Index theory and operator algebras provide a far-reaching mathematical framework to study problems arising from geometry and quantum physics. The seminar will bring together researchers from Japan and the Netherlands who have made recent advancements in such applications. The seminar will highlight applications to physical systems such as topological insulators, symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases and topological quantum computing. The seminar will also consider applications in high energy physics such as lattice gauge theory and particle physics. By considering broad physical applications of operator algebras and index theory, we also hope to establish mathematical connections between these different applications and help further develop a unified framework to study questions and problems in quantum physics.

The Japanese-Dutch seminar ‘Values, Design, and Human Activities – Perspectives on Human-Robot Relations’ will combine perspectives from the philosophy and ethics of technology, and the approach of value-sensitive design. In order to analyse and evaluate the roles of robots in society, many approaches focus on Artificial Intelligence and the possibilities to delegate responsibilities to robots. This workshop will broaden the focus by bringing together philosophers and ethicists who have expertise in analysing human-technology relations and in developing ethical approaches to assess technologies and to design them in a responsible way. Discussing AI and human-robot relations from the perspective of philosophy of technology makes it possible to analyse the various ways in which robots might affect human existence and society, with issues ranging from human identity and intimacy to politics and civic participation, and from intelligence and responsibility to humanitarian aid and vulnerability. This will result in more insights in ways to embed robotic technologies in society in a responsible way. The unique combination of Japanese and Dutch scholars we propose will bring about a synergy between international key players in philosophy and ethics of technology and robotics.The comparison between the different traditions in both robot technologies and in philosophy and ethics of technology will make it possible to identify and address relevant ethical and societal problems, and to develop input for the responsible design of robots. The seminar also encourages excellent junior researchers to engage in collaborative research.

Networks occur in many as fields of science and every-day life. Oftentimes they are used as a tool to model social, physical or biological interactions or structures. Some more concrete example are computer and sensor networks; social networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn; biological networks such as herd interactions or the workings of various cell-systems; and physical networks, such as self-assembling nano-particles or mechanical structures. Though the domains for these networks are completely differ-ent, their underlying structure is the same. That is why they are processed, stored, visualized and analyzed in a similar way. When these networks are small they can be analyzed easily by domain experts inspecting various repre-sentations of the networks. However, in many cases the networks are much too large to create a clear representation of the whole network. As such, it becomes very hard to obtain useful information or oth-erwise work with the network. To alleviate this problem powerful algorithms and tools are needed that can process larger networks. This is where computer science comes into play, by first designing good measures and structures that help to define and find various useful properties of the networks, and then providing algorithms and data structures to compute these. The goal of the seminar will be to develop a basis for such algorithms and data structures for kinetic geometric networks.