Winner of the Faculty’s Research Dissemination Award 2020: Peter Schneider-Kamp

Peter Schneider-Kamp is a happy recipient of this year’s Research Dissemination Award at the Faculty of Science:

– I am very happy, because dissemination is something that I am very keen on, he says.

In recent years, Peter Schneider-Kamp has shared his expert knowledge in media, talks and debates when topics such as artificial intelligence, Big Data and Open Data are on the agenda. Topics that he believes are important for citizens and society to gain insight into.

– It is important that citizens and society understand how these things work and that it has a huge impact on how our society and our daily lives will be in the future. We must be careful that the technologies of the future are not only developed by large companies that will then become able to control our data without having an influence on how it is done and what consequences it will have. If we, as a society, are to be independent of the big companies’ technologies, we need more knowledge and we need to make the decisions that are good for society.

Peter Schneider-Kamp points out that the big tech companies are already a tough opponent to face:

– They have a lot of money and are heavily investing in research into, for example, artificial intelligence and Big Data. Their goal is to make money, and they don’t necessarily have an interest in developing technologies with only small audiences. For example, the big tech giants absolutely don’t care about the few million people who speak Danish, and therefore they do not develop anything in Danish – or other small languages for that matter.

Peter Schneider-Kamp gladly engages in this debate, and it has made him a sought-after expert in media and lectures.

Furthermore, he is good at adapting the level and content of his presentations and responses to the various target groups he communicates with, says Head of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Martin Svensson, who has nominated Peter Schneider-Kamp for the award.

For example, Peter has given talks on the topic of the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, the Confederation of Danish Industry, Metalforeningen, and the Danish Council of Ethics. Likewise, he has contributed to articles in media such as the Ingeniøren, Fyens Stiftstidende, Finans.dk, Kulturmonitor and Aktuel Naturvidenskab.

There is also another reason why Peter likes science communication:

For example, he is now working with Ordbogen.com to develop a “language brain” based on artificial intelligence. It will act as an intelligent tool that helps to write texts in languages other than the author’s native language.

With the prize comes DKK 25,000 to be spent on research or teaching activities.

Peter Schneider-Kamp has now been nominated for the SDU Research Dissemination Award 2020, which will be given out at the Annual University Celebration.