Networked Algorithmic Administrative Decision-Making with Charlotte van Oirsouw

Join us to discuss networked algorithmic administrative decision-making (NAADM), with conceptualisation and insights from two case studies.

This hybrid talk is proudly brought to you by UNSW Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation and the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law. This event will take place in-person at the UNSW Law & Justice Building in the Level 2 Boardroom and online via Teams. Please indicate your attendance preference on checkout.

Administrative authorities continuously have to adapt their decision-making processes to meet the demands of our changing world and to address complex societal challenges. To do so, administrative authorities often collaborate with multiple stakeholders through informal modes of governance that can be characterized as network governance. In addition, administrative decision-making processes are increasingly (partially) automated through the use of algorithms to decrease the administrative burden and to increase the efficiency of the decision-making process. These developments result in networked algorithmic administrative decision-making, or for short, NAADM.

NAADM poses challenges to transparency and accountability because of the technical and social complexities that NAADM embodies. From a public law perspective, this is undesirable because transparency and accountability are two values that are Important contributors to the legitimacy and acceptance of the exercise of public authority.

NAADM raises questions about how public law can or should respond to uphold the transparency and accountability of government. Yet, to develop appropriate and effective legal responses, we first need to understand how the law in the books and the law in practice actually safeguard transparency and accountability in the context of NAADM. To this end, this presentation provides a conceptualization of NAADM that is intended to serve as the basis for legal doctrinal research and empirical legal research, and presents some first findings of two case studies of NAADM: the Red Button and the Emmen Energy Wallet.

Speaker:

Charlotte van Oirsouw is a PhD candidate at Utrecht University and a PhD visiting scholar at the Allens Hub during June and July 2023. Her research focuses on the regulation of networked algorithmic administrative decision-making, or NAADM for short, and the challenges that NAADM poses for transparency and accountability. She examines this development through a combination of legal doctrinal research and empirical legal research. In this regard, she is conducting two qualitative case studies on the development and use of blockchain technology by networks of Dutch administrative authorities, private organizations, NGOs and citizens. Charlotte’s research is part of the NWO-funded interdisciplinary CHAIN-project. Charlotte’s supervisors are Prof. Dr. Jurgen Goossens, Prof. Dr. Jurgen de Poorter and Prof. Dr. Esther Keymolen.

Prior to her PhD, Charlotte obtained an LL.M. degree in Law & Technology from Tilburg University and an LL.M. degree in Law & Economics from Utrecht University. She obtained her Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) at Utrecht University and went on an Erasmus exchange to the Ludwig Maximilians-Universität in Munich. During her studies she worked as an intern at a Dutch law firm located in Brussels and as a research assistant at TNO and Utrecht University.

For any further details regarding this event, please contact the UNSW Allens Hub Administrator via allenshub@unsw.edu.au