Biography
Cynthia Liem is an associate professor at Delft University of Technology, as well as a classically trained concert pianist. Her research interests are in trustworthy and responsible AI; here, she especially focuses on techniques that make people discover new interests and content which would not trivially be retrieved, and questions of validation and validity in data-driven decision-making. After starting in music information retrieval, today, her research considers broader public-interest domains with high societal impact. She initiated and co-coordinated multiple European research projects on technological enrichment of digital musical heritage, and gained industrial experience at Bell Labs Netherlands, Philips Research and Google. Cynthia received recognition through multiple awards (a.o. Google European Doctoral Fellowship, Researcher-in-Residence at the National Library of The Netherlands, Women in AI 2024 Diversity Leader award, Harper’s Bazaar Woman of the Year 2024 Dyson Pioneer Award), was a member of the Dutch national Young Academy (2021-2026) and still performs as a musician. With her track record in inter- and transdisciplinary collaborative research and public engagement, she is a sought-after educator and communicator.
