Max van Duijn
Assistant professor
- Name
- Dr. M.J. van Duijn
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 7903
- m.j.van.duijn@liacs.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0003-0798-9598
I am an assistant professor at Leiden University’s Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), where I co-founded the Creative Intelligence Lab (CIL). This lab brings together researchers from the cognitive and computer sciences who have a shared interest in the foundations of intelligence, both ‘in carbo’ and ‘in silico’, and who recognise creativity and playfulness as key factors in scientific innovation.
More information about Max van Duijn
PhD Candidates
News
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Max van Duijn and Vasiliki Kosta join The Young Academy -
Max van Duijn nominated for Discoverer of the Year 2019 -
Vote for the Discoverer of the Year -
Doing science in the mud at Lowlands -
Children's stories as inspiration for an artificial brain -
Chinese whispers in the name of science at Lowlands -
These are the seven Veni winners of the Faculty of Science -
Veni grants for 25 Leiden researchers -
Children as storytellers and mindreaders -
‘Man's empathy comes from language and stories’
Former PhD Candidates
I am an assistant professor at Leiden University’s Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), where I co-founded the Creative Intelligence Lab (CIL). This lab brings together researchers from the cognitive and computer sciences who have a shared interest in the foundations of intelligence, both ‘in carbo’ and ‘in silico’, and who recognise creativity as a key factor in scientific innovation. I am a lecturer in the Data Science & Artificial Intelligence (DSAI) and Media Technology MSc programmes.
Research in my group combines methods from cognitive science, linguistics, and AI to study social intelligence, in particular empathy, perspective-taking, and Theory of Mind. Our work includes modelling these capacities in humans as well as in AI systems such as Large Language Models.
My NWO Veni project 'A Telling Story' (started 2020) set out to collect a large number of stories told by children aged 4-12 and extract features relevant to ‘fictional minds’ using computational techniques. This fuelled new ways in which the development of (advanced) social intelligence can be modelled and understood across primary-school ages. In addition, I am part of the NWO Zwaartekracht 'Hybrid Intelligence' and the 'AI4Oversight' ICAI Lab.
My work is published in English and Dutch, in scholarly as well as popular venues. In 2023 I was elected as a member of De Jonge Academy, the early-career chapter of the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences (KNAW), where I am co-chair of the Science & Society track and member of the Generative AI in Research & Education theme group.
Previously, I was a blogger for Faces of Science: facesofscience.
Assistant professor
- Science
- Leiden Inst of Advanced Computer Science
- Algemeen lid & co-voorzitter trace Wetenschap & Samenleving
- Onderzoeker/mede-initiatiefnemer