Meike Ramon: Facial Recognition and Responsible Use of Technology

In this episode of OrionTalks, host Suat Cubukcu is joined by Dr. Meike Ramon, an Assistant Professor at the University of Lausanne. Dr. Ramon's research, situated at the intersection of Cognitive Neuroscience and practical applications, takes center stage as she discusses the intriguing realm of super-recognizers and facial recognition technology. Dr. Ramon shares her research findings and insights into key questions, ranging from the intricacies of face recognition processing and the accuracy of this technology for various applications, including law enforcement, to the potential consequences of false positives and negatives. Dr. Ramon also sheds light on the ethical considerations surrounding the increasing use of facial recognition in public and private spaces, offering her insights into ensuring responsible and ethical implementation.

Meike Ramon is an Assistant Professor and Swiss National Science Foundation PRIMA (Promoting Women in Academia) Fellow. She founded and leads the Applied Face Cognition Lab and since September 2023 directs the Cognitive and Affective Regulation Laboratory at the University of Lausanne. Her research focus is on Cognitive Neuroscience and its translation into application and policy. Other things Meike is involved in: Founding member of the 500 Women Scientists Bern/Fribourg - Local node leader of the Swiss Reproducibility Network - Member of the European Association for Biometrics (EAB) - Member of the Europol Platform for Experts (EPE) and Europol Data Protection Experts Network (EDEN) - Expert Panel Member for Innosuisse, the Swiss Federal Innovation Agency - Juror for the German National AI Competition. As a Scientific Advisor for the Berlin Police Meike co-developed the Berlin Test for Super-Recognizer Identification (beSure®), a bespoke tool involving authentic police material.

Guest Speaker Image: Christopher Kuhn

Disclaimer: The views expressed by the speaker in this content are solely representative of their own opinions and perspectives. They do not reflect the official stance or views of any government or organization.

__________________________________

Orion Policy Institute (OPI) is an independent, non-profit, tax-exempt think tank focusing on a broad range of issues at the local, national, and global levels. OPI does not take institutional policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions represented herein should be understood to be solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of OPI.