Piers Gooding Receives Mozilla Fellowship
Dr Piers Gooding, a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Social Equity Institute and Melbourne Law School, has been named as a new Mozilla Fellow. Dr Gooding is one of 29 researchers, technologists, activists, lawyers and scientists tasked with supporting a healthier internet, with a focus on more trustworthy Artificial Intelligence.
Dr Gooding’s research focuses on disability law, policy and practice. Through the Fellowship, which will be based at the Melbourne Social Equity Institute, he aims to examine web-based mental health initiatives and their socio-legal implications. He will focus on machine learning technologies such as “digital phenotyping” and “AI-based suicide alerts,” with the goal of ensuring safeguards in laws of data protection, privacy, non-discrimination, human rights, and public administration.
Dr Gooding said “It’s a great opportunity to explore what I think will become a major issue in the near future. Digital technology holds lots of promise but also serious risks in the mental health context. Social and legal enquiry is often missing in those conversations, and so are the voices of people for whom the technologies are seemingly designed. I’m also really keen to learn from the other Fellows, who look like they’re doing incredible work.”
The Mozilla Fellowship begins on 1 October 2019 and provides funding, amplification and networking opportunities. The cohort of 2019-2020 fellows hail from more than 10 countries and will work on a range of projects covering topics including biometrics and migration, responsible AI practices for public institutions and building community networks in rural Kenya.