Eduard Fosch-Villaronga

Google Scholar

Twitter

Linktr.ee

Leiden Uni

Short Biography

Long Biography

Dr. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga Ph.D. LL.M M.A. is Associate Professor and Director of Research at the eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University (NL). Eduard is an ERC Laureate who investigates the legal and regulatory aspects of robot and AI technologies, focusing on healthcare, governance, diversity, and privacy. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga is the Principal Investigator (PI) of his personal ERC Starting Grant SAFE & SOUND where he works on science for robot policies. Eduard is also the PI of eLaw's contribution to the Horizon Europe BIAS Project: Mitigating Diversity Biases of AI in the Labour Market. In 2023, Eduard received the EU Safety Product Gold Award for his contribution to making robots safer by including diversity considerations. Eduard is part of the Royal Netherlands Standardization Institute (NEN) as an expert and the International Standard Organization (ISO) as a committee member in the ISO/TC 299/WG 2 laying down Safety Requirements for Service Robots (ISO/CD 13482), and is member of the Member of the Working Group on Consumer Product Safety at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNACTD).

Eduard Fosch-Villaronga was assistant professor at eLaw during 2021-2022. During this time, Eduard was the Principal Investigator of PROPELLING (2021-2022), an FSTP from the H2020 Eurobench project, a project using robot testing zones to support evidence-based robot policies. He is also the co-leader of the Gendering Algorithms project, an interdisciplinary pilot project exploring the functioning, effects, and governance policies of AI-based gender classification systems. In 2021, he was the PI of LIAISON, an FSTP from the H2020 COVR project that aims to link robot development and policymaking to reduce the complexity of robot legal compliance. Eduard was also the co-leader of the Ethical, Legal, and Societal Aspects Working Group at the H2020 Cost Action 16116 on Wearable Robots and currently participates actively in the Social Responsibility Working Group at the H2020 Cost Action 19121 GoodBrother. In 2020 and 2022, Eduard served the European Commission in the Sub-Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI), connected products, and other new challenges in product safety to the Consumer Safety Network (CSN) to revise the General Product Safety Directive.

Eduard co-edited the book Law and Artificial Intelligence together with Prof. Bart Custers, co-wrote the book AI for Healthcare Robotics with Hadassah Drukarch and published it with CRC Press; and wrote the book Robots, Healthcare, and the Law. Regulating Automation in Personal Care with Routledge and is interested in human-robot interaction, responsible innovation, and the future of law.

Previously, he was the recipient of a personal Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Researcher under the COFUND LEaDing Fellows at the eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University (NL) (Jan 2019-Dec 2020). He also was a postdoc at the Microsoft Cloud Computing Research Center at Queen Mary University of London (the UK, 2018) investigating the legal implications of cloud robotics and at the University of Twente (NL, 2017) as a postdoc, exploring iterative regulatory modes for robot governance. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga holds an Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate (EMJD) in Law, Science, and Technology coordinated by the University of Bologna (IT, 2017), an LL.M. from the University of Toulouse (FR, 2012), an MA from the Autonomous University of Madrid (ES), and an LL.B. from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (CAT, 2011). Eduard is also a qualified lawyer in Spain, fluent in Catalan, Spanish, English, Italian, and French, and his publications are available online.

Curriculum Vitae_Eduard Fosch Villaronga.pdf

Advisory boards and professional associations

(2020) Expert at the European Commission in the Sub-Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI), connected products and other new challenges in product safety to the Consumer Safety Network (CSN)

Consumer Safety Network - European commission.pdf

(2019 - present) Member of the LIFEBOTS Exchange Project Reference Board. The LIFEBOTS Exchange project aims at enhancing cross-sector, international and interdisciplinary collaboration in the area of social robotics technology for care and is funded by the Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE), which is part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) under Horizon 2020.

(2019 - present) Advisor to the Vulnerabilities in Robotic Society Project (VIROS) at the University of Oslo, Norway. The VIROS Project investigates the challenges and solutions in regulating robotics – legally and technically – particularly with respect to addressing the safety, security and privacy concerns such systems raise, and it has received funding from the Norwegian Research Council.

(2017 – present) Co-Leader of the Working Group on the Ethical, Legal and Societal Aspects for the CA COST Action CA16116 on Wearable Robots for Augmentation, Assistance or Substitution of Human Motor Functions.

(2020 – present) Leader of the Working Group on Robotics and Autonomous Systems at eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies, Leiden University.

(2020 – present) MC Member of the CA 19121 Network on Privacy-Aware Audio- and Video-Based Applications for Active and Assisted Living.

(2020 – present) Member of the Wearable Robotics Topic Group of SPARC, the Public-Private Partnership in Robotics between the European Commission and euRobotics AISB, https://sparc-robotics-portal.eu/web/wearables/home.

(2020 – present) Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA), see https://www.mariecuriealumni.eu/home.

(2020 – present) MC Member of the CA Cost Action 19121 on Network on Privacy-Aware Audio- and Video-Based Applications for Active and Assisted Living.

(2019) Robotics Science and Systems Pioneers Workshop 2019 Organizing Committee.

(2018 – present) Member of the European AI Alliance, European Commission (steered by the High-Level Expert Group on AI).

(2018) Talent at Mindfire Global Foundation Mission -1.

(2017 – present) Programme Committee of the International Workshop on Security of Mobile Applications (IWSMA) at the International Conference on Availability, Reliability, and Security (ARES).

(2017 – present) Member of the Standardization Topic Group of SPARC, the Public-Private Partnership in Robotics between the European Commission and euRobotics AISB.

(2016-2018) Member of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics.

(2011- present) Qualified Lawyer in Spain.

Languages

Member of the International Association of Hyperpolyglots (HYPIA)

Catalan / Spanish, native.
English / French / Italian, full professional proficiency.
Dutch, limited working proficiency.
German, limited working proficiency.
Portuguese / Lithuanian / Chinese very elementary proficiency.

Originally from Catalunya

I am from Catalunya, originally. Catalunya is a rich country with many different traditions. Here some:

Name and pronunciation

My name is Eduard and my two surnames are Fosch Villaronga. In Catalunya, and in other non Anglo-Saxon countries, people have one or more names, and two surnames: one usually coming from the father, and the other coming from the mother. You can read more about this here. However, to be consistent in an English-dominated academic world, I usually write Fosch-Villaronga so I avoid that one of my surnames is considered a middle name. You can read about this issue further here.

The correct pronunciation of Eduard in Catalan is /ə.ðuˈart/. Two particular characteristics of this pronunciation are: the first 'E' is pronounced as an 'ah;' the second is that the stressed syllable is at the end, '-ard', like in French. If you want to pronounce my name correctly in Catalan, you can try listening this audio.