies to ensure that digital innovation serves the public good. We have received funding and are part of larger projects and consortia within Brussels, Flanders, Belgium, and the EU.
Stakeholder and citizen engagement is one of our core principles, and participatory research — one of our main approaches. In that sense, we also experiment with and develop novel methods and tools for research and (bottom-up) participation, including citizen juries, guidance ethics, repair manuals, data-actor mapping, public installations, data walks, .... Our mission is to develop pragmatic ethics methods and co-research approaches that create meaningful change so that identified perspectives and issues translate in adapted technologies, practices and environments.
From research to practice: Translational research
EDDI consists of a research unit and Kenniscentrum Data & Maatschappij. The research unit creates new knowledge, concepts and methods while the Knowledge Centre translates these into usable tools, frameworks, and guidance for companies, policymakers and professionals.
Through this integration, EDDI delivers on its mission to translate academic research into societal change: the Knowledge Centre’s outreach, guidance materials and ethical tools are informed by the participatory, reflexive and experimental methodologies developed within EDDI, ensuring that ethical and legal insights remain grounded, usable, and democratically accountable.