UNESCO Chair in Information and Computer Ethics, University of Hertfordshire (2009)
Purpose/Objectives of the Chair
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become one of the most crucial factors governing education, science, culture, welfare and the sustainable development of civilizations based upon mutual respect and the observance of human rights. Building a fair and just, multicultural information society for all raises pressing and unprecedented ethical challenges in the 21st century. The UNESCO Chair in Information and Computer Ethics (ICE) contributes to UNESCO’s ongoing efforts to meet these challenges by complementing and fostering UNESCO’s current strategies and activities in this area.
The purposes of the Chair are to promote an integrated system of research, training, information and documentation in the field of ICE; and to facilitate collaboration between high-level, internationally recognized researchers, teachers and institutions. Its objectives are to develop guidelines and protocols for the discussion of ethical problems and the resolution of existing difficulties concerning digital and online information; to be an intellectual forum for the exchange of ideas and experience regarding the ethics of ICT, in collaboration with UNESCO’s Ethics Education Programme, Global Ethics Laboratory, and Ethics around the World Programme; and to disseminate information to all stakeholders, ethicists, scientists, ICT experts, policy makers, the general public and new generations, about UNESCO’s initiatives concerning the ethical issues related to creative and innovative digital technologies, especially with respect to developing countries.
Chairholder - Professor Luciano Floridi
Address: Dept of Philosophy, Schools of Humanities, University of Hertfordshire, de Havilland Campus, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10 9AB, UK
Email: l.floridi [at] herts.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1707 285561
Quick Link to this page: http://www.unesco.org.uk/HertfordshireChair
Luciano Floridi is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire, where he holds the Research Chair in Philosophy of Information, and Fellow of St Cross College, University of Oxford. He is the founder of Oxford Information Ethics Research Group, and best known for his work on the philosophy of information and information ethics. He is President of the International Association for Computing And Philosophy.
In 2009, he was elected Gauss Professor by the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and awarded the Barwise Prize by the American Philosophical Association, in recognition of his research on the philosophy of information.
He is the author of Information - A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2010); The Philosophy of Information (Oxford University Press, 2011); (editor) Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 2009); (editor) the Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Computing and Information (Blackwell-Wiley, 2004); Sextus Empiricus (Oxford University Press, 2002); Philosophy and Computing (Routledge, 1999); Internet (Il Saggiatore/Flammarion, 1997); and Scepticism and the Foundation of Epistemology (Brill, 1996). His forthcoming book The Fourth Revolution - The Impact of Information and Communication Technologies on Our Lives (Oxford University Press) is scheduled for publication in 2012.
Select Activity
INAUGURAL LECTURE: Professor Luciano Floridi will deliver his inaugural lecture "The Fourth Revolution: the impact of Information Technology on our lives" as UNESCO Chairholder on 23 March 2010 at the University of Hertfordshire. For further information and to book a place contact j.a.huckle[a]herts.ac.uk.
EVENT: Professor Luciano Floridi attended 16th Meeting of UNESCO Intergovernmental Council for Information For All Programme (IFAP) (UNESCO, Paris, 14-15 January 2010)
EVENT: Invited speaker, UNESCO International Forum on Civilization and Peace (Seoul, South Korea, 2-3 December 2009)
University of Hertfordshire 
Chairholder Professor Luciano Floridi