My work in speech technology ethics examines the responsible development and deployment of speech and language technologies, with a focus on ensuring these technologies respect linguistic diversity, user privacy, and social equity.
Ethics Chair, INTERSPEECH 2025: Overseeing ethical standards and practices for the 26th Interspeech Conference, themed “Fair and Inclusive Speech Science and Technology”
Working Group Member, Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA): Contributing to the “Ethics and Research Integrity Policy in Responsible Research Assessment for Data and Artificial Intelligence” initiative
Chair of Ethics Committee, Faculty Campus Fryslân, University Groningen (2018-2020, 2025-2026)
This project encompasses several ethical dimensions:
Linguistic Inclusivity: Ensuring speech technologies support rather than diminish linguistic diversity
Bias Mitigation: Identifying and addressing biases in speech systems that affect underrepresented populations
Privacy and Consent: Developing frameworks for ethical data collection and use in speech research
Transparency: Promoting explainable AI approaches in speech technology
Educational Ethics: Ethical considerations in teaching AI and speech technology
Speech Tech Summer Schools (2023, 2024): Organized summer schools focusing on ethical speech technology development, including the “Charting New Futures” themed event in 2024
Senior Teaching Qualification (STQ) (2024): Developed curriculum on “GPT in the classroom: Ethical considerations” to integrate AI ethics into higher education
AI Ethics Training: Completed specialized training in “AI Empathy & Ethics” (University of California) and “Artificial Intelligence: Ethics & Societal Challenges” (Lund University)
“Speech Tech Ethics”: Co-editing a forthcoming book with Maggie Glass that explores ethical frameworks and challenges in speech technology (currently in preparation)
Development of ethical guidelines for speech technology research and deployment
Creating educational materials on ethics for speech technology students
Co-organizer of “Exploring the Dark Side of Future Language Technologies: Linguistic (In)security, Ethics, and Privacy in the Human-Machine Era” (2024)
Dutch Speech Tech Day series (2023-2025): Creating platforms for ethical discussions in speech technology