In September 2021, the 4TU.NIRICT centre launched the 4TU.NIRICT call 2021 to support all ICT related activities that help in strengthening the 4TU.NIRICT community. Applications could be submitted until October 10, 2021 and the funding is available to be spent in 2021.
4TU.NIRICT received 8 proposals in total with a good spread of the 4TUs. After thoroughly reviewing all proposals by the members of the NIRICT Board, five projects have been awarded funding:
Human-Centered Sustainable IoT
- dr. Rong-Hao Liang, Eindhoven University of Technology
- dr. Mathias Funk, Eindhoven University of Technology
- dr. Yaliang Chuang, Eindhoven University of Technology
- dr. Joep Frens, Eindhoven University of Technology
- dr. Przemysław Pawełczak, Delft University of Technology
- dr. Marco Zuniga, Delft University of Technology
- dr. Alessandro Chiumento, University of Twente
Sustainable computing devices are a valuable solution for a city-scale deployment of the IoT, providing valuable data for industrial applications such as cyber-physical systems and digital twins where the human/user factors are crucial. This booster fund will strengthen an active research community on "Human-Centered Sustainable IoT" and support the organization of physical events, to which the 4TU will be invited, for presenting tangible results of our collaborations on the topic. The demonstrators will be focused on toolkits, educational and research artifacts to inform ICT researchers, educators, and practitioners in the 4TU.NIRICT community about cutting-edge technologies and methodologies for building user-centered sustainable IoT applications, and therefore, fostering further collaborations among the 4TU.
Smart biking system
- dr. Yanqiu Huang, University of Twente
- Prof.dr. Paul Havinga, University of Twente
- Prof.dr. Karst Geurs, University of Twente
- dr. Frauke Behrendt, Eindhoven University of Technology
- Prof.dr. Marieke Martens, Eindhoven University of Technology
- dr. Jason Moore, Delft University of Technology
- dr. Jacky Bourgeois, Delft University of Technology
- Prof.dr. Gerd Kortuem, Delft University of Technology
The world of mobility is being digitized, resulting in an intelligent transportation system (ITS). Bicyles can play a significant role in this, and can even become a key pillar of a sustainable, safe and effective mobile society. However, so far they are not fully integrated into the new era, which will bring potential risks due to the shared road infrastructures and unexpected cycling behaviour.
This proposal aims to build up a collaborative research community and co-organize a competition on making bikes smarter by leveraging the digital technologies. We envision that the bicycles, the infrastructure and road users, will constantly interact with each other. The participants can use real-time data collection, wireless communication and data analytics to make cycling safer, more comfortable, and healthier. For more information and sign up to the competition, please take a look at here https://www.smartconnectedbikes.nl/news/
The 5th Dutch Touch meeting
- dr. Dasha Kolesnyk, University of Twente
- dr. Gijs Huisman, Delft University of Technology
- Prof. Dr. Jan van Erp, University of Twente
The 5th meeting of the Society for the Study of Social and Affective Touch in the Netherlands (also known as “Dutch Touch”) will happen again in November 2021 funded by the 4TU.NIRICT.
The Dutch Touch society includes researchers from Dutch universities (including TE/e, TUD and UT) who study touch, as well as representatives of companies specialized in haptics, artists, and other practitioners working with touch. We would like to make this 5th meeting special also because research on ways of touching at a distance in the times of pandemic and post-pandemic is relevant as never before.
Dutch Touch aims to strengthen collaboration between 4TU researchers and practitioners beyond academia. Dutch Touch is the place to exchange ideas, share current research, plan future activities, and support each other, consequently increasing the impact of 4TU research. This 5th addition will also have speakers invited from abroad, aiming to extend collaboration links and establish Dutch Touch as an event in the field internationally.
Deep Continual learning
- Ghada Sokar MSc, Eindhoven University of Technology
- dr.ir. Decebal C. Mocanu, University of Twente
- Prof. dr. Mykola Pechenizkiy , Eindhoven University of Technology
Continual learning is paramount for AI system engineering, robotics, intelligent personal assistants, chatbots, and many other application domains. To increase our visibility in this important research area, we kick off the deep continual learning project. The project has different activities that aim to build community in the field. These activities include an international workshop on continual learning at ICDM 2021, a hybrid online/offline seminar, a research visit to the University of Pisa, Italy where collaboration with one of the leading labs in the field will take place, and co-organizing the 1st International Conference on Continual Learning. Our activities will also include discussions on diversity and inclusion in continual learning and broader machine learning research.
Using Food Recommender Systems to Promote Healthy Choices
- dr.ir. Alain Starke, Wageningen University & Research.
- dr.ir. Ellen Van Loo, Wageningen University & Research.
- dr.ir. Martijn Willemsen, Eindhoven University of Technology.
Online grocery shopping has many opportunities for algorithmic and interface personalization. Whereas ‘offline’ supermarkets can only offer their products in one format for everyone, online shops have the possibility to provide real-time personalized advice to support healthier food choices. While it may be tempting to employ personalization approaches from other domains (e.g., movie recommendation in Netflix, music recommendation on Spotify), the challenges in the domain of food recommendation are distinct, for it also involves behavioral change. Hence, rrecommenders should not only optimize short-term engagement, but also consider long-term factors, such as habit formation and acquired taste.
In this project, the main goal is prepare a larger grant application. We seek to combine knowledge on recommender algorithms, digital food marketing and nutrition in a project on human-computer interaction. The end goal is to develop novel algorithms that are sensitive to changes in user preferences and evaluate to what extent they can support users’ healthy eating goals in an online supermarket.