for Intellectual and Value Progress
Our lab asks how to secure intellectual and value progress in science and education. AI promises faster research and personalized learning. However, faster is not always better. We study which changes improve inquiry and which erode the virtues and values it depends on.
Technology will transform what it means to be a scientist. We work to ensure an intellectually safe transition.
Lab members
Yara Daamen
Eindhoven University of Technology
Research profile
Yara studies the motivation behind critical thinking when people interact with AI, and approaches it through the lens of intellectual virtues. Her focus is on intellectual justice, the tendency to engage fairly with knowledge and the people who produce it, and she developed the Intellectual Justice Scale to measure it. She is interested in whether intellectual virtues can be developed through educational interventions.
Dvija Mehta
Eindhoven University of Technology
Alessia-Maria Postelnicu
Eindhoven University of Technology
Research profile
Alessia’s background is in human-technology interaction, and she studies how AI changes the way people think and do research. She works on critical thinking and intellectual virtues in the context of AI, and is particularly interested in how working with AI shapes the way students relate to their own research projects. Another area of research she explores is the reproducibility of power analyses in large replication projects, with the aim of improving how researchers plan their sample sizes.
Vlasta Sikimić (PI)
Eindhoven University of Technology
Philipp Moritz Stecher
University of Tübingen
Lab collaborators
Kaja Damnjanović
Laboratory for Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade
Karolina Doulougeri
Eindhoven University of Technology
Aleksandra Vučković
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade
Currently funded projects
- Intellectual Virtues and the Future of Research with Generative AI. NWO Open Competition XS grant, 2026–2027.
- Virtuous Reasoning with AI. 4TU Centre for Engineering Education grant, 2026.
- VISTA, Virtuous and Independent Student Thinking with AI. EuroTeQ grant, starting in 2027.
Upcoming event
The Future of Science: How Intellectual Virtues Guide AI-Accelerated Science
Conference, 5–6 November 2026.
Location: Atlas building, 10th floor, room 10.330, Eindhoven University of Technology.
The full two-day programme is now available, including keynotes, workshops, a panel discussion and contributed talks.
Contact
Vlasta Sikimić
Philosophy and Ethics Group, Eindhoven University of Technology
v.sikimic@tue.nl
