Independent Ethics Advisor: Prof. Claudia Cevenini

Prof Claudia Cevenini was appointed by the POST-DIGITAL Supervisory Board as Independent Ethics Advisor to the POST-DIGITAL Consortium, following a wide-reaching search within the personal network of consortium members and the EC Database of Expert for an academic expert in both Ethics and Engineering/ Emerging Technologies. Prof Cevenini was appointed due to her background in Ethics, IT and Law, an expertise deemed eminently suitable for the role of Ethics Advisor in POST-DIGITAL.

Dr Claudia Cevenini is Professor of Computer Science Law at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of the University of Bologna, Italy and has previously acted as Ethics Expert, Independent Expert, Evaluator, Monitor and Rapporteur for the European Commission and has experience as ethics advisor in numerous H2020 project, such as ROXANNE, DEDICAT6G, ENLIGHTEN.ME, RURITAGE and RURACTIVE.

Prof Cevenini has accompanied the POST-DIGITAL project from start to finish, provided tailor-made Ethics training to the consortium’s 15 Early-Stage researchers and is the author of its 3 Ethics deliverables (confidential).

Identification of potential Ethics Issues in Post-Digital:

The project activities performed have not raised per se any relevant ethics issues to be highlighted and addressed. They actually deal with technical topics, such as general mathematical, computer science, electronic and photonic technologies, neuromorphic computers, etc. No new, emerging ethics issues have been raised by the Consortium partners, ESRs, Project participants, or involved researchers. In particular, no specific issues have emerged in relation to Human embryos/foetus, Humans, Human cells/tissues, Personal data, Animals, Non-EU countries, environment, Health and Safety, Artificial Intelligence.

In relation to the ten potential ethical issues, as listed in the EC Ethics Self-Assessment Questionnaire, the following can be stated in relation to POST-Digital:

1. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human embryos:
POST-DIGITAL did not involve any research on hESCs nor human embryos.

2. Humans
POST-DIGITAL did not involve any research on humans nor does it involve human participants in any form.

3. Human cells or tissues
POST-DIGITAL did not involve any research on human cells or tissues.

4. Personal data
Some personal data of applicants was collected to comply with ‘The Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (2005/251/EC)3 ‘. Therefore, the only personal data collected by POSTDIGITAL was data relating to applicants for the purpose of fulfilling the legal obligations regarding candidates’ MSCA Eligibility and Mobility Compliance and basic statistical information on geographic origin and gender split of applications received. Personal data was collected in compliance with applicable rules and regulations at EU and national level. Participants were duly informed on the intended processing of their personal data, in compliance with the transparency principle and only necessary data were collected and processed, in compliance with the data minimisation principle. Adequate technical and organisational measures were adopted. This data is stored on the coordinator’s GDPR-compliant digital BOX platform until the end of the project’s auditable period with access being restricted to a limited number of POST-DIGITAL members of staff at Aston University on a ‘need-to-know’ basis.

5. Animals
No research on animals was performed in POST-DIGITAL.

6. Non-EU countries
Due to the withdrawal agreement between the UK and the EU, the UK formally left the EU on 1 Jan 2020. Until the end of the following 12-month transition period to 31 Dec 2020, EU law continued to apply fully in the UK. At the end of the transition period the ‘Retained EU Law’ concept provided for EU law to continue to apply in UK domestic law4. On 1 Jan 2024 the UK formally acceded to Horizon Europe as associated country. The research in POSTDIGITAL in its entirety – and explicitly the research performed by the UK partner – is fully compliant with relevant EU legislation.

7. Environment, health and safety
Research in POST-DIGITAL did not raise any serious environmental, health and safety concerns. However, some staff members were involved in activities with lasers. It is thus confirmed that all ESRs were trained in rooms, which fully complied with all local environmental health and safety regulations, in particular special safety training for staff working with lasers.

8. Artificial intelligence
POST-DIGITAL dealt with general mathematical, computer science, electronic and photonic technologies and did not raise any particular ethics issues or risks associated to the development and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based technologies and algorithms. Project activities only foresaw the use of AI and Machine Learning (ML) as a means for optimisation and signal reconditioning (e.g., to target cost-saving, reduced power consumption) or similar applications, which did not in any way affect human rights or, more widely, posed any ethical concerns. Project participants were in any case be made aware of the need to ensure ethics-and legal compliance of AI and ML technologies throughout the entire life-cycle, from design to implementation stage. Reference was made in particular to the AI-HLEG Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI and the upcoming EU AI Act. No ‘Generative Artificial Intelligence5’ was used in POST-DIGITAL.

9. Other ethics issues
No other ethical issues were present or emerged during the second project period.

10. Crosscutting issue: potential misuse of results/dual use
The research performed in POST-DIGITAL did not pose any threat concerning the potential misuse or project results. No dual use technologies were developed or used in project activities. Further ethics considerations and guidelines