Cynthia Liem

Cynthia Liem is an Associate Professor at the Multimedia Computing Group, part of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). Her work uniquely bridges computer science and music, leveraging her dual expertise in both domains.

• Education: BSc and MSc in Media and Knowledge Engineering (Computer Science), TU Delft (2007, 2009); PhD, TU Delft (2015); BMus and MMus in Classical Piano Performance, Royal Conservatoire, The Hague (2009, 2011).

Her research centers on human-centered multimedia analysis, with two core themes. First, she investigates how to algorithmically surface information in large multimodal archives that users would not discover through conventional search or recommendation systems, aiming to broaden user perspectives and help uncover underutilized digital content. Second, she focuses on validation and validity in data science, particularly in contexts where human responses are implicit and hard to measure, drawing inspiration from psychometric validity in the social sciences. Her work emphasizes real-world applicability, especially in music and cultural heritage domains.

The two recent publications highlight her engagement with cutting-edge AI challenges: one explores algorithmic recourse dynamics, while the other examines evolutionary algorithms in adversarial example generation, indicating strong interests in robustness, explainability, and human-aligned AI systems.

Notable scientific recognitions include:

• Google Anita Borg Scholarship (2008)
• Google European Doctoral Fellowship (2010)
• Top-5 nominee, New Scientist Science Talent Prize (2016)

Cynthia Liem has been involved in several significant research projects, including the H2020 TROMPA project on crowd-powered enrichment of public-domain music, an NWO-KIEM project on musician well-being, an NWO-Veni project on perspective-broadening in recommender systems, and an ERASMUS+ initiative on big data in psychological assessment. She collaborates with key institutions such as the National Library of The Netherlands and CDR/Muziekweb. Beyond academia, she remains active as a performing pianist, notably in the Magma Duo, which won first prize at the A Feast of Duos competition and was part of the Dutch Classical Talent Tour, leading to a national concert tour.

There is no indication of lab or research team leadership beyond project involvement, though her role as an Associate Professor suggests supervision of students and researchers. Future work appears directed toward socially responsible AI, improved validation frameworks, and interdisciplinary applications of music and data science.