The Human-Technology Interaction Lab (AG Kellmeyer; from 2019-2022: Neuroethics and AI Ethics Lab) is headed by JProf Dr Philipp Kellmeyer and part of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University Medical Center Freiburg.
Description of research approach
The Human-Technology Interaction Lab performs innovative research at the frontier of interactional, ethical, legal and social aspects of new and emerging technologies in medicine and other health-related contexts. A special focus is the intersection of neuroscience, neurology, artificial intelligence and neurotechnology.
The Lab covers three main areas of research:
I. Human-technology interaction in medicine and other health-related contexts
We investigate human-technology interaction (HTI) in medicine and other health-related contexts with a transdisciplinary mixed methods approach. Besides the interdisciplinary exploration of conceptual foundations of HTI (e.g., agency, trust, relationality), we use qualitative research methods (e.g., phenomenological interviews, ethnographic methods, methods from design research) for investigating specific contexts of HTI in clinical medicine, such as social robots in rehabilitation or virtual reality in neurological therapy, but also consumer health technologies.
II. Ethical, legal, societal and political aspects of human-technology interaction
In highly transdisciplinary teams, we also investigate ethical, legal, societal and politcal aspects of HTI in medicine and a consumer health context. In recent years, a special focus has been the interaction between humans and neurotechnologies as well as AI systems in medicine. In our work, we place special emphasis on understanding structural aspects and conditions that shape HTIs in medicine, particularly structrual injustice, responsibility, and vulnerability. We also develop innovative methods for ethics/responsibility-by-design of medical and consumer health technologies.
III. Participatory action research for outreach, communication and co-design of medical technologies
Together with the platform Nexus Experiments of the University of Freiburg, which is co-led by Philipp Kellmeyer, we co-create innovative outreach projects at the intersection of science, art and society. Together, citizens, artists and scientists co-create events that offer opportunities for mutual learning and bidirectional knowledge transfer. With methods from participatory action research, we evaluate these projects and use the results to offer concepts and approaches for co-designing medical and consumer health technologies.
Current Team
JProf Dr med Philipp Kellmeyer – Neurologist, Head of Research Group
Vera Borrmann – PhD Student (Philosophy) – Project(s): Human Agency and Brain Computer Interfaces
Patricia Gleim – Student Research Assistant (Gender Studies) – Project(s): Responsible AI, RESCALE, KIPA
Johanna Kreuter – Student Research Assistant (Gender Studies) – Project(s): AI-TRUST
Simon Lang – Student Research Assistant (Sports Science) – Project(s): KIDELIR, KIPA
Sekina Mandelartz – PhD Student (Psychology, Health Economics) – Project(s): KIDELIR, KIPA
Laura Poray – Student Research Assistant (Psychology) – Project(s): KIDELIR, KIPA
Helena Scholl – Student Research Assistant (Medicine, Philosophy) – Project(s): Agency and neurotechnology
Ines Schröder – PhD Student (Philosophy) – Project(s): AI-TRUST
Alumni
Christina Davril – Student Research Assistant (Computer Science, Linguistics) – Project(s): DaDuHealth
Luisa Gerstgrasser – Student Research Assistant (Liberal Arts & Sciences) – Project(s): Agency and neurotechnology
Luc Lülf – Student Research Assistant (Political Science) – Project(s): Responsible AI
Laurenz Sachenbacher – Student Research Assistant (Liberal Arts and Sciences, UCF) – Project(s): Responsible AI
Dr Reto Schölly – Postdoctoral Researcher (Computer Science, Philosophy) – Project(s): DaDuHealth
Projects & Research Topics (selection)
- RESCALE a multidisciplinary project on metalearning of assistive robots in which our groups pursues a design-based approach involving mixed-methods qualitative research
- KIDELIR a multidisciplinary project on AI-based decision support for predicting delirium in clinical patients
- AI-TRUST a multidisciplinary research project on ethics/responsibility-by-design of a deep-learning-based EEG diagnostic system
- DaDuHealth a multidisciplinary research project on ethical, legal and social aspects of health-related data in a clinical and consumer context
- Human Agency and Brain Computer Interfaces. Collaborating partner of an NIH BRAIN Initiative project led by Sara Goering and Eran Klein, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
- Social robotics and human-robot interaction. Collaboration with Oliver Müller (Responsible AI / University of Freiburg) and external FRIAS research fellow (2019/2020) Shelly Levy-Tzedek, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
- Ethical aspects of extendend reality (XR), especially virtual reality (VR), systems in medicine. Collaboration with Gerben Meynen, Forensic Psychiatry, University Medical Center Amsterdam and University of Utrecht
Selected Publications
Ienca M, Fins JJ, Jox RJ, Jotterand F, Voeneky S, Andorno R, Ball T, Castelluccia C, Chavarriaga R, Chneiweiss H, Ferretti A, Friedrich O, Hurst S, Merkel G, Molnar-Gabor F, Rickli JM, Scheibner J, Vayena E, Yuste R, Kellmeyer P. Towards a Governance Framework for Brain Data. Neuroethics. 2022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12152-022-09498-8
Herzog L., Kellmeyer P, Wild V. Digital behavioral technology, vulnerability and justice: towards an integrated approach. Review of Social Economy 80, 7–28. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/00346764.2021.1943755
Ligthart S, Koojmans T, Biller-Andorno N, Meynen G, Kellmeyer P. Is Virtually Everything Possible? The Relevance of Ethics and Human Rights for Introducing Extended Reality in Forensic Psychiatry. AJOB Neuroscience. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2021.1898489
Langer A, Feingold-Polak R, Mueller, O, Kellmeyer P, Levy-Tzedek S. Trust in Socially Assistive Robots: Considerations for use in Rehabilitation. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.07.014
Kellmeyer P, Biller-Andorno N, Meynen G. Ethical Tensions in Virtual Reality Treatment in Vulnerable Patients. Nature Medicine. 2019. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0543-y.
Kellmeyer P. Artificial intelligence in basic and clinical neuroscience: scientific opportunities and ethical challenges. Neuroforum. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1515/nf-2019-0018
Kellmeyer P, Chandler, J, Cabrera, L, Carter, A, Kreitmair K, Weiss A, Illes J. Neuroethics at 15: The Current and Future Environment for Neuroethics. AJOB Neuroscience. 2019. Online first. https://doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2019.1632958
Kellmeyer P,Mueller O, Feingold-Polak R and Levy-Tzedek S. Social robots in rehabilitation: A question of trust. Science Robotics. 2018 Aug 15 3(21).https://doi.org/scirobotics.aat1587
Kellmeyer P. Neurophilosophical and ethical aspects of virtual reality therapy in neurology and psychiatry. Camb Q Healthc Ethics. 2018 Oct;27(4):610-627. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963180118000129
Kellmeyer P. Big Brain Data: On the Responsible Use of Brain Data from Clinical and Consumer-Directed Neurotechnological Devices. Neuroethics. Online First, May 19th 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-018-9371-x
Yuste, R., […], Kellmeyer P, […] et al. Four ethical priorities for neurotechnologies and AI. Nature 551, 159 (2017). http://www.nature.com/news/four-ethical-priorities-for-neurotechnologies-and-ai-1.22960
Kellmeyer P. Ethical and Legal Implications of the Methodological Crisis in Neuroimaging. Camb Q Healthc Ethics. 2017 Oct;26(4):530-554. https://www.doi,org/10.1017/S0963180116000359
Kellmeyer P, Cochrane T, Müller O, Mitchell C, Ball T, Fins JJ, Biller-Andorno N.The Effects of Closed-Loop Medical Devices on the Autonomy and Accountability of Persons and Systems. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. 2016 Oct; 25(4): pp. 623-33. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963180116000359
Funding by
