All stories

CWI publishes on a regular basis news item about our research, education and the social impact of this research. In addition to news items, we publish more extensive stories about high-profile research or about CWI tackling social issues.

Improving mental health in a virtual world

How can eXtended Reality (XR) be used to improve people’s mental health and wellbeing? This question was one of the topics explored during the Spring School on Social XR, organized by CWI’s …

Alexandra Kitson at CWI

When the virtual world becomes real

When online encounters start to feel physical, safety and trust become more urgent. How can we make sure virtual worlds remain safe for everyone? This question was one of the topics explored …

Tailoring an algorithm to real-world needs

Determining the right radiation dose in cancer treatment, or drawing up a railway timetable: algorithms can help solve optimization problems of this kind. But how do you refine those algorithms so that …

System administrator and employee in data center coding with generative AI. Team leader and IT worker leveraging artificial intelligence large language model tech in server hub.

Portrait of Sanne Vrijenhoek, tenure tracker in the Human-Centered Data Analytics group

Translating societal issues back into technology: that is Sanne Vrijenhoek’s core business. Her work focuses on artificial intelligence (AI). At CWI’s HCDA group, she studies systems that recommend news articles — the …

Portret Sanne Vrijenhoek

Portrait of Effy Li, postdoc in the Database Architectures group

Effy Li’s route into research has been anything but straightforward. From studying Electronic Engineering in China to working on data management at CWI, her journey has taken her across countries and disciplines. …

portrait of Effy Li

Transporting waste by water proves cheaper and cleaner

When the A7 near Purmerend was closed to heavy traffic for many months, freight transport came to a standstill. The Province of North Holland wanted to know whether transport by water could …

Inland barge on the long straight tree-lined Amsterdam-Rhine canal just south of Amsterdam on a day in summer with dramatic cloud formations

Computing at the speed of light with optics

What if we could run AI on light in computer chips instead of electricity? This would have tremendous advantages. First of all, the computation would be more efficient since light requires less …

The research team posing in their lab.

L.INT research groups: CWI and HvA connect theory and practice through L.INT research group

How can digital twins – digital copies of machines or production processes – help make industrial production smarter, more efficient and more sustainable? How can a robotic arm stack pallets effectively? How …

Portrait of researcher Jurjen Helmus