Teaching Law, Robots, and Artificial intelligence

Although I enjoy the research, engaging with students and their learning processes in educational settings drives me. There is something special in a classroom full of students with a thirst for learning; students that share their thoughts, their curiosities, and their passions; students that are insecure about what the future holds and go to their teachers looking for answers. Not so long ago, I was one of them. Where I am from, there is no such thing as law and new technologies. So I had a hard time understanding where I was heading in that field. Along my way, however, I found professors that shed the light on what seemed a very uncertain, and changeable future. And you know how it goes… if someone helps you, you better pay it forward.

One of the ways I thought I could help, was engaging in teaching; sharing with young students what I learned over these years, not only on law and new technologies but also about my choices and experiences as an international academic. Here are some of the courses that I have prepared and shared with numerous students at different universities around the world.

Course lecturer and coordinator

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2022) Law and Human-Machine Interaction. Advanced Master in Law and Digital Technologies, School of Law, Leiden University, The Netherlands.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021-present) Managerial Track for the Data Science Course, Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure, The Netherlands.

Leiser, M. & Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021) Technology Law Track. Adv. Master in Human Rights at Leiden Law School, Netherlands, 5 EC, Level 600.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021) Digital Government. Adv. Master in Law and Digital Technologies, Leiden Law School, The Netherlands, 5 EC, Level 200.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021-present) Law and Artificial Intelligence. School of Law, Leiden University, The Netherlands, 5 EC, Level 300.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021-present) Robot Law. LegalTech LL.M program, Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021-present) e-Law: Robots and Artificial Intelligence. Pre-University College, Honors College, Leiden University, The Netherlands. Student evaluation: 8,3.

Dechesne, F.; Fosch-Villaronga, E.; Zardiashvili, L. (2019-present) Digital technologies & power. Leiden-Delft-Erasmus (LDE) minor in Responsible Innovation, The Netherlands, 3 EC, Level 200.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2019) Robot Law - Regulating robot and Artificial Intelligence technologies. Honors College. Leiden University, The Netherlands, 5 EC, Level 500.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2019 and 2020) Robot law and regulation. The European approach to regulating robot and artificial intelligence technologies. Summer School Course at Shandong University, China.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. and Tamò-Larrieux, A. (2018) Training the trainers in data protection Course. Project SolPriPa “Solving privacy paradox: promoting high Standards of data protection as a fundamental right and central factor of consumer trust in digital economy" grant agreement No. 814754 European Union's Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020). 40h, MRU Lab. Mykolos Romeris University, Lithuania.

Guest lecturer

Fosch-Villaronga, E. & Drukarch, H. (2022). AI for Healthcare Robotics. Beyond Cosmethics Lecture Series. CiTiP, KU Leuven, 3 March 2022

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2022) Law and Robotics, LL.M. Program, Deusto University, 10-11 February 2022.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2022) AI and Diversity in Medicine. Data Ethics Winter School. Coordinated by LUMC within the Eurolife project, 27 January.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021) Law, Robots, & AI. CLIP Decennial Fellows Roundtable at Fordham Law School, New York City, New York, 19 Oct 2021.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021) Regulating Healthcare robots: challenges and opportunities. Master class at the course Robot Regulation at the University of Oslo, 06 Sept.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2020) The impacts of healthcare robots in society. Pre-University College, Leiden University, May 11, Leiden, NL.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2020) Regulating Healthcare robots: challenges and opportunities. Agora AiTech TU Delft, January 15, Delft, NL.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2019-2020) Robot Technologies and Human Rights. 2-day Seminar at the European Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation (EMA) at the Global Campus Europe, Venice, 7-8 November 2019 and 22-23 November 2020.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2019) Robots and AI: Challenges and Opportunities. AG Connect / Nyenrode Masterclass Artificial Intelligence, 6 November.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2019) I Care, You Care, the Robot Cares. Legal and Ethical Aspects of Healthcare Robot and AI Technologies. RecerCaixa Ethics and Robotics of Care Project, University Autonomous of Barcelona, Catalonia, 11-12 April (Prof. Dr. Miquel Domènech).

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2019) Iterative learning governance process for robot technology. Joint lecture for the courses Regulating robotics & drones of the 4TU Master in Systems and Controls and Smart rules & regimes of the UT/BMS Master in Public Administration. The University of Twente, the Netherlands, 27 February (Prof. Dr. Michiel Heldeweg)

Tamò-Larrieux, A. and Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2018) ‘Train the trainers’ Course on Data protection, Mykolo Romerio Universitetas, Vilnius, Lithuania, 10-14 December (Rūta Lazauskaitė).

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2017-2018) Ethical and Legal Aspects of Artificial Intelligence and Robots. Session at the MSc in Psychology at the University College of London, United Kingdom, 26 October 2017 and 1 November 2018 (Dr. Eva Krumhuber).

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2017) Humans, Robots & Emotions. Challenges in developing emotionally intelligent robots. Scientific Aspects of Development and Implementation of Emotionally Intelligent Human-Inspired Robots – Enthusiasm and Skepticism. Mihaljo Pupin Institut, Belgrade, Serbia, 11-13 December 2017 (Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Rodić).

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2017) Robot Law: Liability, Privacy, Dignity & Ethics. e-Law Course. Cyber Security Master Specialization Program. 4TU Federation at the University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands. (Dr. Lesley Broos).

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2016-2017) 2-day Robot Ethics Seminar. Guest Lecturer at the Robotics Institute Summer Scholars Program at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, US, July 2016 and 2017. (Prof. John M. Dolan).

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2016-2017) Legal Aspects of Robots. Guest Lecturer at the course Health Innovation – An Interdisciplinary Approach at the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Health Education at Uppsala University, Stockholm, Sweden, 17 Feb 2016 and 11 April 2017 (Dr. Lina Sors Emilsson).

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2016) Robotics Seminar. Legal Aspects of Personal Care Robot. Invited Lecturer at the Center on Law and Information Policy (CLIP) Fordham Law School, New York, NY, US, 30 Aug 2016 (Prof. Cameron N. Russel).

Invited speaker

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2022). Humanizing Technology: The Role of Policy, Law and Ethics in Technological Innovation. Invited panelist at the Sixth International Conference on Emerging Research Paradigms in Business and Social Sciences (ERPBSS 2022) - Virtual Conference, 25 February.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2022) Diversity Observations in an Exoskeleton Experiment. Embodied AI Talk Series III, Utrecht University, 24 February.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021) Of, by, and for the people: the future of AI is human. Center for Innovation in Human Experience, Middlesex University Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 15 Dec.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021) From testbeds to policy-making: Opportunities and challenges of experiments in regulating wearable robots. eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies Annual Research Colloquium, 10 December.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021) Bring back my girls! On the consequences of missing gender and sex considerations in AI. AI & Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Hub AI, Lund University, 30 November.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021) Diversitat, Intel·ligència Artificial, i Medicina [Diversity, AI, & Medicine]. XI Jornades R+D+I. TIC Salut Social Foundation, Catalan Ministry of Health, 21 October.

Calleja, C., & Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021). Harnessing robot experimentation to optimize the regulatory framing of emerging robot technologies. Presentation at the COST 16116 & H2020 Eurobench Summer Webinar Series on Standardisation & Benchmarking, 28 Sept.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2021) AI Automation and Normalization, conversation of Mushon Zer Aviv, Dr. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga and Lucas Evers. WAAG Technology & Society Foundation, Netherlands, 27 Sept.

Fosch-Villaronga, E., & Drukarch, H. G. (2021) The Autonomy Levels for Healthcare Robots. IISART Session “Medical Robot Autonomy Levels: What Standards?” at the 7th edition of the International Workshop on New Trends in Medical and Service Robots (MESROB 2021), 07. – 9. June 2021.

Fosch-Villaronga, E., & Drukarch, H. G. (2021) Introducing 'LIAISON: Liaising robot development and policy making' to the European Commission. Workshop invitation: SMART 2018/0053 Trends and Developments in Artificial Intelligence: Standards Landscaping and Gap Analysis on the Safety of Autonomous Robots. European Commission, 2-3 March, online.

Fosch-Villaronga, E., Drukarch, H., Khanna, P., Verhoef, T., Custers, B.H.M. (2021) Diversity for AI in Medicine. Panel discussion at the Technology and the Law: Examining and Addressing Bias | The 2021 Boston University JOSTL Symposium, 19 Feb, online.

eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies (2020) Winter Research Colloquium, Fosch-Villaronga, E. moderator, 18 Dec, online.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2020) Sex robots in care. The Future is Human Webinar on Art, Society, & Technology. SAILS Initiative at Leiden University, 15 Dec, online.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2020) Diversity & AI. Workshop Human factors in the design and control of robots: what are we missing? at the 2nd Italian Conference on Robotics and Intelligent Machines, Dec 10, online.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. & Mahler, T. (2020) Robot Impact Assessment. Webinar on Challenges and Emerging Patterns of Robot Regulation. Exploring Technical, Legal and Ethical Perspectives, Oslo University, Nov 19, online.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. & Lopez-Belloso, M. (2020) Artificial Intelligence and Criminal Law: A bitter candy? Seminar XX years of criminal procedure reform. Directorate of Studies of the Chilean Supreme Court, Nov 11, online.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2020) Diversity, AI, and Healthcare. Well-being and Health Sector’s Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Programme (Hyteairo) Webinar. Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (STM); Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), November 11, online.

Lopez-Belloso, M., Piotrowicz, C., Fosch-Villaronga, E., Barros, A., & Sanz, B. (2020) Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence in European Law enforcement. TAILOR_EU Consortium Proposal Presentation. Online Learning Case Workshop “AI4Good: Addressing Artificial Intelligence challenges using interdisciplinary research. Hosted by H2020 Shape-ID, online, October 19.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2020) Liaising robot development and policy making. COVR Open Day, Safe Interaction between Patient and Robot, H2020 COVR Being safe around collaborative and versatile robots in shared spaces Project, Aug 24.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2020) Invited panelist at the On the Future of Robotics Online Panel Discussion, 2020 Robotics Science and Systems Conference, Inclusion@RSS track, July 15.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2020) Invited panelist at the Career Advice Webinar: How to Apply to Postdocs in Political Science, Public Policy, and Law, organized by Dr. Baobao Zhang, July 7.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2020) Healthcare Robots. Pie & AI Series, organized by Istanbul Bar Association and Deeplearning.ai, Online event, May 8, Istanbul, Turkey.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. and Torras, C. (2019) Roboethics: new consensus in the man-robot relationship. Dialogues for Democratic Quality. Puzzled Democracies: formulating new consensus. [Diàlegs per a la Qualitat Democràtica. Democràcies perplexes: formulant nous consensos] Palau Macaya. Ernest Lluch Foundation, November 14, Barcelona, Catalonia.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2019) Healthcare robots: Challenges and opportunities. Interaction between legal systems 2.0. ILS Lunch Seminar, Leiden Law School, Dec 12.

Zardiashvili, L. & Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2019) Robots, healthcare, and dignity. Exploring the use and development of healthcare robot technology through the lenses of ‘human dignity.’ EURA Young Scholar Prize, Paper presentation, Human-Robot Interaction between Trust and Deception, Conference Pisa Oct 31.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2019) Expert Panelist at the “Interacting with artificial agents: who's responsible for whose privacy?" Interactive Debate Minor Privacy Studies 2019/2020 at the University of Amsterdam, UvA, Oct 16.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2019) Sex Care Robots. Exploring the potential use of sexual robot technologies for disabled and eldercare. Seminar on the legal and ethical considerations for AI and robots. NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, September 26, 2019.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2019) Challenges and Opportunities of Robots, AI and BCI. Tilburg University, 4 April, Tilburg, the Netherlands.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2019) Multi-impact standards for robot governance. Standardization for Robotics Workshop at the European Robotics Forum, 21 March, Bucharest, Romania.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2019) Legal implications of healthcare robots. Open Minded Session at the eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2018) Robots and Transparency. Legal(Privacy)tech: GDPR, privacy, data security, information security - lessons learned, problems identified, what's next? Panel Discussion. MRU Lab, 11 December, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2018) Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues of Social Robots: Findings from Expert Workshops. Workshop on AI: Ethical and Legal Implications, Center for Cyber Law & Policy, University of Haifa and the European Hub of the Global Network of Internet and Society Research Centers (NoC), 28-30 November, Haifa, Israel.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2018) Iterations in the regulation of robotics and artificial intelligence. Hyteairo Robottiviikolla, 20 November, Helsinki, Finland.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2018) User Responsibility or Responsibility for Users? Panel Discussion at Amsterdam Privacy Conference, 5-8 October, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2018) Key legal and regulatory issues arising from the integration of physical robotic systems with cloud-based services. Legal Issues, Cybersecurity and Policymakers’ Implication in AI Robotics, Forum Discussion at IROS 2018, organized by Aerospace Engineering Institute, 4 October, Madrid, Spain.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2018) RoboInsights Conference, September 26-27, Helsingore, Denmark.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2018) “No Cloud, No Party,” said the robot. Legal implications of the use of cloud-services for robots. Binary District "Digital Economy 2024: From Plans to Actions" Summer Series, Moscow, September 28-30.

Aymerich-Franch, L. and Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2018) Ethical Implications of Avatar Embodiment in Virtual Reality: Considerations for Developers. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR&VR) World, TechXLR8, London Tech Week, June 12-14, ExCeL, London.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2018) I am Dr Robot! What can I do for you? Panel at the European Parliament’s European Youth Event – EYE2018, Strasbourg, June 1-2.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2018) Legal and Ethical Aspects of Healthcare Robots. Robotics Science and Systems (RSS), RSS Pioneers, June 26-30, Pittsburgh, U.S.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2018) The Legal Aspects of Exoskeleton Technology. COST CA16116 Working Group meeting in Darmstadt, March 5-6, wearablerobots.eu.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2018) Savais-tu que mon infermière est un robot? Colloquium « Les doctorants européens en droit des technologies de l’information » Aix-Marseille University, 23 February 2018

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2017) Ethical and Responsible Robot and Artificial Intelligence Design. Robot Iuris, Madrid, 16 November 2017.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2017) Ethics and Policy of Robots in Healthcare Workshop, Foundation for Responsible Robotics, Den Haag, 26 June 2017.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2017) Connected Robots for Health: Challenges for Responsible Robot Design. Brocher Fondation, Genève, Switzerland, 15-16 June 2017.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2017) Human-Robot Interaction and the Future of Law. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S., 4 April 2017.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2017) Human-Robot Interaction and the Future of Law. CEEO Tufts University, Medford, MA, U.S., 27 March 2017.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2016) Dynamic Personalized Regulatory Framework for Robots. Invited Speaker at the Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR), Kyoto, Japan, 15 Nov 2016.

Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2016) Legal and Ethical Challenges for Personal Care Robots. Invited Speaker at the Malle Lab at Brown University, RI, US, 12 April 2016.