The latest ERCIM News explores ‘Inclusive Digital Futures’. From CWI, Mae Sosto and Laura Hollink, together with Delfina Sol Martinez Pandiani (UvA), show how large language models can reproduce biased associations for, e.g., queer and nonbinary identities. Read more 🌈: edu.nl/ehbcw

​​​​This week, at the 14th General Assembly of the Quantum Software Consortium (QSC) in Leiden – opened by our colleague Ronald de Wolf – Freek Witteveen (CWI, QuSoft) presented work on Randomized truncation of quantum states, improving accuracy without using extra memory. Great! See edu.nl/kqeh9

Researchers wrapped up Satellite Workshop 2 in Amsterdam last week, the final event of the Learning-Enhanced Optimization Research Semester Programme, co-organized by CWI. Highlights included maths for fair housing, precision medicine and ALS & Alzheimer's research. Thanks to all! See edu.nl/nrvct

Next week: the 49th Woudschoten Conference (24–26 Sept)! CWI has long supported this key meeting of the Dutch & Flemish numerical mathematics community. Thanks to the organizing team! 🌟 edu.nl/j9ax9

Last week, CWI’s Peter Boncz and co-authors received the 2025 VLDB Test of Time Award for their influential paper 'How Good Are Query Optimizers, Really?’ Congrats! 🎉 More info: edu.nl/93h4e

🎬 This week, our colleague Ronald de Wolf (CWI, UvA, QuSoft) was interviewed at CWI by Michael Masters for a documentary on how to deal with exponential-time computations. Looking forward to the release!

Programming language Python - from Guido van Rossum’s CWI side project in the 80s to code running even on Mars! This week, 'Python: The Documentary' premiered at PyCon Greece 2025. 🎥 Watch it online now: edu.nl/qwy8w

#ThrowbackThursday 🔒 In 2013, Marten van Dijk and colleagues introduced Path ORAM, an algorithm that hides how data is accessed in memory. The technique has since become part of Signal, protecting the privacy of millions worldwide. More: edu.nl/vw94w #privacy #computersecurity #researchimpact

What if you could guide your internet traffic by region? First public #SCION demo in the Netherlands presented by CWI and #NLnet, live at CWI’s library. 🔗 edu.nl/n9yqg

Opera, tech & community — the EU-funded TRACTION project showed how co-creation can spark cultural democracy. A unique experiment across art, tech & inclusion, featured as one of 40 landmark EU research projects. Full story here👉https://edu.nl/npbcb 🎭👥💻 #EUfunded #CulturalDemocracy #DigitalInclusion

Congrats to Ute Ebert (CWI, @tue.nl) on winning the Von Engel & Franklin Prize for her groundbreaking work on sparks, streamers and lightning. Her research sheds light on how fast, branching discharges form and what effects they trigger. Awarded at ICPIG 2025, Aix-en-Provence, France. edu.nl/whyq4

How are advanced computational methods reshaping science, industry and policy? Find out during the Computational Science Lecture Series this October in Utrecht. Daan Crommelin and Benjamin Sanderse are talking about Uncertainty Quantification and Scientific Machine Learning. More info: edu.nl/66u9r

At our recent CWI in Bedrijf event, we presented the successful results of DOLCE VITA, a model to reduce waiting times in elderly care. Watch the video on our website for an impression. Now moving into practice in the Amsterdam region with care providers and a Community of Practice. 👉 edu.nl/u33xe

“Quantum computing was the coolest subject I’d ever studied,” says Stacey Jeffery (CWI, QuSoft, UvA). In NWO’s magazine Onderzoek she reflects on her journey, research in quantum algorithms, and founding WIQD to promote inclusivity. See: 🔗 edu.nl/qan8u #QuantumComputing #WIQD #Inclusion #Science

CWI-led study shows communities can cut energy costs by renting space in large grid-connected batteries. Tested with real data, the model benefits both neighbourhoods and operators. Read more: edu.nl/4aqcw

🎓 PhD School on Machine Learning & Optimization Join us at CWI (Amsterdam), 2-4 September 2025 As part of CWI’s Research Semester on Learning-Enhanced Optimization, this 3-day PhD School is open to PhDs, postdocs and early-career researchers. 📆 Register by 24 August 🔗 edu.nl/jnhq4

Zorg functioneert verre van optimaal en wiskunde moet daar verandering in brengen: ‘De uitdagingen hier in Amsterdam zijn best groot’ Mijn interview met Rob vd Mei @cwi-amsterdam.bsky.social en Bianca Buurman www.parool.nl/amsterdam/zo...

Help us with pretesting stimuli for an experiment on 'AI disclosures' 📣 Together with @cwi-amsterdam.bsky.social, we have a Qualtrics survey that will help us getting sense of our stimuli 👇 Thank you! uva.fra1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Same question. Same AI. Different answer. CWI’s @Davide Ceolin and Inria colleagues found that the language you use can strongly influence how LLMs like ChatGPT respond. This poses a risk for global companies relying on multilingual AI. 🔗 Read the story: edu.nl/txqja

HELIOS, led by AMOLF with DIFFER & CWI, received funding from NWO-I’s new Strategic Renewal Fund 🎉. Together we want to design ultra-efficient perovskite solar cells with up to 20 layers. CWI leads the AI effort. edu.nl/73ryx #AI #solar #perovskite #solarenergy

👥🍽️ Conversations in full flow at #CHIWORK25 — great company, inspiring ideas! As the final sessions wrap up, we’re weaving people, research, tech & purpose here in Amsterdam 🧵 🔗 Explore CHIWORK: edu.nl/da4u7 #HCI #FutureWork #Amsterdam

Ronald de Wolf and Stacey Jeffery (CWI/UvA/QuSoft) are organizing a workshop on quantum algorithms this week at STOC in Prague - a top theoretical CS conference. With speakers from MIT (like Alexander Schmidhuber, 📸), Stanford, Nagoya & more. 🔗 edu.nl/3d9kn (workshop) 🔗 edu.nl/6k4qf (STOC 2025)

🤖 Fake news 2.0? Traditional detection tools 🔎fail against AI-generated content. Dutch researchers warn: the game has changed — and so must we. Transparency is key, says CWI researcher Davide Ceolin in IT magazine Computer Weekly. #technology #it #fakenews #ai #LLM #chatgpt #contentfarming

Bienvenue @ CWI! Today, a French delegation from the Cycle Supérieur du Numérique visited us via the Institut français NL (French Embassy). Han La Poutré introduced CWI, and Ronald Cramer gave an engaging talk on post-quantum cryptography. Merci et au revoir! #CSNum #PQC #cryptography

🥇 Francien Bossema wins the 2025 KHMW Thesis Award for Interdisciplinary Research for her PhD work at CWI - combining maths, imaging & cultural heritage. She now works at @UniLeiden. Award ceremony on 9 July at KHMW: 🔗 edu.nl/ka94p #KHMW #PhD #interdisciplinaryresearch #heritageimaging

How can we make AI systems reliable – even under uncertainty? 📍 Join us in Amsterdam, 19–20 June, for the Workshop on Theory of Control and Reinforcement Learning at CWI! 🔗 Register for participation by 10 June (extended deadline): edu.nl/mnduw #AI #RL #ControlTheory #TrustworthyAI #CWI #RSP

Electric sparks may look simple - but simulating them is anything but. Congrats to Jannis Teunissen on receiving the 2024 Noah Hershkowitz Early Career Award 🏆 from Plasma Sources Science and Technology journal (@ioppublishing.bsky.social), for his groundbreaking simulations! See: edu.nl/yxgat

A tilted photo, but a perfectly balanced moment: two Gödel Prize winners - Thomas Rothvoss (University of Washington) and Ronald de Wolf (CWI & UvA, in green) - in one frame. Yesterday, Rothvoss gave his CWI Distinguished Lecture at CWI, introduced by Daniel Dadush. See: edu.nl/wgja6

Yesterday, during ICT Open, @hannes.muehleisen.org received the Dutch Prize for ICT research 2025. Congratulations! 🎉https://edu.nl/yv4nn

Thanks to the ‘springboard effect’ of @cwi-amsterdam.bsky.social, Barry Koren became a full professor at @tue.nl right away. Now he’s saying goodbye to a university that "delivers quality without bragging about it". At his farewell lecture, he was named Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

This week in Quanta Magazine, CWI, @uva.nl and QuSoft researcher Ronald de Wolf comments on a new quantum speedup for optimization problems. "I’m enthusiastic. But it’s still quite possible researchers will eventually find a classical algorithm that does just as well." See: edu.nl/kgcfa #Algorithms

At NWO’s event for International Women’s Day, CWI researchers Mae Sosto & Andrei Nesterov showed how gender biases still show up in language models and derogatory terms persist in widely used datasets. They are part of our Human-Centered Data Analytics group, focusing on responsible AI.

📢 Exciting news: Vanessa Evers will be CWI’s new general director from mid-2025! A leading researcher in social AI, she will combine this role with her professorship at the University of Twente. "I look forward to showcasing CWI’s research and its role in tackling major challenges." 🔗 edu.nl/348ju

How to reduce waiting times for nursing homes? At CWI Rebekka Arntzen developed mathematical models to make elderly healthcare more efficient. Using real-world data, her simulations show that these models can 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀. Today Rebekka defended her PhD thesis. edu.nl/fpxkg

🔬⚡ TU/e researchers mapped light emission, field direction & strength in streamer discharges for the first time. Using a laser & high-speed cameras, they captured fast ionization waves (>100 km/s), matching simulations of CWI’s Jannis Teunissen 👉 go.aps.org/3Cctbw3 #plasma #physics @sandernijdam.nl

Join CWI’s free Open Lectures on 7 & 8 April to explore how immersive tech shapes communication. 🎤 Talks on Social XR 💡 Insights on VR & AI 🔐 Privacy & security in XR 📍 Turing Room, next to CWI | 🕤 09:30–12:00 | 💸 Free, no registration See you there! edu.nl/ygde7

➡️ Vacancy for a tenure track or tenured position in Responsible AI at CWI in Amsterdam, NL. Looking for a talented, independent (esp. female!) researcher in e.g. bias, fairness, human oversight, ethics in AI: bit.ly/4gqlekT @cwi-amsterdam.bsky.social #ResponsibleAI #KnowledgeGraphs #LLM #Recsys

CIDR2025 is a wrap! Lived the many interesting papers & discussions, Gong Show, @duckdb reception.. ACM president Yannis Ioannidis gave an inspiring talk on open science. Proceedings are in ACM DL & VLDB (see cidrdb.org). 🙏 all in+outside @cwi-amsterdam.bsky.social who helped organize!!

The January issue of ERCIM News (#140) is published! Special theme: Large-Scale Data Analytics. With contributions from EGI, EUR, Maris and CWI in NL. Don’t miss the announcement on the misinformation detection RSP on p.46. Subscribe for free & explore: ercim-news.ercim.eu #DataScience #ERCIMNews

🌍 CIDR 2025 wraps up in Amsterdam! Over the past four days, 170 international experts gathered to explore cutting-edge data systems research 🚀. Highlights 💡: managing CERN’s 10,000 exabytes, AI-driven hardware trends, the best papers, including those from CWI teams. Read more ➡️ edu.nl/uu747

On 9 January, Tristan van Leeuwen delivered his inaugural lecture at @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social: 'Omgekeerd rekenen is (g)een probleem'. His work on Computational Inverse Problems focuses on improving imaging techniques for healthcare and geosciences, while making mathematics accessible to all.✨

Big congrats to @hannes.muehleisen.org for winning the 2025 Dutch Prize for ICT Research! 🏆 His work on DuckDB - a super-efficient open-source database for analytics - is widely used, with 10M+ downloads a month and adoption by major companies. 🦆💻 #OpenSource #DataAnalytics #ICTResearch

As the year is coming to an end, we look back on some of the highlights of this year. Ｈａｐｐｙ ｈｏｌｉｄａｙｓ！🎄🎆🎉 youtu.be/nkF0xdmngCU

Congratulations to @databricks.bsky.social on raising $𝟭𝟬 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 in one of the largest private funding rounds in history! We are proud to be connected to Databricks through its Amsterdam research and development team. bit.ly/41DVVrK Picture: Shutterstock.com/ Tada Images

During a completely sold-out Gala van de Wetenschap on 7 November Tim Baarslag told the audience how AI helps us negotiate the best deal for both parties. After his presentation two dancers did a 'negotiation dance'. You can watch it here ➡️https://youtu.be/Oi45mS2yz18 #ai #negotiate

'There is a lot of depth and wisdom in old research'. Check out the interview with Snowflake co-founder Marcin Żukowski who became a Dijkstra Fellow last November, sharing lessons from his journey in tech. Co-starring @andypavlo.bsky.social and @madelonhulsebos.bsky.social. youtu.be/moQY_eiHCTs