About me

Photograph of Birna van Riemsdijk

I am Dr. M. Birna van Riemsdijk, Associate Professor Intimate Computing in the Human-Media Interaction group at University of Twente.

My motto is Lead with the heart. As I wrote in my acceptance speech for the Dutch Prize for Research in ICT 2014: “for me, this means that it always has to start with a sparkle, and the rest will follow”. On these pages you can read about those sparkles and where following them has brought me. You can read about my career, my values, and my inspiration.

A (very short) CV of Dr. M. Birna van Riemsdijk

More information on my current and previous positions can be found on my LinkedIn profile.

Short bio

Dr. M. Birna van Riemsdijk is associate professor Intimate Computing in the Human-Media Interaction department at University of Twente, The Netherlands. Her research mission is to develop design methods and computational representation and reasoning techniques for creating intimate technologies that take into account our human vulnerability in supporting us in our daily lives: intimate computing is computing with vulnerability. For her research on software that takes into account personal norms and values she was awarded a Vidi personal grant and the Dutch Prize for Research in ICT 2014. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (JAAMAS) and was elected member (2012-2018) of the board of the International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (IFAAMAS). She coordinates the Special Interest Group on Ethics in the 10-year Hybrid Intelligence NWO gravitation programme.

50-word version: Dr. M. Birna van Riemsdijk is associate professor Intimate Computing at University of Twente. Her research investigates how to take into account our human vulnerability in the design and run-time reasoning of intimate technologies. She was awarded a Vidi personal grant and the Dutch Prize for Research in ICT 2014.

Key publications

  • Creating Socially Adaptive Electronic Partners: Interaction, Reasoning and Ethical Challenges (PDFURLBIB)
    In Proceedings of the fourteenth international joint conference on autonomous agents and multiagent systems (AAMAS’15), pages 1201-1206. 2015. © IFAAMAS.
    M. Birna van Riemsdijk, Catholijn M. Jonker, Victor Lesser
  • A Semantic Framework for Socially Adaptive Agents: Towards strong norm compliance (PDFURLBIB)
    In Proceedings of the fourteenth international joint conference on autonomous agents and multiagent systems (AAMAS’15), pages 423-432. 2015. © IFAAMAS.
    M. Birna van Riemsdijk, Louise Dennis, Michael Fisher, Koen V. Hindriks
  • From good intentions to behaviour change: Probabilistic Feature Diagrams for Behaviour Support Agents (PDFCode, URL)
    The 22nd International Conference on Principles and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems (PRIMA’19), volume 11873 of LNCS, pages 354-369. 2019. © Springer-Verlag.
    Malte Kliess, Marielle Stoelinga, M. Birna van Riemsdijk
  • Misalignment in Semantic User Model Elicitation via Conversational Agents: A Case Study in Navigation Support for Visually Impaired People (PDFURLData)
    International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 38(18-20): 1909-1925, 2022. © Taylor & Francis.
    Jakub Berka, Jan Balata, Catholijn M. Jonker, Zdenek Mikovec, M. Birna van Riemsdijk, Myrthe L. Tielman
  • Automatic resolution of normative conflicts in supportive technology based on user values (PDFURL)
    ACM Transactions on Internet Technology (TOIT), 18(4): 21 pages, Article no. 41. 2018. © ACM.
    Alex Kayal, Willem-Paul Brinkman, Mark Neerincx, M. Birna van Riemsdijk