UvA and City of Amsterdam study trustworthy digitalisation in the Urban Impact Lab

The University of Amsterdam (UvA) and the City of Amsterdam have established the Urban Impact Lab. Within this initiative, they are joining forces to examine the municipality’s role in fostering trustworthy and future-proof digitalisation.

At the Urban Impact Lab, the focus is not only on drawing upon expertise from the Roeterseiland Campus, but also on developing new methods and applications that will directly benefit the city and its residents.

Peter-Paul Verbeek (Rector, UvA), Christa Boer (Dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, UvA), Marc Salomon (Dean of the Amsterdam Business School), Ger Baron (Director of Digitalisation and Innovation, City of Amsterdam), and Doutje Lettinga (Chief Science Officer, City of Amsterdam) signed the cooperation agreement on Thursday, 28 August.

Three main themes

The collaboration, which encompasses both research and educational initiatives, will focus on three main themes:

• The interaction of digital technology with citizens
• Comprehensible and trustworthy digital systems
• The impact of digitalisation on the municipal organisation

Launch on 1 January 2026

The project will commence on 1 January 2026 and is set to run for four to five years. Four PhD researchers, jointly appointed by the UvA and the City of Amsterdam, will carry out the research.

This article was first published on 1 September by UvA.