Virginia Dignum

Virginia Dignum is Professor of Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Director of the AI Policy Lab at Umeå University's Department of Computing Science. She serves as senior advisor for AI policy to the Wallenberg Foundations and is an active member of the UN High Level Advisory Body on AI. Her institutional affiliations include the Faculty of Technology Policy and Management at Delft University of Technology.

Her research centers on the complex interdependencies between people, organizations, and technology. Key interests include:

• Responsible AI: Moral/ethical issues in autonomous agent teams and regulatory frameworks
• Social interaction formalization: Developing computational architectures for agent deliberation based on social practices
• Human-agent teamwork: Investigating negotiation, trust, and collaboration dynamics in socio-technical environments

Her work bridges theoretical AI foundations with real-world policy implementation.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals strong focus on AI governance frameworks, explainability mechanisms, and fairness operationalization. Key trends include development of context-sensitive ethical assessment tools, regulatory sandbox implementations, and formal models for human-AI coevolution. Her research increasingly addresses planetary-scale AI impacts and children's rights in digital environments.

Major recognitions include:

• Election to Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), 2020
• Fellowship in European Artificial Intelligence Association (EURAI), 2018
• Veni Fellowship from NWO for agent-based organizational frameworks, 2006
• AI Ethics Professional of the Year award, 2022

Dignum actively shapes global AI policy through leadership roles in the UN High Level Advisory Body, Global Partnership on AI (GPAI), and World Economic Forum Council on AI. She chairs major conferences including AAMAS'24 and serves as Ethics Chair for AAAI'24. Her advisory work extends to the European Commission, IEEE Global Initiative, and UNESCO AI Ethics Recommendation implementation. Current initiatives include the Vatican lecture series on AI ethics and regional AI policy development in Västerbotten.

She directs Umeå University's AI Policy Lab, focusing on translating ethical principles into actionable governance frameworks. The lab develops tools for regulatory compliance assessment and stakeholder engagement in AI deployment. Recent projects address digital contact tracing governance and AI's impact on democratic processes.