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Dr. Floris Bex appointed as Professor of Data Science and the Judiciary

Published: 01st July 2018 Last updated: 30th April 2019

Tilburg University has appointed Dr. Floris Bex as Endowed Professor of Data Science and the Judiciary from July 1, 2018. Bex will investigate the added value of data science and artificial intelligence for the law and the judicial system.

Data science and artificial intelligence are in the news every day, but what is really possible? As part of his work at TILT, the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society of the Tilburg Law School, Floris Bex will try to cut through the hype surrounding big data, which has also penetrated into the legal domain, and show what the added value really is or can be.

In his research, Bex will answer questions such as: in what ways is law different from other domains in which artificial intelligence is used, for instance, the medical domain? Are different techniques required? He will also work on applications of artificial intelligence and data science for the Judiciary. In this context, he will collaborate with the District Court of Oost-Brabant and JADS, the Jheronimus Academy of Data Science of Tilburg University and Eindhoven University of Technology in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

The chair is sponsored by the Oost-Brabant District Court, that was awarded a grant for that purpose by the Dutch Council for the Judiciary (Raad voor de rechtspraak). At the Oost-Brabant District Court, Bex will also supervise experiments with data science and artificial intelligence and engage in knowledge transfer in this area.

Dr. Floris Bex (1979) studied Cognitive Artificial Intelligence at Utrecht University and obtained his PhD on logical models of argument and narrative for legal evidence from Groningen University in 2009. After his doctorate, he worked as a postdoc researcher at the Centre for Argument Technology of the University of Dundee (Scotland). Since 2014, he has worked at the Department of Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht University, where he conducts research with a team of PhDs and postdocs in the field of algorithms for legal argumentation. Bex also frequently collaborates with the Dutch Police in research and development of artificial intelligence techniques to support police duties.

Note to editors

For more information on this appointment, please contact Tilburg University press officer Corine Schouten, phone 013 – 466 4000 / persvoorlichters@tilburguniversity.edu.