Rayo Verweij

Research keywords: AI in education, personalisation systems, participatory methods, product development, speculative design

Website: https://rayo.dev/

Bio:

Rayo Verweij (he/they) is a researcher, designer, and developer from Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He is broadly interested in practical applications of NLP in domains such as education and mental healthcare, that require complex collaboration with public stakeholders and face ongoing regulatory and ethical challenges. He has worked on topics such as AI-based teaching tools, dynamic memory reactivation, and computational psychiatry.

He is currently a trustee of Prewired, a charity that runs an after-school coding and technology club for young people in Edinburgh. Previously, he was the CTO of Voxsio, a start-up that built conversational digital health applications in collaboration with NHS Scotland. He holds an MSc in Cognitive Science from the University of Edinburgh and a BA in Liberal Arts from Bard College, NY.

PhD research:

Rayo’s current research focusses on the use of NLP-based technologies in primary and secondary schools and the teaching of AI literacy. In particular, he is interested in how to enable children and young people to meaningfully participate in the processes of design, development, and deployment of AI in schools. He aims to work with students to envision aspirational education futures, be active participants in technological decision-making processes, and develop innovative solutions to the problems they are facing today. With a holistic view of education and a critical eye on technology, he endeavours to facilitate meaningful and structural improvements to the ways we teach and learn for generations to come.

Supervisors: Fiona McNeill, Cara Wilson, Valentina Andries