During the 2021-2022 academic year, I had the opportunity to join the first edition of the Innovation for Society excellence program at Ghent University. This program allows future engineers to explore their role in achieving a positive and lasting impact on the world.
Students were divided into smaller groups for the program, with each group receiving a specific case. Everyone came together regularly for guest lectures and to present their casework’s progress. I thoroughly enjoyed this program, as it brought together young engineers with specializations ranging from architecture to computer science.
My team’s case involved detecting racial bias in facial recognition systems. With the increasing deployment of innovative technologies in the justice system and national security applications, it’s crucial to ensure they offer fair judgement for everyone. While this might seem feasible in theory, the real world presents a different picture. Biases in training data or unbalanced datasets can expose innocent individuals to significant risks.
Throughout the project, we confirmed the presence of racial bias in facial recognition systems and proposed several mitigation techniques, including the use of synthetic data.
I would like to thank Prof. dr. ir. Hendrik de Bie for organising this program and showing us that engineers can and should try to make a positive impact on our society.