New LSTS website

For updated information on the Law, Science, Technology & Society (LSTS) Research Group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), please follow our official website.

Exploring the Privacy / Data Protection Connection

For already almost 20 years, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EU) has distinguished the rights to privacy and data protection as two fundamental rights – one established by its Article 7, and the second by Article 8. This approach represented a clear innovation compared to the Council of Europe, where both …

LSTS books of 2018

Every year the researchers of the Law, Science, Technology and Society (LSTS) Research Group of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) review some of the books that have influenced the most their (academic) lives. Here are our best reads of 2018, listed in strict alphabetical order. Albertine, Viv, To Throw Away Unopened (Faber & Faber 2018) …

Algorithmisation of Dispute Resolution

Vilnius University and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) are happy to invite you to an international seminar where interim findings and results of the CREA project will be presented and other cutting-edge topics of state of play and challenges of algorithmisation of dispute resolution will be debated. The seminar, called “Algorithmisation of Dispute Resolution” will be …

The Algorithms and Society Workshop: a great succes

The Algorithms and Society Workshop organized by LSTS and Privacy Salon, supported by Open Society Foundations was a great success! It took place on Monday 10 December 2018 at the VUB. It attracted 40 participants from all over Europe including academics, civil society, journalists and practitioners to discuss the impact of algorithms on society. The …

Next steps for the Handbook on Data Protection in Humanitarian Action

On 23 October 2018, the Brussels Privacy Hub and the International Committee of the Red Cross hosted a side event at the 40th edition of the annual International Conference of Data Protection & Privacy Commissioners (ICDPPC). The event launched the working series to update the Handbook on Data Protection in Humanitarian Action (Handbook) which was …

Call for Contributions – Algorithms & Society Workshop

A workshop organised by Privacy Salon & Law Science Technology and Society (LSTS), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, supported by Open Society Foundations. The workshop will take place Monday 10 December 2018 at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium. This call is primarily aimed at academic researchers, civil society representatives, journalists and practitioners working in the area. …

Vacancies for doctoral students at LSTS

LSTS is looking for motivated researchers to join its research units on: (a) human-robot collaboration and personal data protection law (application deadline: 15 July 2018), (b) smart technologies (energy and transport) and personal data protection law (application deadline: 15 July 2018), (c) data protection and privacy impact assessments (application deadline: 15 July 2018), and (d) …

Disinformation and Digital Media as a Challenge for Democracy

The call for papers for the upcoming 6th volume in European Integration and Democracy series, devoted to challenges for democracy, the rule of law and the respect for fundamental rights, posed by contemporary disinformation practices and digital media, has now been published [PDF 247 KB]. The planned book is a joint endeavour of the Centre for …

10 Years of ‘Profiling the European Citizen’: Slow Science Seminar

2018 marks the 10th anniversary of 'Profiling the European Citizen' (ed. Mireille Hildebrandt and Serge Gutwirth), which brought together lawyers, computer scientists and philosophers around emerging practices of data mining, knowledge discovery in data bases (KDD) and their application in a variety of domains. The title of the book turns out to have been prophetic, …