Tentative schedule:
12.15 – 13.15 – Paper presentation by Associate Professor Niovi Vavoula 
13.15 – 13.30 – Comments by Dr Petra Gyöngyi
13.30 – 14.00 – General Discussion

Abstract: In recent years, interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI), understood as a set of techniques used to train machines to approximate some aspects of human or animal cognition, has heightened. In the field of migration, AI has the potential to revolutionise the way states manage mobility, decision- making and community integration. AI systems, such as facial, dialect or emotion recognition, risk assessment tools or predictive analytics, promise modernised identity checks and border controls, as well as expedited, consistent and more efficient decision making, for example in relation to visa, residence permits or asylum applications. At EU level, the experimentation with AI-reliant tools has been in the making since the past few years, but information on where exactly AI will be used remains fragmentary, creating opacity and raising an eyebrow as to the potential fundamental rights challenges for third-country nationals, particularly in relation to non-discrimination. This seminar has a twofold aim: first, to map the existing and forthcoming applications of AI technology at EU level and second to examine the fundamental rights challenges that AI-reliant tools may pose for different groups of third-country nationals. It will do so, by analysing challenges relating primarily to data protection, non-discrimination and effective remedies.

Niovi Vavoula (Ph.D. Queen Mary University of London, 2017) is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Migration and Security at Queen Mary University of London. Dr Vavoula conducts research in the fields of EU Immigration law, particularly large-scale IT systems for third-country nationals, interoperability and AI, EU Criminal law and EU Data Protection law, particularly the fundamental rights challenges posed by the establishment of various avenues of processing of personal data for law enforcement purposes. She has authored the monograph Immigration and Privacy in the Law of the European Union: The Case of Information Systems (Brill, 2022).

Petra Gyöngyi joined the Faculty of Law, Lund University in 2022 as an Associate Senior Lecturer of Law and AI. She conducts research in the sub-field of AI and Justice. Broadly speaking, she studies the implications of integrating technology and AI algorithms in courts systems, including consequences for European fundamental rights protection and judicial independence. Her research is at the intersection of comparative judicial studies, courts and technology, comparative constitutional law and theory, and European fundamental rights law.

Send an e mail vladislava [dot] stoyanova [at] jur [dot] lu [dot] se (vladislava[dot]stoyanova[at]jur[dot]lu[dot]se) in case of any questions.