Home@House of Connections: the Jantina Tammes School of Digital Society, Technology and AI

Four Schools for Science & Society and the University of the North (UvhN) will operate from the House of Connections — part of the Groot Handelshuis — at the Grote Markt. Who will they collaborate with, what will they tackle first, and how will the House Of Connections support them to achieve their goals? This time: the Jantina Tammes School of Digital Society, Technology and AI.

What will be your first step after moving into the House of Connections?

That will be interdisciplinary collaboration, within the Jantina Tammes School team as well as with other schools. The joint accommodation at the House of Connections facilitates valuable connections and pleasant collaboration, after all. Its diverse events, such as workshops, lectures, pitches, summer schools, challenges, etcetera, bring the faculties and the outside world together. Not only research, but also matchmaking and outreach bring about connections, and they create and stimulate future collaboration. We want to promote digital prosperity in a rapidly developing world in the areas of digital society, technology, and artificial intelligence, by making connections in a creative, multidisciplinary environment, which was developed especially for this purpose. The events in our new ‘House’ will then truly bring about ‘Connections’.

How do you think that the House of Connections will help to achieve the goals of the Jantima Tammes School?

Like those at the other schools, the staff members at the Jantina Tammes School are in contact with colleagues from other UG faculties on a daily basis, as well as with other institutions and external partners. We believe that bringing people together is the starting point for ‘Making Connections’. The House of Connections is therefore a crucial infrastructural aspect for the school to achieve its goals. There are similar initiatives in other Dutch university towns, but what makes the House of Connections unique is its central location in the heart of Groningen and its open event space.

What are you looking forward to most?

The House of Connections is a beautiful space for organizing events. We look forward to turning a number of the organized activities into real public engagement events, with people and organizations from outside the academic world, including industry, governments, and individual citizens.

When will the House of Connections be considered a success?

The House of Connections can be considered a success if it has become a true meeting point where stakeholders from the wider public, students, and researchers can easily find each other. A place where cross-pollination between academic fields occurs. A hotspot for collaboration, connection, and inspiration. That will allow the House of Connections to truly come into its own.

Who will you collaborate with, inside as well as outside your own school?

As previously mentioned, the Jantima Tammes School collaborates with partners from inside and outside the University in several ways. For instance, we organize events together with the UMCG, the Faculty of Arts, and Studium Generale. An example of collaboration with external partners is the External Challenge with DUO. DUO is working on a project concerning data autonomy. In doing so, they are collaborating with Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, but they wanted to know if they are on the right track and if there are any eventualities they might have missed. During the challenge they discussed this with researchers at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, the Faculty of Arts, and the Faculty of Law. That provided them with much useful, unexpected, and valuable information. In this way the school is collaborating with DUO, but also with other external parties, such as the RDW.