HERMEX6 aims to elucidate the role of interpretative processes in our dealing with the global reduction of biodiversity, commonly referred to as “sixth extinction”. The contention is that, in this case, the difficulty to attribute value to scientifically attested facts is a problem of interpretation: we lack qualitative frames to elaborate the extinction event and the knowledge that describes it. The project intends to define, analyse and address this set of issues with regard to contemporary European societies. After testing the initial hypothesis, the research project will formulate an innovative and interdisciplinary approach to the epistemic status of sixth extinction. HERMEX6 addresses a European top priority (with reference to the EU 20230 Biodiversity Strategy) and aims to fill a major gap in environmental humanities: it is therefore particularly timely. The whole project is tailored to the scientific profile of the candidate and to the characteristics of the host institution, the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). The project is planned to provide the candidate with an increased set of notions and skills and to sensibly boost the candidate’s career perspectives. UPF is an internationally renowned environment with several groups and initiatives addressing complex ecological problems in a transdisciplinary perspective. The indicated supervisor, Professor Santiago Zabala, is a leading expert in hermeneutics and philosophy of environmental emergencies. In its more far-ranging implications, HERMEX6 aspires to improve science communication and the uptake of scientific results, raise collective awareness, inform more effective conservation programmes and generate added value in the field of policy guidance and advisory.

As challenges posed by misinformation become apparent in the modern digital society, state-of-the-art methods of Artificial Intelligence, especially Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning, are considered as countermeasures. Indeed, previous research has shown that NLP solutions can detect phenomena such as fake news, social media bots or usage of propaganda techniques. However, little attention has been given to the robustness of these approaches, which is especially important in the case of deliberate misinformation, whose authors would likely attempt to deceive any automatic filtering algorithm to achieve their goals. The goal of the ERINIA project is to explore the robustness of text classifiers in this application area by investigating methods for detecting adversarial examples. Such methods aim to perform small perturbations to a given text piece, so that its meaning is preserved, but the output of the investigated classifier is reversed. To that end, previously unexplored directions will be pursued, including training reinforcement learning solutions and leveraging research on simplification and style transfer. Finally, the developed tools will be used to check the robustness of the current state-of-the-art misinformation detection solutions. The project includes a range of training activities for the researcher and a plan for dissemination of the obtained results to various research communities. It also takes into account the society at large, as the project outcomes can inform further discussion on whether automatic content filtering is a viable solution to the misinformation problem.

Should the movement of people across borders be restricted? Should it be permitted? Should it be promoted? These questions are ubiquitous in daily discourse in our societies, politics and academia, and became subject of an increasing amount of policies regulating movement during the present COVID-19 health crisis. JUSMOVE is a pioneering philosophical project on human movement attempting to answer these fundamental questions, suggesting that a comprehensive study on human movement is highly significant for how we will answer. What is the value of movement for a contemporary person? And according to which conception of just movement should movement be restricted, protected or promoted? JUSMOVE will establish the grounds for a Just Theory of Movement that overcomes the underlined dichotomous view opposing ‘closed’ to ‘open’ borders and, in turn, societal trends, which presently contributes to the highly polarized debate on migration and mobility. JUSMOVE’s potential impact is fourfold: first, it contributes to the scholarly debate with a novel theory; secondly it proposes an experimental methodology, by combining tools from rigorous ethics and philosophy with potent big data, which lays the grounds for novel cross-disciplinary cooperation; thirdly, it informs the debate of the main stakeholders and decision-makers, such as the European Commission (EC); while also lastly aiming at influencing public debates. JUSMOVE aims to propose a paradigmatic conceptual twist to nearly thirty years of contemporary philosophical debate around migration and states borders, with substantial implications for existing views and for policy making.