ECAT at EWAF'24

EWAF is organised by the European Association for Algorithmic Fairness and seeks to advance the conversation around algorithmic fairness, with a particular focus on innovative research emerging from Europe. The event provides a space for interdisciplinary research dealing with the fields of computer science, law, sociology and philosophy. 

In addition to chairing a lightning round and engaging with the many excellent researchers in attendance, ECAT also co-facilitated a workshop on DSA data access with DG Connect. 

EWAF’24 sessions 

More than 40 papers were presented in a mix of in-depth, lightning round and poster sessions. The event also included four keynotes by high-level speakers, namely Bettina Berendt, Virginia Dignum, Seth Lazar and Isabel Valera.

A common theme among both keynotes and paper presentations was the need to focus on the fairness of entire systems, and not on algorithmic fairness in isolation. AI was neither put forward as the inherent cause of systemic unfairness, nor as the main solution – rather another crucial element to consider in the processes that impact people’s lives. Several talks also focused on the feedback loop of algorithmic models, which one presenter aptly borrowed the phrase “an engine, not a camera” to describe (originally used to refer to the impact of financial models on markets).¹  

Many more research topics and themes shaped the three-day conference. Just a tiny sample of the papers presented include an assessment of algorithms allocating refugees to municipalities; a review of loan conditions awarded to men vs. women and their impact on repayment chances; an audit of cloud-based content moderation systems; a review of neglected protected characteristics in fairness frameworks;² and many more. Anyone interested in algorithmic fairness should visit the EWAF website where the full list of talks and associated slides are available. 

Session on data access 

In collaboration with our colleagues at DG Connect, ECAT had prepared an interactive session on data access under the Digital Services Act (DSA). We presented the data access mechanism for public data and for vetted researchers, and took comments and questions on the procedures. We were happy to see high levels of interest in data access, and grateful for the concrete feedback offered by participants.  

It was also useful to understand the levels of awareness of the legislation among the audience, which we got an impression of through a quick poll – which indeed reinforced our determination to engage as much as possible with the research community to spread awareness of the data access opportunities under the DSA. To find out more about data access mechanisms, visit our FAQs page. 

We look forward to engaging further with the algorithmic community going forward. If you would like to stay updated about our work and engagement opportunities, subscribe to the ECAT newsletter. 

1. The presentation Risk Scores as Statistical Fatalism by Zezulka and Genin, slides available here 
2. Slides for each of these, respectively, available on the following links: Strasser Ceballos & Kern; Kanubala, Valera & Gupta; Hartmann, Oueslati & Staufer; Simson, Fabris & Kern.