Maarten Lamers
Assistant Professor
- Name
- Dr. M.H. Lamers
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 7033
- m.h.lamers@liacs.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0003-2672-5475
Cross-disciplinary researcher, combining AI and computer science with other interests and playful thinking.
More information about Maarten Lamers
News
-
Five tips for Museum Night Leiden -
Digital guest lectures for high school students: 'Focus on what's really important' -
Bots like you -
CRITTERS Exposition: a photo impression -
LIACS part of AI-driven VR-film -
What robots can teach us about humans -
Media Technology lecturers in NVON's magazine Terugkoppeling
I'm a cross-disciplinary researcher, combining AI and computer science with other interests. My work typically approaches academia in a playful manner, both in subject and in method. I believe that playfulness can be a valuable asset in academic work. This approach is central also in the Media Technology Master-of-Science program, where I lecture.
Playfulness
Themes that reappear in my research and lecturing are artificial intelligence, robots, hybrid bio-digital systems, and of course playfulness.
You may be interested to know that I was selected by Vrij Nederland (2015) as one of the "most inspiring technologists, inventors and tinkerers in The Netherlands". Also, I gave a TEDx talk entitled "Academic Freedom for the Young" in which I argue that academic playfulness should be a student's right.
Bio
My formal education focussed mainly on AI. For my PhD diploma (Leiden University, 2001) I applied neural network techniques to data analysis problems in environmental epidemiology at the Dutch National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). My Master's degree in computer science (Utrecht University, 1993) was obtained after specializing in neural networks for medical image processing. In 1992 I was an exchange student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, USA. I was born in 1968, should you want to know.
Since 2002 I'm an assistant professor within Leiden University s computer science institute (LIACS). I'm a member of their Media Technology MSc program's executive committee and lecture in the same program. My research is cross-disciplinary, combining AI and computer science with other interests.
Outside the university's walls, I co-founded the LaserMaxx lasergame brand, a major brand of lasergames worldwide, for which I still design game technology. Through this work, I was a technical game producer for national TV-show "Wie is de Mol?" (2000-2014).
Public speaking
Frequenty, I speak at events, companies and schools, from small to very large. Audiences for which I speak regularly include creative industry professionals, educators, and museum/cultural audiences. Most topics I can explain for varying audience knowledge levels. For example, I have explained to children how AI works, but also given opening keynote lectures at conferences. I speak comfortably in both Dutch and English. My speaking style has been described as "energetic" and "educational". Topics that I speak about mostly involve:
- Artificial Intelligence and Creativity
- Robots with human qualities (together with my colleague Peter van der Putten; see our website "Bots Like You")
- How Artificial Intelligence works
- Creativity and playfulness in research
Other topics that I have talked about are animals and micro-organisms in computer systems, and virtual reality and memory.
Assistant Professor
- Science
- Leiden Inst of Advanced Computer Science