From coronavirus to robot judges: insights into the world of computers

The coronavirus has cast its shadow over everything, and VIScon is no exception: set to take place from 5 to 10 October, the organisers behind the conference’s third edition – the Association of Computer Science Students (VIS) at ETH Zurich – have opted to make a virtue of necessity. The event, which is one of the largest of its kind in Switzerland entirely organised by students, has been rechristened “VIScon Digital” in 2020 and will be streamed online. Due to the protective measures in place, only a limited number of attendees may be permitted into the lecture halls in ETH’s main building, which is why participants will also have the opportunity to watch the talks and presentations online – either live or at a later time.

“Whether they want to see the whole event or just a single talk, anyone can tune in to these fascinating presentations from the world of computer science,” says Adrian Seiterle, communication representative for VIScon Digital. Although students are the main target group, the presentations are also open to ETH employees, researchers and those working in a technical or administrative capacity, and are set to offer some exciting insights into current trends in the computer science sector. The speakers will include researchers and various experts from IT companies.

Meaningful relationships and digital integrity

Ekaterina Kamenskaya, Tech Lead Manager at Google Zurich, will speak about a sense of purpose, meaningful relationships and support during the coronavirus crisis. ETH computer science professor Kenny Paterson will shed light on the origins of the Swiss COVID app and Eliott Ash, ETH professor of law, economics and data science, will discuss how to build a robot judge and apply data science to the law.

A host of other interesting talks are also scheduled, including “Digital integrity of the human person: a proposal for a new fundamental right”. This talk will introduce a new legal concept, the effect it may have on data protection and how it can be incorporated into law. Another talk will focus on how to improve the way in which people handle the negative effects of technology as they increase in scope and complexity.

VIScon also has a few more light-hearted presentations up its sleeve: ETH graduates Lukas Rahmann and Thomas Wolf will use their game “Unrailed!” to demonstrate how they turned a semester paper at the ETH Game Lab into a start-up. There will also be a Hack the hacker-themed escape room.