Veni grants for Henrique Marcos and Sarah Tas
Henrique Marcos (Lecturer in the Foundations of Law department) and Sarah Tas (Assistant Professor in the Public Law department) have received a Veni grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The NWO announced this today.
The Veni is a personal scientific grant for researchers who have recently obtained their doctorate. Each researcher receives a maximum of 320,000 euros to develop their own research ideas over the next three years. What will Marcos and Tas investigate with this wonderful grant? They explain it to you!
(Researchers in alphabetical order)
Henrique Marcos - Analogue Rules in a Digital Ocean: Interpreting Law for AI-Enabled Discovery of Marine Genetic Resources
"When you think of a marine biologist, you probably picture someone on the deck of a ship, in a parka, hauling in nets. But much ocean research nowadays takes place somewhere very different: behind a computer. Marine organisms lead a double life. They live in the ocean, but also as digital genetic data that researchers can analyse using AI. As a result, we can discover new medicines much faster, for example for cancer, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's.
That raises a fundamental question for global law. The rules we currently have for sharing the benefits of marine biodiversity and protecting the ocean were written for a world of ships, dive teams, and sample jars. Do those rules still work when scientific discoveries are made using genetic data on a laptop screen?
With my research, I want to explore how far our old legal language games still hold: what a fair distribution of proceeds even means once life becomes data. Because when AI combines thousands of genetic sequences, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine which organisms a new discovery originated from. And if we no longer know that origin, it also becomes harder to share the benefits fairly with the countries that protect this biodiversity.
But ultimately this research is not just about AI technologies or the study of ocean life. It is about global markets, nature, and the common good; about how we make sure that the wealth of the ocean keeps benefiting everyone, and that marine biodiversity is protected."
Sarah Tas - DigiAge: Ensuring a rule-of-law-centred AI governance of EU agencies
"AI can increase the efficiency of EU agencies and help them better support national authorities. However, precisely because these agencies operate in sensitive areas, such as border management and police cooperation, the use of AI can also have major consequences for individuals’ fundamental rights. Therefore, with my research, I aim to develop a rule-of-law-based approach to the way these agencies develop and use AI.
Consider, for example, someone who is wrongly denied entry to the European Union or someone who is prosecuted based on information originating from an AI system used by an EU agency. In such situations, people can challenge the final decision of a national authority, but the role of the EU agency remains in the background and largely out of sight. It is precisely this 'in-between level' that I want to investigate.
My project maps out, for the first time in detail, how agencies such as Europol, Frontex, and eu-LISA develop and use AI in practice. By providing insight into this current practice, I want to stimulate a dialogue between researchers, policymakers, EU agencies, civil society organisations, and regulators about how AI can be used responsibly within these organisations. Ultimately, the research must lead to concrete recommendations for a rule-of-law-based approach to AI governance within EU agencies.”
