Computer science (Informatics) has far-reaching effects on all facets of science and society. New developments continue to challenge our understanding of the field. How are its scientific foundations evolving? What can the computational lens tell us about the world? How does it shape our algorithmic society? Our research focuses on the philosophy of computing, as part of the philosophy of science, with emphasis on the models and theories for understanding, designing and analyzing complex algorithmic systems.

We have a long-standing interest in the theories, algorithms and philosophy of the information and computing sciences and their application in science, industry, the algorithmic economy, and society.

Research

• Computation: interactive algorithms, algorithmic mechanisms, intelligent algorithms, non-classical computing.
• Complexity: computational complexity, network analysis, resource-bounded agents, non-uniform complexity.
• Design: algorithmic modeling, algorithmic systems, autonomous robots, intelligent infrastructures.
• Philosophy: foundations of informatics, understanding computation, nature of information, perspectives.

• Nobel Prizes 2024:
  • Physics: J.J. Hopfield, G.E. Hinton.
    • "For foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks" (press release).
  • Chemistry: D. Baker, D. Hassabis, J.M. Jumper
    • "They have revealed proteins' secrets through computing and artificial intelligence" (press release)
• Book:
  • S.B. Cooper and J. van Leeuwen, Alan Turing: His Work and Impact (Elsevier, see also: RR Hawkins Award 2013).
• Conferences, symposia:
  • CiE, ESA, HALG, IACAP, PT-AI, SOFSEM.
  • Some TCS-related conferences (Durham), Upcoming conferences (Kiel), Conferences and workshops (Kiel).
  • Conferences in Theoretical Computer Science (LIX Paris), Conference search (DisCo ETH).
• Societies, Interest Groups
  • AISB, IACAP, Study of Information (IS4IS), History and Philosophy of Computing (HaPoC),
  • Society for the Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence (SPAI), Society for Philosophy and Technology (SPT).
  • ACM, EATCS, IGAFIT, Parameterized Complexity, Theory Matters (CATCS).
• Weblogs:
  • Computational complexity (Fortnow & Gasarch), Security (Schneier), Theory of computation (Lipton & Regan), What's new (Tao).
• News:
  • DMANET, Philosophy and computers (APA Newsletter), Quanta magazine (Simons Foundation, Ubiquity (ACM).

Publications, technical reports

• Joint papers on computation (Jan van Leeuwen and Jiří Wiedermann).

• Technical reports (2020-        )
• Technical reports (1977-2019, also here)

• Algorithms, computational complexity:
  • The algorithm: idiom of modern science (Chazelle), complexity and algorithms (Diaz).
  • Why philosophers should care about computational complexity (Aaronson).
• Artificial intelligence:
  • One hundred year study on AI (AI 100, Stanford).
  • The consequences of Artificial Intelligence on the (digital) single market, production, consumption,
    employment and society (EESC, 2017).
• Computation:
  • Understanding computation: a general theory of computational processes (van Leeuwen, Wiedermann).
• Computer science:
  • Informatics: A fascinating science (van Leeuwen)
  • Computer Science in-between a fundamental discipline and the third pillar of science (Petre, 2011).
  • Towards a philosophy of the information and computing sciences (van Leeuwen, NIAS Newsletter 42).
  • The role and relevance of experimentation in Informatics (Schiaffonati et al, 2013).
• Discipline:
  • Questioning two myths in computer science education (Rocchi, 2014).
  • Student enrollment and image of the Informatics discipline (van Leeuwen & Tanca,2007),
• Philosophy:
  • Mediating machines (Shells and Pebbles, 2015).
  • Scott Aaronson on philosophical progress (MIRI).
• The most important:
  • Algorithms (Kouchan), programmers (Wikipedia), software innovations (Wheeler).
• A.M. Turing:
  • Alan Turing: The Enigma (Andrew Hodges)
  • Alan Turing: Father of the Modern Computer (Copeland, Proudfoot).
  • Alan Turing: A TCS Role Model (Wigderson, ACM Turing Award lecture)

More pointers and diversions

• Compendia:
  • Complexity zoo (Aaronson), graph classes and inclusions (ISGCI, De Ridder et al.), existential theory of the reals (Schaefer et al.)
  • NP-optimization problems (Creszenzi and Kann), parameterized complexity problems (Cesati)
  • Quantum algorithm zoo (Jordan), Steiner tree problems (Hauptmann and Karpinski).
• Impact analysis and assessment:
  • Artificial Intelligence Impact Assessment.
  • Fundamental rights and algorithm impact analysis (NL, 2022)
  • Principles for accountable algorithms (OECD-NIST Catalogue, 2022)
  • Statement on principles for responsible algorithmic systems (ACM, 2022).
• Lists:
  • Algorithms (Wikipedia), integer sequences (Sloane), random numbers (Haahr), theorems of the 21st century (Grechuk).
• Some old papers:
  • Where to send your paper? (van Leeuwen).

• Archives:
  • e-Print archive (ArXiv), computer science (e-prints), CoRR (Computing Research Repository), DBLP (Trier).
• Encyclopedias:
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Stanford), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), History of computers (CHM).
• Internet Archive:
  • Wayback machine
• Journals:
  • ACM digital lib (ACM), CS journals (Wikipedia), Electronic Colloquium on Computational Complexity (ECC), Minds and Machines, Science Direct (Elsevier), Scopus, UU library (Utrecht University).
• Proceedings:
  • Dagstuhl Research Online Publication Server (DROPS), Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS, see also here),
• Search engines:
  • BASE (Bielefeld), Bing, Dogpile, DuckDuckGo, Google, Google scholar, Google books, FreeFullPDF (Sagot), MetaGer, Science.gov, Scopus, Wolfram Alpha, Yahoo, Zoeken (NL).

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