From left: Lero’s Dr Martina Prendergast, SFI’s Prof Philip Nolan, Lero’s Prof Kieran Conboy and Rosetta project manager Emma Brinton. Image: Martina Regan
The Rosetta programme will recruit 19 world-class researchers to work in universities across Ireland and potentially help future regulation around responsible technology.
A new postdoctoral fellowship has been launched by Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland research centre for software, which aims to explore the relationship between technology and time.
This €3.5m programme will be led by Prof Kieran Conboy of Lero and University of Galway and aims to recruit 19 world-class researchers to universities across Ireland.
The programme is called Rosetta – Responsible Time and Tech in an Accelerated Digitised World – and will see the researchers examine the development, use and regulation of technology from a time perspective across all aspects of life. This will look at technology use among children, people with disabilities, people in the workplace, to healthcare and social inclusion for older people.
“Businesses, policymakers and regulators often highlight the great work they are doing in relation to responsible technology, and the term is used so much and so loosely it has lost a lot of its meaning,” Conboy said. “The Rosetta fellows will have the freedom to challenge current assumptions around responsible technology, really scrutinise to what extent these ‘responsible’ efforts are real and to what extent they are effective.
“Through their work with Lero and their international industry placements, they will improve the development and use of technology as well as directly inform new policy and regulation of responsible technology at national and European level.”
Rosetta will be coordinated by University of Galway and will include collaboration with University College Cork, University College Dublin, University of Limerick and Trinity College Dublin. The chosen Rosetta fellows will also have the opportunity to undertake secondments at one of 20 associated partners across Europe and the US.
“The Rosetta programme is an excellent example of Lero’s commitment to developing the tech leaders of the future who will not only examine software and digital technologies but also interrogate their impact on society,” said Lero director Prof Lionel Briand. “Ireland has the opportunity to become a world leader in regulation of technology.”
The programme is funded by Lero, University of Galway’s JE Cairnes School of Business and Economics and the European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions Cofund scheme.
Last year, Lero researchers were involved in a project that saw Irish students release ‘smart’ pebbles to track coastal erosion.
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