The speaker

The speaker of this event is Deniz Iren; PhD, PMP, who is an Associate Professor of Affective Computing at the Open Universiteit in the Netherlands.

Deniz is a scientist, manager, teacher, entrepreneur, and software developer with 20+ years of experience in industry-academia collaboration settings. He holds a tenured faculty position as an associate professor at the Department of Information Science. His research passion is to develop computational systems that perceive and respond to human emotions.
These keywords describe his research areas: affective computing, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence.

About the speech

The AI Act, enforced since August 2024, introduced strict prohibitions on emotion recognition, especially in workplaces and education, with limited exceptions for safety and health applications. However, the rushed drafting process left key academic voices out, leading to concerns over ambiguity and practical impact.

To address these issues, the AI Office published detailed guidelines on February 4, 2025, further clarifying—and in some cases tightening—restrictions on emotion recognition. These updates come at a time when global competitors like the US and China are advancing rapidly, raising questions about the EU’s AI competitiveness.

For a full breakdown of the regulations and their impact on emotion recognition research and practice, you can access the official Guidelines on Prohibited AI Practices here.

Target Audience:

This event is designed for anybody interested in the topic, AI researchers, EdTech and HR Tech developers, and policy experts who need to understand the new EU restrictions on emotion recognition in workplaces and education. It also addresses startups, investors, and legal professionals, helping them navigate compliance and assess the impact of these regulations on AI innovation.

Date and time: Thursday, April 17 · 10 - 11am CEST

Location: Online

Agenda

• 10.00 -10.10: Opening and welcome
• 10.10 - 10.15: Short introduction to the ENCORE project
• 10.15 – 10.35: Beyond the Limits: AI Uses That Are Off the Table by Deniz Iren
• 10.35 – 11.00: Q&A
• 11.00 Closing

Find more information about the ENCORE project here: https://project-encore.eu/

Please find more information about the event and registration here on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.nl/e/beyond-the-limits-ai-uses-that-are-off-the-table-tickets-1252973921729?aff=oddtdtcreator