50 Women in Norway Changing the Field of Artificial Intelligence

What I find very annoying is when I hear people say that they cannot find talented women in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). This is often an expression that can come up when discussing public debates, development or application. Yes, on the one hand there are existing inequalities in the field of AI with fewer women represented, on the other hand the way women in AI contributes to the field already must not be underestimated! Part of this frustration is what led to this list that we made to share on International Women’s Day the 8th of March 2021. At the very least in Norway I hope this list can make it easier to show people that make statements justifying not representing women in any context pertaining to AI that they are fundamentally wrong.

Women in Norway are changing the field of artificial intelligence. This contribution is immensely valuable both for Norway and the world.

I made this list together with colleague Birthe Hansen in the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium (NORA).

In honor of the International Women’s Day, NORA will promote and shed light on inspiring women in Norway, working within the field of Artificial Intelligence. The list attempts to give an overview of the incredible women that are driving forward the field of artificial intelligence in Norway. We believe in displaying the breadth of opportunities for AI in society, by showcasing researchers, practitioners and prominent actors involved in research, innovation and business. It must be said that this list is not comprehensive, yet we aspire to expand upon this list and learn more about how women are pushing for an important shift in how we think about and use artificial intelligence. Women play an important role in shaping the future of AI. By pushing the boundaries of what is possible, and by expanding our knowledge of the numerous and diverse potential of AI in health, infrastructure, climate, energy and language (amongst others), these women play an important role as role models for the future generation of female scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs.

By increasing the visibility of women in tech and AI, NORA aims to inspire a more inclusive agenda by promoting role models for future generations.

For more inspiring women in tech, we recommend reading Abelia 50 foremost women in tech. The list was produced in collaboration with the ODA network and Abelia.

We also reccommend reading the latest report from the Alan Turing Institute “Public Policy Programme: Women in Data Science and AI project”, and the EU Women’s Digital Manifesto.

*Please note that the list is not made in any ranked order. The numbers are simply used for navigation.

1. Pinar Heggernes

Chairperson of the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium (NORA)

Pinar is a driving force, not only within her role as a chairperson of NORA, rather she contributes more broadly as the Head of Department of Informatics at the University of Bergen. Pinar is a Professor of Informatics with a specialisation in algorithms. Pinar was born 1969 in Istanbul and finished her PhD in Informatics at the University of Bergen, Norway, 1996. She has contributed vastly to Norwegian research environment for more than 25 years, and engaged actively with academic service through a large variety of national boards. Her contributions are hard to quantify as they are so numerous and stretch across many areas of Norwegian society as well as her positive international influence in the field of AI.

“Algorithms are at the heart of computer science. Finding more efficient solutions to important problems and proposing ways to attack intractable problems have been the main motivation for me to choose the field of algorithms in computer science. I have in particular specialized in identifying and solving tractable special cases of generally intractable problems.”

— Pinar Heggernes

2. Anita Schjøll Brede

CEO & Co-founder of IRIS.ai

If people ask for a rockstar within Norwegian technology the most obvious answer is to exclaim: “Anita Scjøll Brede!” There are a variety of reasons for this including her presence in the Norwegian AI ecosystem, yet it is most of all for her talent and ability to make the societal impact of artificial intelligence both clear and compelling that makes her impossible to forget. She is a storyteller that weaves technology into being together with an international and diverse team distributed across the world. She is a serial entrepreneur with experience from several deep tech ventures, and is currently developing AI tools and applications that allow humans to make sense of more of the world’s scientific knowledge — to apply it for good.

3. Inga Strümke

Postdoctoral Researcher in Explainable AI at Simula Metropolitan Center

If you are interested in artificial intelligence in Norway, it is highly likely that you have seen Inga in a public debate about AI or read one of her many opinion articles in different newspapers. Inga has a PhD in particle physics, previously worked on algorithm auditing at PwC, and is currently a postdoctoral researcher on explainable AI at Simula Metropolitan Center. She received the University of Bergen’s outreach price in 2019, and was awarded “One of Norways 50 leading women in tech 2020″. She is an international keynote and TedX speaker, addressing understanding, AI ethics and the potential impact of data analysis on society. On the one year anniversary of the Norwegian national strategy, Strümke was invited by the AI networks of Norway to discuss the status of AI in Norway today, where she highlighted the importance of fundamental research and diversity in AI.

“I’ve been told that your career is a story you tell yourself in hindsight, and this is certainly true for me: I follow my nose, not a plan. I chose to study theoretical physics not because I though it was a clever choice, but because I wanted to understand how space, time and particles work. Since then, my path has been twisting, but understanding what’s going on has been my red thread. Working in explainable AI is both about making sure AI benefits humanity, but also about understanding how information can be represented — which is, fundamentally, about understanding the universe, which I think is the most meaningful thing for me to do.”

— Inga Strümke

4. Marija Slavkovik

Associate Professor in Artificial Intelligence at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies at the University of Bergen

There is no doubt Marija Slavkovik is an innovator. She is set to lead the first bachelor’s programme focused in its entirety on artificial intelligence. With her computational competencies and passion for ethical behaviour in computational agents she shows both technical excellence alongside great care for contemporary issues in AI. Slavkovik is the vice-chair of the Norwegian AI Association, a charter of eurai; in the board of EURAMAS; and a member of the informal advisory group on Ethics, Legal, Social Issues (ELS) of CLAIRE. If you are looking for international engagement that echoes across Europe on ethical behaviour in AI — you have found Slavkovik. Her voice informs decisions and challenges established truths to assist in fulfilling the European vision of trustworthy and responsible AI. Slavkovik is also currently leading a work package at Mediafutures, the Research Centre for Responsible Media Technology and Innovation.

5. Annette Stephansen

Research leader Digital Systems, AI and Big Data at NORCE. Board member of the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium (NORA).

Humanity is attempting to understand how we can further harness energy from wind, and rethink our energy systems. Anette Stephansen with her PhD in Applied Mathematics and her research within renewable energy is pushing this movement forward, or perhaps we could say harnessing this increased focus. She has been a chair at offshore wind conferences Science Meets Industry and EERA DeepWind, and active in the EERA JP Wind network. Her skills relate to data analysis and simulations, yet she is a competent leader of research and networks. She has been active as centre coordinator of the FME centre NORCOWE on offshore wind, which operated between 2009 and 2017. The Norwegian Research Centre (NORCE) is a Norwegian government-owned research institute. It is one of the largest research organisations of Norway and was founded in 2017 through the merger of several university-owned research institutes and has around 900 employees. She is additionally one of the newest members in the board of NORA.

6. Lilja Øvrelid

Professor and leader of the Research Group for Language Technology, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo

One of the most active areas within the field of artificial intelligence relates to applications of language technology or so-called Natural Language Processing (NLP). There are also a number of challenges that follow with the rapid increase of both written and spoken language modelling. If the Norwegian society is to have good applications of these technologies there is a clear need to have excellent researchers in Norway working to understand these models. Lilja Øverlid in the Language Technology Group (LTG) at the University of Oslo is doing a lot of work with her team to address these challenges. Language technology comprises both theoretical and applied Informatics seeking to enable us to make sense of human language. If one considers the Alexa or Google Nest in your home that increasingly have to address questions in Norwegian, or the great need to navigate information in Norwegian we might begin to understand partly why the work Øvrelid does as a Professor with her research team is of such significant importance for the Norwegian society.

“Language is at the center of our abilities for reasoning and communcation as human beings. I continue to be immensely fascinated by the computational modeling of language precisely because it provides insight into this complex human phenomenon while also having the potential to have a real impact on the way we communicate and interact with each other.

This is a truly exciting time to be working in the field of Natural Language Processing. We are seeing a rapid uptake of technology powered by NLP and machine learning at a scale never witnessed before. At the same time there is a need for the responsible development of technology that analyses Norwegian language, ensuring that we can benefit from the technological advances seen for other languages such as English. “

— Lilja Øverlid

7. Ishita Barua

MD and PhD Candidate at Oslo University Hospital | Fulbright Fellow at BIDMC/Harvard Medical School

A trailblazer in the intersecting fields of health and AI, Ishita Barua is making great strides in the use of artificial intelligence in colorectal cancer diagnosis and colonoscopy. Ishita Barua is a lecturer and co-initiator behind the establishment of the elective medical subject “AI, Innovation, Big Data and Clinical Decision Support” aimed to inspire and teach medical students at the University of Oslo, the power and potential of digital technology and innovation in the complex comprehension of medical data, through the use of various tools, models and methods.

“I believe it’s long overdue that health care professionals utilize their unique insight and knowledge in medicine and patient care, to contribute to the development of new digital health technology that can better the medical treatment for our patients. If we want to deliver the best patient care, our datasets need to be representative and diverse enough, so the algorithms don’t result in and reproduce discriminative and erroneous outcomes. However, we also need to be aware of the lack of representation among the programmers and developers to avoid individual, conscious or unconscious preferences. We need more women to participate in the development, design and implementation of AI systems.”

— Ishita Barua

8. Anne Håkonsson

Professor — Department of Computer Science — UiT

If you are interested in the field of AI, you have surely come across the notable researcher Anne Håkonsson, a AI celeb in her own right due to her extensive contributions to the field. Anne is a Professor at the Department of Computer Sciences at the Arctic University of Norway and the Chair of the Computational Analytics and Intelligence Lab (CAI Lab). Having more than 25 years of experience in the field, Anne has made extensive strides in the field of AI, as shown by her multiple papers, articles and other materials published in the field, as well as an exhaustive list of published books. Professor Anne Håkansson research lies within Computer science with the focus on Artificial Intelligence, and reasoning strategies, for different application areas, among others e-business, environmental impact assessment, and context. Håkansson has conducted research within Knowledge-based systems and Knowledge Base modelling, Reasoning, Graphic Representation, Visualisation, Visual Programming, Declarative Programming, Multi-agent systems, and Meta-agents. A brilliant and often featured speaker at various international conferences, Anne continues to inspire and encourage boundary breaking research in the use of AI in e-commerce, environmental impact assessments, Smart Cities and contexts.

9. Alise Danielle Midtfjord

Ph.D Candidate in Machine Learning at the University of Oslo (UiO)

Let’s hear it for Alise Danielle Midtfjord! Alise is a brilliant researcher currently working on analysis of multidimensional environmental data to create an artificial intelligence warning system for airport runway conditions. Alise is interested in Machine Learning and Data Science, Explainable Artificial Intelligence and combining physics and AI. Having previously worked at Accenture with new technologies including machine learning and extended reality, Alise started her PhD at the University of Oslo at the Department of Mathematics in 2019. Alise is passionate about creating Explainable Artificial Intelligence as she believes that “Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) is a necessary step towards creating ethical, responsible and trustworthy AI, which corresponds to e.g. the regularisations set by GDPR and the Norwegian National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence”.

“My interest for artificial intelligence awoke during my master’s degree in physics, where I worked on creating an AI system to support in cancer treatment. Here I saw the strong potential of artificial intelligence to solve complex physical problems, when the two fields are combined. After learning how AI can support companies and industry while I was working at Accenture, I had no doubt that I wanted to be a contributor to the development of this technology. Working mostly at high-risk problems in both medicine and landing of aircrafts, I saw the need of creating explainable artificial intelligence, as we need to understand the systems decision in order to trust them. I believe we are just beginning to see what artificial intelligence can do for our society, and I am very excited to discover what we can do with it in the future.”

— Alise Danielle Midtfjord

10. Valeriya Naumova

Director at Simula Consulting

Valeriya Naumova is leading a new tech consultancy company, Simula Consulting, which is a daughter company of the Simula Group. Valeriya led the Machine Intelligence Department at Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering. Valeriya has more than ten years experience in machine learning and data-driven modelling. She has been leading several research and industrial machine learning-based projects, focusing on the development of theoretical approaches and numerical methods for learning from samples of complex high-dimensional data sets for various real-life applications.

As the Director of Simula Consulting, Valeriya Prior plays a pivotal role bridging the gap between academia, industry and society. In her own words, Valerya is “ striving to multiply the number of these types of projects that see mathematics and computer science being applied in ways that continue to advance society”. Valeriya has been a prominent contributor to the development and advancement of predictive data-driven algorithms for addressing societal challenges, including algorithms used to predict glucose levels in diabetes patients and in cancer screening.

“As a data scientist and director of Simula Consulting, I spend every day working to bring to life the promise of deep tech and helping organisations to tap the potential of technologies. I have always been fascinated by mathematics and especially being able to create tools that have a measurable, positive impact on society. Working in multidisciplinary teams, solving societal and business challenges with the help of mathematics and machine learning, gives me a lot of drive and motivation to continue to strive and spread the knowledge to different stakeholders”

— Valeriya Naumova

11. Kjersti Engan

Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at the University of Stavanger (UiS)

At times, with all the buzz around artificial intelligence, one can question oneself what AI could be good for — which applications of AI could be important for humanity? We must face challenging truths in the world, such as the inequality on this planet that begins from birth. Through NewbornTime Kjersti Engan is working to analyse video footage of births and resuscitation of newborns. Through the use of artificial intelligence she and her colleagues are developing a system that shows the timeline from birth to resuscitation. The goal is that healthcare workers around the world can work to improve routines, so that we can ensure that more children survive. Engan is a Norwegian researcher in signal and image processing who works as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Stavanger. She completed her doctorate in 2000 and was promoted to full professor in 2008. Her research interests are in signal and image processing and machine learning with emphasis on medical applications and in dictionary learning for sparse signal and image representation. She is the leader of BMDLab (Biomedical data analysis laboratory), and in addition to AI for newborn survival, she is currently working on AI in computational pathology and AI in perfusion CT for stroke patients.

“As a teenager I stumbled into electrical engineering, just knowing that I wanted to work with mathematical related subjects, and this developed into signal and image processing during my master studies. As a PhD student I was introduced to a medical application where I could use my signal processing knowledge, and I found that vastly inspiring. Working in academia has made it possible to combine my interest for image processing and machine learning with medical applications, and throughout the years I have been lucky to collaborate with many medical doctors and others in many different applications. I am motivated by cross-disciplinary projects where you can see that AI and technology can be used for something good, where I meet researchers from different disciplines, and where I learn new things every day.”

— Kjersti Engan

12. Freyja Jørgensen

Leader of the NORA.startup Steering Group and Innovation Manager at Gründergarasjen

Freyja Jørgensen is the kind of person that simply, through a lot of effort, makes things happen. One of the most active groups within the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium (NORA) is NORA.startup. The NORA.startup initiative will be a gateway to greater cooperation between academia, incubators and startup companies in the field of artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics. Jørgensen has extensive experience working to promote technology in education for Simula and an educational background combining molecular biology and psychology. Currently she supports a wide variety of AI startups through her work with NORA.startups. She is responsible for rather a lot of internal organisation and event management that enriches the AI ecosystem of Norway and beyond.

“From a young age I knew that somehow, I wanted to work with people and science. I dreamt of becoming a children’s doctor, or a researcher. Having a grandfather with a chemistry PhD and a dedicated biology teacher in high school, inspired me further. Later, being involved in several educational and innovation projects at Simula, I quickly became very eager to work in a dynamic and interdisciplinary environment. That eventually led me to the extremely inspiring and quickly-growing field of technology startups and AI. AI and other technologies will continue to play a central role in our lives, and I find it important to support and understand this field. Each day I learn something new and meet new challenges and possibilities in the work I do — that is one of the main things that motivates me in my job.”” — Freyja Jørgensen

13. Birte Hansen

Innovation and Industry Coordinator at the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium (NORA)

Birte Hansen is the most recent hire in NORA. Although she is recently hired she brings a wealth of experience and a demonstrated history of working with the research industry, in project management and community management. She holds a PhD from Roskilde University and wrote her thesis on innovation and digital entrepreneurship in transition: exploring women’s prospective contribution to China’s growing entrepreneurial economy and innovative development. In addition to this she is highly proficient in Chinese Mandarin and has nine years international experience spanning the U.S, Asia and Europe.

14. Anne Schistad Solberg

Professor in the Research Group for Digital Signal Processing and Image Analysis, Department of Informatics — UiO

Anne Solberg brings an understanding of image analysis that is hard to match. Her competencies within machine learning applications range from: remote sensing, sonar imaging, medical image analysis, seismic image analysis and analysis of petrophysical images. She is very engaged to consider the consequence of industry on the environment. One example of her engagement is her work 2002–2007 studying the long-term effects of emissions from the petroleum industry, using algorithms for automatic detection of oil spills in SAR images. Within remote sensing she has worked with data fusion, SAR image analysis, and hyperspectral image classification. In addition to her engagement for the environment she has worked on SAR images of land areas and sea ice. She has been active through her position to educate the next generation working on image analysis.

15. Anne Kjersti Befring

Associate Professor, Department of Public and International Law at the University of Oslo

Anne Kjersti Befring is a Norwegian lawyer and researcher who co-wrote a collection of articles with legal perspective on artificial intelligence together with Inger Johanne Sand in 2020. Her doctoral thesis on legal perspectives on personalized medicine was published as a book in 2019. It contains methodological approaches to jurisprudence that matter to new technologies.

She was the project leader for law and ethics in the BigMed project lasting from 2016–2020. This project was focused on legal perspectives on big data within healthcare. She previously led work on law within various roles employed in the Norwegian state. Her experience spans the Ministry of Health and Care Services, the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Board of Health. She was the legal director and director of negotiations for the Norwegian Medical Association.

Within the Department of Public and International Law at the University of Oslo, Befring is responsible for law within healthcare and to coordinate the faculty’s efforts within life science. If AI is to work in healthcare in Norway it is highly likely, if not inevitable, that Befring will have contributed to making it possible. Additionally Befring has from June 2020 been the Chairperson of the nordic network Nordic PerMed Law that contributes to organising lawyers within healthcare in the Nordic countries.

“My motivation to work with this field of law is to contribute to the development of new legal approaches. The 2020 pandemic and discussions on legal instruments illustrate the need for a different legal understanding when the actual situation, or knowledge and technology developments change.”

— Anne Kjersti Befring

16. Ira Hebold Haraldsen

Project Coordinator for AI-Mind and Head of Center for Cognitive Health in Brain Disease

Ira Haraldsen (MD, Psychiatrist; PhD) coordinates one of the largest projects within artificial intelligence in Norway. The project she coordinates is AI-Mind, a European project receiving funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 964220. It is a five-year Research and Innovation Action (RIA) that officially starts this March 2021. It involves fifteen project partners from eight European countries and has a budget around 14 million euro. Haraldsen has a wide research experience from Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Stanford University, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital. The AI-mind project intends to contribute to a better everyday life for people living with dementia. More than 100,000 people have dementia in Norway and around 50 million worldwide, and this is set to double during the next 20 years. If you know someone with dementia or if you have heard about this condition you may understand to some extent how important this could be for those so unfortunate to get dementia. It will do so through two digital tools Connector and AI-Mind Predictor that will be combined on one diagnostics platform.

17. Cathrine Pihl Lyngstad

Head of Section for Data (including AI) in the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV)

NAV, or the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, employs around 19,000 people to ensure that more people are active and in work. When one comes to understand that NAV administers a third of the national budget one can begin to understand the importance of management of technology in this context. Cathrine Pihl Lyngstad is heading the data section in NAV, where she works to deliver better services and more efficient use of taxpayer money through the use of data and machine learning. Lyngstad has extensive experience within digitalisation and is very concerned with responsible use of artificial intelligence. Especially during the lockdown in Norway to prevent COVID-19 Norwegians may have noticed to a smaller or larger extent how seamlessly the Norwegian welfare system works online. It is hard to imagine a more important contribution within the field of artificial intelligence at this time, for the benefit of the entire working population of Norway and those that urgently need welfare services.

“I have always loved math and statistics, and working within the field of (responsible) AI is a great opportunity to combine this passion with my interest for other areas such as technology, business, law and philosophy. Working with data and AI at NAV also gives a pretty unique possibility to participate in setting a direction for how we as a society use data and technology in a useful yet responsible way.”

— Cathrine Pihl Lyngstad

18. Anne Marthine Rustad

Research Manager, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence at SINTEF Digital

Anne Marthine Rustad has been at SINTEF Digital since March 2017. She holds a PhD in Marine technology from NTNU with a research stay at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She brings competence from the industry to the table with her background in a variety of roles in Aker Solutions, DNV and Boston Consulting Group. In Norway she represents and connects, yet her presence is not limited to the Norwegian stage — with her international presence at conferences such as DLD Conference in 2019 — she shines as the co-manager of the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Network for Europe (NAINE). NAINE contributes to an increased number of EU proposals on AI with Norwegian involvement. NAINE is actively monitoring selected calls and activities, forwarding information and coordinating hearings for calls together with the Research Council of Norway. As part of this work she brings the AI community together through organizing two workshops yearly and her constant efforts to catapult the efforts in Norwegian AI onto the global stage.

19. Ana Ozaki

Associate Professor, University of Bergen, Department of Informatics

Ana Ozaki was mentioned many times when we asked our network for people that deserve to be on this list. Ozaki is an Associate Professor at the University of Bergen. Her focus within artificial intelligence is learning theory, knowledge representation and reasoning. How does reasoning processes and learning interact? This is one of the questions Ozaki is concerned with. She is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Machine Learning Research and the Journal of Web Semantics. She has also recently worked as Program Committee Chair for the 27th International Symposium on Temporal Representation and Reasoning. The current work of Ozaki is with strategies to learn Horn rules from neural networks by posing them queries. She firmly believes recent advances need to be accompanied by theoretical development so systems can provide formal guarantees that contribute to more trustworthy systems.

“If we could change the world as we change a computer program we would delete the plastic of the oceans and add trees to deforested areas. Perhaps one of the greatest powers of computer scientists is the one of automating work that would take a long time to be done manually. We
shall need such power in the years to come.” — Ana Ozaki

20. Hanne Torill Mevik

Physicist and Data Scientist at Fürst

Hanne Torill Mevik started out with a background in Quantum mechanics graduating with a master’s in Theoretical physics from the University of Oslo. She later moved into image and data processing from a variety of physical sensors where she discovered a professional calling for machine learning and modelling neural networks. She has practical experience from Statkraft, the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, Bakken & Bæck, NoA Ignite (formerly Making Waves). She now works as a data scientist for Fürst. In addition to her work she has been publicly engaged in questions of machine bias perpetuating societal bias and opening up the black box.

21. Lillian Smestad

Senior Data Scientist at Inmeta

Lillian Smestad has a career many physicists would dream of, she has worked at CERN with searches for dark matter and studies of antimatter. She did her PhD in particle physics at the University of Oslo, and has a long experience of using complex statistical treatments to search for small signals in large datasets. Searching for the elusive Higgs boson in her doctoral research, She took part in one of the greatest discoveries in particle physics for decades, and the Nobel Prize in Physics 2013 was awarded based on the experimental discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN. She worked with the ATLAS collaboration at CERN and gained authorship through a designed task, developing a suite of monitoring tools for the electron and photon trigger of the ATLAS detector. Since 2018 she has been working with the consulting firm Inmeta with customers such as DNV, Tine and the Norwegian Environment Agency.

22. Ieva Martinkenaite

VP Telenor Research, Analytics & AI at Telenor / Board Member

As a leading person in research at one of the world’s largest mobile telecommunications companies Ieva Martinkenaite is among the key figures within artificial intelligence in Norway. Ieva Martinkenaite holds a PhD in Strategic Management from BI Norwegian Business School. In Telenor she has been leading a team of data scientists and ML engineers to develop data and AI products. Martinkenaite holds several high profile regional and national appointments in AI.

As a Vice President at Telenor Research, Ieva led the Telenor-NTNU AI Lab development project (later transformed to Norwegian Open AI-Lab). As part of her engagement she is also a key player in European AI policy. Ieva was appointed in 2018 to the High-Level Expert Group on AI (AI HLEG) by the European Commission. She was selected as one of 52 experts appointed to advise the European Union (EU) on ethical frameworks and policy and investment strategy of AI. As such Ieva will be one of the key people supporting the implementation of the European strategy on AI. Ieva is also the national contact point (NCP) for Norway in the Horizon 2020 AI4EU consortium project, the largest EU research and innovation project. The sum of all these accomplishments and her continued engagement is what makes Martinkenaite a key player within the field of AI in Norway.

“Research shows that the numbers of women in STEM jobs are disturbingly low, and the reasons are primarily societal and psychological. Among those are gender stereotypes and lack of access to women peers and role models. For me, role models were a game changer, and I sought their advice actively. It is important to be a role model for girls — and boys — particularly in emerging technology fields such as AI and Machine Learning so that you can motivate and reassure that ‘nothing is impossible’ and ‘that you are not alone’. Have I ever thought that I would be leading a team of senior data scientists and Machine Learning engineers in a high-tech company? Of course not. But I have never doubted that a career in technology is a realistic possibility for a woman. My example shows that this is possible, with a huge passion for tech, a good portion of humour and willingness to learn.” — Ieva Martinkenaite

23. Abbey Lin

Controls & Compliance Lead at Microsoft Norway, Co-founder and Board Member Oslo.ai, Founder of Ethical AI Resources

When you meet Abbey Lin you will quickly come to understand that she is attentive to what is going on in Norway and the world. Her engagement to build a community within the field of artificial intelligence and her overview of ethical AI resources have benefitted many practitioners and she keeps contributing to discussions of how we apply technology in our society. What you may not immediately know when you meet Lin is her extensive international background. Through 2003–2006 she worked first for the Grameen Bank and then the Grameen Foundation. Grameen Bank was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. In addition to this she worked managing ethics and compliance with Yara International and was Head of Compliance and Business Integrity in KPMG Norway. What Lin does so well is that she both draws attention to ethical challenges and finds different ways to solve these not only for herself in her role, also contributing with resources for others who wish to address similar issues.

24. Heidi Elisabeth Luell Dahl

Senior Research Scientist at SINTEF and Co-Founder, Chair & Co-Organizer of Women in Data Science Oslo

Heidi Dahl is a visible personality in Oslo in part due to her engagement with Tekna — The Norwegian Society of Graduate Technical and Scientific Professionals where she is the leader of Tekna Big Data. As well as her continued engagement with Women in Data Science Oslo. She holds a PhD from the University of Oslo in Geometry for Computer Aided Design. She has been leading SINTEF Digital’s Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence activities in four projects in Industry 4.0. In this sense she is both practically involved with some of the large projects within artificial intelligence in Norway and contributing to bring more people from different backgrounds into the industry. As a champion of sharing knowledge and a champion of women in data science it is not an exaggeration to say that Dahl may very well be one of the most important people in the field of artificial intelligence in Norway.

25. Lene Diesen

CEO at Semine AS

Lene Diesen works with one of the most rapidly growing AI startups in Norway, namely Semine AS, a Norwegian AI platform for the automation of accounting. Semine hired Lene Diesen in 2019 as the new CEO and she comes from the position of COO and Deputy CEO of Microsoft Norway. Diesen has previously held several leadership roles in Tieto / Software Innovation. The AI ​​robot SEMINE automates invoices and invoice management for companies, accounting agencies and public companies. Diesen has over 10 years of experience in the IT industry, with both national and international leadership responsibilities. As a CEO leading the way in one of the most promising AI startups in Norway one has to take notice of Diesen in the Norwegian AI ecosystem.

26. Kerstin Bach

Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, NTNU

Kerstin Bach’s core competence field is Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. She was awarded her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Hildesheim, Germany. She is currently working on intelligent decision support systems. Bach is currently deputy head of the Data and Artificial Intelligence group and associated with the Norwegian Open AI Lab. In addition to this she is the chair of the German Society for Computer Science’s Special Interest Group on Knowledge Management and a board member of the Norwegian AI society. Part of her current research lies within e-Health applications with the selfBACK EU project developing assistance for low back pain patients.

27. Mozhgan Tavakolifard

Nordic lead for platforms and ethical AI, Norway lead for Data Science and Machine Learning at Accenture

Mozhgan Tavakolifard holds a PhD in Machine Learning from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She was born in 1983 in Tehran, Iran and graduated from NODET (National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents) Middle and High Schools, which are developed specifically for the development of exceptionally talented students. Tavakolifard works across industries and her research focus has been on personalisation and customer behavioural modeling. Before her work with Accenture she worked as the first Data Scientist at Finn and Schibsted Media Group. Mozhgan combines her technical and hands on expertise with her understanding of business in representing the business towards customers and leading co-creation projects to realize the value of data.

28. Diana Saplacan

Senior Researcher/Forsker II at University of Oslo (UiO), Robotics and Intelligent Systems (ROBIN) Research Group in the Vulnerability in the Robot Society (VIROS) project

Diana Saplacan is a senior researcher/forsker II at the University of Oslo, at the Department of Informatics, Robotics and Intelligent Systems (ROBIN) research group, currently working in Vulnerability in Robot Society (VIROS) project. Her research in the VIROS project covers the ethical aspects of AI robots and systems. She focuses on the user (e.g., care receiver and caregivers, including family members and medical staff using the AI robot system) and how the user experiences privacy and safety in their interaction with AI robots and systems. She is concerned with products and services being designed with inclusion and accessibility in mind, such that vulnerable users can also use them, but not at the cost of their privacy or safety.

She received her Ph.D. degree (2020) from the University of Oslo, Norway, and her M.Sc. degree (2013) from Kristianstad University, Sweden, where she also worked as a Computer Science lecturer for three years. Her Ph.D. degree is interdisciplinary within Design of Information Systems, at the cross of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) fields, with Universal Design (UD) knitting these fields. In her Ph.D., she worked with two different cases, one focused on everyday interaction with robots in the home as part of the Multimodal Elderly Care Systems (MECS) research project, and the other focused on interaction with digital learning environments in higher education in UDFeed project. She coined the notion of situated abilities discussing from a phenomenological perspective how the abilities of humans in their interaction with digital systems are constrained or enabled by the design of the system itself.

Her current interests include Human-Robot Interaction and Human-Robot cooperation, ethics, and AI regarded through the lens of Universal Design principles, inclusion, and accessibility. She is not afraid of asking difficult questions in order to protect the human rights of vulnerable users when it comes to AI and robots.

“My aim is to contribute to the development of ethical and legal regulations, standards, and recommendations for responsible AI and robot services and systems that can also be used by vulnerable users, without the need of further adaptation or customization of these services and products. What are the conditions for good care when we integrate robots as part of the home- and healthcare systems and services, and how can these change the care practices for the better? How can Universal Design and its principles set an ethical regulatory framework to ensure adequate AI development in robots? Which technical benefits and challenges are set by a Universal Design framework when developing robots to be used in the healthcare or public sector? These are some of the questions that drive my current work.” — Diana Saplacan

29. Merete Nygaard

CEO & Founder of Lawbotics, Initiator of Oslo Legal Tech

Merete Nygaard started up Lawbotics after a decade of working for established law firms. During this time she had been servicing technology companies through her legal practice. Lawbotics has a cloud service called Lexolve that aims to close the gap between legal knowledge and legal needs. She recently received 13,7 million NOK in investment in her company mainly to develop an artificial intelligence tool. Through her work she aims to reduce the cost of legal help and give small and medium enterprises an affordable way to solve their legal needs. In this sense the broader goal is to ‘democratize law’. She also helped initiate Oslo Legal Tech to create a platform for technologists and lawyers to collaborate, enabling more hands-on experience within this area.

30. Elena Parmiggiani

Associate professor, Department of Computer Science, NTNU, Management Team of the Project AI4Users

Elena Parmiggiani holds a PhD in Information Technology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and an MSc in Computer Engineering from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. She coordinates the Digital Enterprise Research Area at the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at NTNU. Her main research interest is the study of data science and AI in practice, especially related to changes in the work processes associated with the ongoing digital transformation. She is in the management team of the AI4Users project, funded by the Norwegian Research Council and led by the University of Agder. AI4Users addresses the “black box” problem contributing to the responsible use of AI for the digitalisation of public services. AI4Users targets specifically non-experts, thereby extending the reach of research beyond data scientists. The project takes a human-centred perspective attempting to address the needs of different groups including citizens, case handlers at the operational level, middle managers and policy makers.

“Technology is never independent of the context of its design, development, and use. This applies to AI too, although AI comes with very different challenges compared to traditional IT. After my master’s degree, I knew I wanted to apply my background in computer engineering and my interest in the social and human sciences to the study of technology in practice. Thanks to the amazing mentorship of my advisors during my PhD studies, I was able to bring these fields together by continuing working in academia. My research allows me to discover every day the fascinating intertwining of AI and humans in different arenas of our daily lives.”

— Elena Parmiggiani

31. Leonora Onarheim Bergsjø

Associate Professor, Østfold University College (HiØ)

Ethics in artificial intelligence is about more than practice, it is about building a community that continuously engages with questions across disciplines and workplaces. It has become very clear in the last few years that Leonora Onarheim Bergsjø has taken on this task in Norway. A few years back Bergsjø set up the Norwegian Council for Digital Ethics (NORDE) to bring together people who care about various issues within digital ethics. Bergsjø holds a PhD in Ethics and Philosophy of Religion from the University of Oslo (UiO) and recently released a book in Norwegian on digital ethics and digital judgement in kindergartens and schools. She is not only active in teaching, rather she brings her engagement within digital ethics to a wide range of audiences through her presentations for a variety of organisations. Bergsjø does not shy away from the difficult questions, instead she confronts them and brings together people to do so from different angles. When we shared this list Leonora was recommended several times and it is clear that she will be important in discussions of ethical AI in years to come.

32. Helga Brøgger

Senior advisor at the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision and President of the Norwegian Society of Radiology

If we are to use artificial intelligence for one of the best purposes possible; to save life and prevent unnecessary death, then we need people like Helga Brøgger. She is an experienced consultant in musculoskeletal radiology, with a demonstrated history of practice in hospitals. What makes her unique is her excellent skills in bridging competencies between people and her never ending scientific curiosity that she shares with her networks. She worked at the Oslo University Hospital as a Consultant in Forensic Radiology at the Department of Forensic Medicine. Her continued engagement with digital health technology and to make artificial intelligence understandable in healthcare contexts makes her very valuable for Norway. When discussing artificial intelligence she brings in the understanding of healthcare professionals, the medical industry and policymakers. With her new role as the Senior Advisor at the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision she will continue to ensure responsibility in Norwegian healthcare.

33. Benedikte Wallace

Doctoral Research Fellow — RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo

Can an artificial intelligence learn to dance? To some extent the answer is yes and Benedikte Wallace, a PhD researcher with a background in music production and computer science, is exploring how. Her academic interests lie in the cross-section between art and science. Her current research is centered around sound-motion mappings with 3D motion capture, generative machine learning and the use of AI as a tool for pursuing and understanding creativity. Wallace is actively thinking of how we can combine the fields of artificial intelligence and art. These days focused on sound and movement.

“Creating art or moving to music are things we as humans do instinctively. Will we be able to model these expressive processes using AI? If so, such models could expose previously unknown correlations in the training data and reveal patterns we might not see at first glance. Knowledge that increases our understanding of how we create and experience art, as well as how we can use AI to model these phenomena may give insight into cognitive processes we still know little about. Additionally, it could help us on our way towards general problem solving with AI in the future.” — Benedikte Wallace

34. Ingrid Schjølberg

Dean at the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, NTNU

It seems many have only more recently begun taking an interest in the field of artificial intelligence and robotics. For Ingrid Scjølberg this is not so, she wrote her doctoral thesis back in 1996 on modeling and control of underwater robotic systems. Schjølberg has an extensive background as a researcher in SINTEF, one of Europe’s largest independent research organisations, headquartered in Trondheim. One of her initiatives was ROBOTNOR — Centre for Advanced Robotics which she led during its first years. Her work with NTNU started back in 2013 and she has since then held several positions. She became the Project Director for the Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems. The research results from this centre are being used to develop intelligent ships and ocean structures, autonomous unmanned vehicles (under water, on the sea surface, in air and space) and robots for high-precision and safety-critical operations in harsh environments. Norway has traditionally had a strength in the marine industries and Schjølberg has made large contributions towards ensuring this continued strength is evolving.

“Here at NTNU, we hold knowledge for a better world as our vision. Thus, we need sustainable technological solutions for more people. We have less than ten years left to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Smart, energy-efficient, and renewable ways of living and interacting will be crucial to achieving these goals. I wish to contribute to this, and above all I would like to motivate young people to take their education here and join us in making a difference.” — Ingrid Schjølberg

35. Kristin Ytterstad Pettersen

Professor, Department of Engineering Cybernetics at NTNU

Kristin Ytterstand Pettersen seems a legend in the making, especially with the recent breakthrough in snake robots, and subsequently receiving the Bode-prize. The Bode-prize is by many considered the closest that you can get to the Nobel-prize in the field of cybernetics. Pettersen has a PhD and an MSc in Engineering Cybernetics from NTNU. She is also a Key Scientist at the Center of Excellence: Autonomous marine operations and systems (NTNU AMOS) and an Adjunct Professor at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI). In addition to her research she contributes through international positions such as Board member of the IEEE Control Systems Society, Council member of the International Federation of Automatic Control and the European Control Association. If you have not seen videos from her company Eelume AS yet you should, as it looks almost like science fiction. As a board member of Eelume AS she keeps thinking of new applications of her exceptional research.

“Robotics is embodied AI and it is a fascinating field of research where mathematics, control algorithms and mechatronics together make up these fascinating robotic creations that will contribute profoundly to our society” — Kristin Ytterstad Pettersen

36. Rebecca Schmidt

Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Oslo

Rebecca is a member of the VIROS project (Vulnerability in the Robot Society) at the University of Oslo. In her research she explores the interplay between public and private regulation in the fields of AI and robotics. Her main focus is on EU-level legislation as well as on international technical standards, industry codes and best practices.

Rebecca obtained a PhD from the European University Institute and an LLM in International and Legal Studies from New York University. Before starting her current position, she was an assistant professor in law at the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. She has published in international outlets such as the European Journal of International Law and the European Law Review. Her monograph ‘Regulatory Integration across Borders’ is published with Cambridge University Press.

“Since the beginning of my research career, I have been fascinated by a key feature of globalization — the rise of regulation beyond the state. More specifically, I want to better understand the interaction between expertise-driven private regulation and more traditional political authority in multi-level transnational regulatory networks. The rapid technological developments in the fields of AI and robotics require an ongoing and fast-paced calibration between technological innovation and public regulatory demands. As a member of the VIROS project my goal is to provide better insights in how dynamic public private interactions can be designed in a way that still preserves fundamental rights and central public policy requirements.” — Rebecca Schmidt

37. Polyxeni Vassilakopoulou

Associate Professor at the Department of Information Systems and Project Manager at AI4Users

Polyxeni is interested in the design of ICT-enabled interventions in work systems and the bearing of digital technology on people and organizations. She conducts research within many fields including (but not limited to studies on the dynamics and governance of information infrastructures; studies on the appropriation and use of information technology through a practice lens; design-oriented studies with a sensitivity to user perspectives. Her main focus is data-driven value creation and the distribution of control over data (empirically studied mostly within healthcare).

Polyxeni is also the Project Manager and PI for AI4Users. The project is funded by the Norwegian Research Council and carried out by a partnership of three research institutions (UiA-leader, UiO, NTNU). AI4Users aims to strengthen the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in public service delivery. The project takes a human-centred perspective for the development of tools and design principles to help users trust AI solutions. The novelty of AI4Users is that it targets specifically non-experts extending the reach of research beyond AI experts and data scientists.

38. Mona Naomi Lintvedt

Doctoral Research Fellow at Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law at the University of Oslo

Mona is currently taking her PhD at UiO, her special fields being cybersecurity, e-government and privacy and data protection. Her PhD is part of the project Vulnerability in the Robot Society (VIROS). 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. The impact of the project will be ensured by involving multiple relevant stakeholders in the Norwegian public sector, consumer advocates, three robotics companies (two Norwegian and one Japanese), and leading international roboticists.

“Ever since I was a law student at the dawn of the internet era, I have worked interdisciplinary with tech and law. The very nature of law is that it’s dynamic and flexible, but it’s very often perceived as an obstacle for innovation and emerging technologies. Law and tech are not binaries, but need to develop integratedly. For advances in AI and robotics we not only need to work closely with tech, law and other disciplines, but regularly take a step back and identify the societal and ethical impacts of our work. My ambition for my PhD project I to contribute to the legal advances in the field of AI and robotics, but also to shed light on how the law can be an enabler rather than a laggard.” — Mona Naomi Lintvedt

39. Kristine Heiney

PhD fellow at the Department of Computer Science at Oslo Metropolitan University

Kristine Heiney is a PhD fellow in the Department of Computer Science at Oslo Metropolitan University and is working toward a doctoral degree in Computer Science from NTNU. Her work as a member of the Living Technology Lab, led by Dr. Stefano Nichele, involves analyzing the electrical signaling behavior of networks of neurons in vitro to gain insight into how they form connections and process information. Her PhD research is part of the NFR-funded SOCRATES project, a long-term horizon project seeking to harness the power of self-organizing substrates to lay the foundations for a new computing paradigm toward more efficient data analysis.

Kristine earned her BSc in Applied and Engineering Physics from Cornell University in 2010 and her MSc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Porto in 2018. Her MSc thesis was conducted as part of the Neuroengineering and Computational Neuroscience (NCN) research group, led by Dr. Paulo Aguiar, at the Institute for Research & Innovation in Health (i3S). From 2011 to 2013, she was a teaching assistant for the Pre-medical and Foundation Programs at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, and since 2014 she has worked as an English language editor for scientific and technical publications.

“How does the brain process information? What is it that populations of neurons do to transform sensory input into behavioral response? I may be biased, but it seems to me that just about everyone finds interest in the innerworkings of the brain, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to pursue my research in this field. Improving our understanding of how brain dynamics contribute to function would not only lead to medical advancements but also promote technical breakthroughs, as we can develop more efficient and adaptable brain-inspired AI models. I enjoy working across disciplines to find answers to these big questions on the foundations of intelligence.” — Kristine Heiney

40. Astrid Undheim

Executive Director at SpareBank1 SMN, Technology and Development

Astrid Undheim holds a PhD in communications technology from NTNU (2009) as well as a Master of Science in Communication technology from NTNU. After this she started as a research scientist at Telenor, where she later became VP of Next Generation Services, then VP Analytics & AI. With her role, leading the development of technology as an executive director for one of the largest banks in Norway, she is one of the most powerful women in Norway working with technology. As a Norwegian bank SpareBank 1 SMN has a savings bank based in Trøndelag. The bank has 71 branches in 51 municipalities in Central Norway and is part of the bank alliance SpareBank 1. She is also a member of the council of SSB (Statistics Norway) and has wide experience from different public committees.

41. Marianne Lyseng

Administrative Coordinator at Norwegian Open AI Lab

Coordinating one of the largest and most comprehensive research initiatives in Norway, Marianne Lyseng is one of the most vital actors in ensuring that the field of artificial intelligence prospers in Norway. She works to fulfil the objectives of enabling both applied research at a high international level as well as fostering partnerships between academia, industry and the public sector. The Norwegian Open Artificial Intelligence Lab is a center that brings together research, education and innovation within AI located at the Department of Computer Science at NTNU in Trondheim. Lyseng brings an understanding for policy and government that is likely to be important bridging the gap from research to application within the field of artificial intelligence in Norway. Still in the beginning of her career, she already holds an important position that means she could be important for AI in Norway for many years to come.

42. Elizabeth Traiger

Senior Researcher DNV — Digital Assurance

Elizabeth Traiger’s current research concerns advanced statistics, machine learning and predictive analytics on large data sets with a time series nature and deep learning issues in computer vision. She earned a doctorate in statistics at the University of Oxford and has been working in the wind industry for 10 years. Her work is important in making sure that the reliability of renewables in the energy mix, vital contributions to ensure we work towards reaching global emissions targets. Her varied experience spans wind project development, operational assessments, due diligence, and grid integration projects. She is a member of the DNV Council on behalf of employees of DNV worldwide.

43. Asuncion Lera St.Clair

Program Director, Digital Assurance — Group Technology and Research at DNV; Senior Advisor Barcelona Supercomputer Center (BSC); Climate Mission Board — Horizon Europe

Asuncion Lera St.Clair is currently working on the governance, societal and organizational impacts of digital transformation on AI governance. She brings a wealth of experience and prior understanding towards this effort. For many years she worked as a Professor and research in ethics, human dimensions of climate change, sustainable development, poverty and transformation change. For many years she was also the Research Director of CICERO — Center for International Climate and Environmental Research Oslo. She holds a visiting position at the Barcelona Supercomputing center focused on enhancing salience and usability of climate information. She is also a member of the European Commission Mission Board for ‘Climate Change & Societal Transformations’. With her competencies and skills she is addressing societal and ethical issues emerging from AI applications, including their potential for a sustainable future.

44. Marit Rødevand

Co-founder and CEO of Strise

Marit Rødevand holds a master’s degree in Engineering Cybernetics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She currently runs Strise.ai, a platform set up to make better and faster business to business decisions with artificial intelligence, you can see this video to learn more about their solution. She also co-founded Rendra AS, focused on software as a service (SaaS) for the construction industry, which was acquired by JDM Technology Group. In addition to this she has experience from NTNU Technology Transfer AS, the technology transfer office at NTNU. Rødevand is a prominent entrepreneur in the Norwegian startup ecosystem and the leader of an exciting company utilising AI for companies in their business processes.

45. Pinar Öztürk

Associate Professor at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

The focal point for Pinar Öztürk’s research is artificial intelligence (AI), however she also does interdisciplinary research that combines AI and cognitive science. Her research activities lie within the representation and modeling of knowledge, case-based reasoning, multi-agent systems and more recently text data mining. The last of which is specifically connected to scientific discovery within climate science. Öztürk lectures and has responsibility for introduction to artificial intelligence, distributed artificial intelligence, multi-agent systems, and context sensitive systems. Before her position as an Associate Professor she was a Senior Research fellow at SINTEF.

46. Kari Laumann

Project Manager at Datatilsynet, Lead for regulatory sandbox for responsible AI

Laumann has an extensive background working with privacy and technology. She worked for several years as a Senior Advisor at the Norwegian Board of Technology, then as a Senior Advisor at the Norwegian Data Protection Authority before being hired as the Vice President of Telenor in Bangkok. She then returned to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority as the Project Manager of their regulatory sandbox for responsible AI. In the process of setting up the sandbox she has been in contact with a variety of companies and organisations within the field of AI. Now that the sandbox is being set up she will be a key actor in collaboratively shaping the Norwegian approach to regulating AI.

47. Pia Helén Smedsrud

MD, CMO & PhD student at Augere Medical

Pia Helén Smedsrud describes herself as a MD with a background from journalism and dance, and an interest in technology, science and women’s health. She is currently working with AI in endoscopy. At the moment she is an industrial PhD Student at Simula Research Laboratory, as such still working to develop the research towards an applied direction. She is the Chief Medical Officer at Augere Medical that is currently aiming to develop a product that can use artificial intelligence to identify polyps in intestines to reduce the adverse impact of intestine cancer. Augere Medical has already begun the development of a product together with a distributor in Finland with the goal of reaching a CE-certification towards the end of 2021 that is required to sell the product in Europe. Worldwide there are about 2 million new cases of intestine cancer each year, and it is the third most deadly form of cancer.

48. Maria Amelie

CEO and Co-Founder, Factiverse

To tell the story of Maria Amelie in a paragraph seems almost counterproductive, as her journey is so textured and full. Both filled with the story she has lived and the ones she has gathered to share with others. Her first book came out in 2010 when she was 24 years and led to a massive debate on refugees. She received the Norwegian of the year and contributed to changes in immigration law. She has written five books on immigration, freedom of speech and entrepreneurship. So, where does artificial intelligence fit into this multifaceted story arc? Well, Maria Amelie holds a Master’s degree in Science, Technology and Society from NTNU, and in Spring 2020 she helped found Factiverse. This company works to automate detection of fake news and misinformation with cutting-edge AI and NLP. They have raised capital and are testing their technology with leading Norwegian media companies. As such, this is another step on the journey of Amelie to tackle contemporary issues that impact immigrants directly, and a much needed application of AI in an area of society many critically question these days.

49. Liyuan Xing

Adjunct Associate Professor at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Machine Learning Engineer at TrønderEnergi

Liyuan Xing is currently a full-stack machine learning (ML) engineer in TrønderEnergi Kraft AS. She is also holding an Adjunct Associate Professor position at the Department of Computer Science (IDI), in connection with Norwegian Open AI lab (NAIL), responsible for some research in NorwAI and teaching activities in artificial intelligence and machine learning. The recent projects Xing has worked on involves wing production forecasting and better bidding in hydro power. Liyuan got a master degree in computer science and technology from Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (GUCAS), Beijing China in 2006. She was awarded a PhD from NTNU in 2013 and from 2015 to 2019, she worked as a postdoc in Visual Computing Laboratory in IDI, NTNU. Xing navigates well in uncertainty, and contributes to a better understanding of decisions to be made through the use of applied machine learning.

50. Mareile Kaufmann

Postdoctoral Fellow — Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law

Mareile Kaufmann has her PhD in criminology from the University in Hamburg. Her thesis was about security practice and resilient societies. She has been a Senior Researcher with the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). She has worked to shape the field ‘digital criminology’, and her current project examines how digital technology and practice affects surveillance. She was invited on a panel as an expert in the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud and Ministry of Justice and Public Security in Norway. She has been a guest lecturer within the political science department at several universities, has been awarded several large grants and is the winner of the Radzinowiczprisen 2019. She is the main author of Predictive Policing and the Politics of Patterns, an author on Resilience, Emergencies and the Internet (Routledge, 2017) as well as author of Ethnic Profiling and Counter-Terrorism (Lit-Verlag, 2010).

This is #1000daysofAI and you are reading article 502. I am writing one new article about or related to artificial intelligence for 1000 days. The first 500 days I wrote an article every day, and now from 500 to 1000 I write at a different pace.