Professor Natali Helberger (1970) is Distinguished University Professor of Law and Digital Technology, with a special focus on AI at the University of Amsterdam. She is also the founder and leader (together with Professor Claes de Vreese, ASCoR) of an interdisciplinary research programme “Information & Communication in the DataSociety (ICDS)” that receives structural funding as UvA Research Priority Area.
Personalised Communication brings together researchers from communications science, law, philosophy and ethics, economy, political science and computer science to study the societal impact of data analytics, AI and machine learnings, and implications for fundamental rights, law and policy. The project that has been nominated for the prestigious Huibregtsen Award 2017 as a project that combines academic ground-breaking research with societal relevance.
Together with Prof. Julia Noordegraaf, Pof. Sonja Smets and Prof. Claes de Vreese she founded the new Research Priority Area Human(e) AI.
Helberger is elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and
Sciences (KNAW) and of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW).
She has been awarded an ERC Grant (2015) for her research into the use of data analytics in news rooms, and an NWO talent grant (2005) for research into exposure diversity. She is leader of the Citizen & Democracy track of the VSNU Digital Society Initiative, Steering Committee Member of the VW Data – Responsible Value Creation with Big Data Route of the Dutch National Science Agenda, and member of the VSNU AI Kennistafel and the Dutch AI Coalition (Culture and Media Group and Societal Responsible Innovation). In addition, Helberger is member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Steering Committee of the Swiss national research programme on Digital Transformation and the Council of Europe Expert Committee on AI & Freedom of Expression.
Knowledge transfer and valorisation play an important role in her work. For her research, Helberger works together with leading media companies, NGOs, consumer organisations, and has advised, among others, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, OECD, UNESCO and national governments and regulatory authorities. Natali has been listed as one of the “100 brilliant women in AI ethics to follow ”.