Leading Lector CoE-SCT & Lector Moral Design Strategy
Mr.dr. B.F.W. (Bart) Wernaart
Dr. Bart Wernaart has years of experience as a legal expert and ethics lecturer at Fontys University of Applied Sciences. As a professor, he aims to bridge the gap between technology, society, and ethics. His focus lies on individual morality, which can serve as input for design. By making our digital society more human-centered, he seeks to reduce the gap between individuals and organizations. In doing so, his professorship can contribute to more sustainable organizational practices in both the public and private sectors.
He views the new professorship as an opportunity to bring education and research closer together, with students playing an active, participatory role in conducting meaningful research. “On the one hand, we want to be hands-on, for example by taking mobile moral labs into neighborhoods to uncover citizens moral expectations of predictive algorithms used by the government. Think of applications like predictive policing or algorithms designed to detect fraud risks. On the other hand, we aim to participate at a high scientific level, developing new models and approaches based on our practical expertise.”
Individual Morality as Input for Design
“A great deal is happening at the intersection of technology, ethics, and society right now. Consider, for instance, the increasingly significant role of Artificial Intelligence (AI). At the same time, we sometimes overlook the ethical aspects of these developments,” says Wernaart. “By connecting researchers, entrepreneurs, educators, and governments, and conducting thorough research, we aim to gain better insights into this area. The key principle is using individual morality as input for design, ensuring that morality has a more prominent place at the drawing board of new technologies. That is truly the added value of this professorship.”
Career
Mr. Dr. Bart Wernaart obtained his master’s degree in International Law from Tilburg University in 2005 and earned his PhD from Wageningen University in 2013. In recent years, he has worked as a legal expert and lecturer-researcher in law and ethics at Fontys University of Applied Sciences, School of Economics and Communication. Bart is an author in the fields of international law and ethics. In addition, he is a professional drummer, composer, and conductor.
