DigiS - is the center for the Digital Society at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK). We bring together computer science, social sciences and the humanities to understand, design and govern digital technologies that serve people, communities and public institutions.
Years working on digital society
Interdisciplinary research units
Researchers and collaborators
DigiS is FBK’s Center for Digital Society. It coordinates research and innovation on how digital technologies transform society and how they can be governed as digital commons.
DigiS brings together research units working on AI and data science, digital ethics and law, digital humanities, education and digital literacy, complex socio-technical systems, Earth observation and edge AI. The center connects these competences to address real-world challenges together with public institutions, communities and private actors.
Research units across AI, data, humanities and social sciences
Main impact areas on communities, education and resilience
International projects and collaborations in recent years
People involved including researchers, fellows and students
DigiS organises its research around a set of interconnected domains that link AI, data and digital media with society, policy and the environment.
require ethical oversight because they directly model, influence, and motivate human behavior. Decisions and interventions at this level impact collective well-being and civic participation, demanding transparency, inclusiveness, and fairness
are central to human interaction and social communication, making ethics indispensable in ensuring that tools used for social media analysis, misinformation detection, and countering cyberbullying respect diversity, avoid biases, and promote healthier information ecosystems.
embody the ethical obligation to empower citizens, organizations, and policymakers to understand opportunities and risks of digital technologies. By fostering critical awareness and informed decision-making, this area strengthens democratic resilience and trust in AI systems.
from civil protection to climate change monitoring, carry ethical implications as they generate knowledge with direct consequences for societies and ecosystems. Ensuring trustworthy AI in these contexts means guaranteeing reliability, accountability, and equitable access to information that supports sustainability and risk mitigation
data sovereignty. Embedding ethical principles in this domain ensures that applications are not only efficient and sustainable but also privacy-preserving and aligned with societal expectations. Through these interconnections, Digital Ethics acts as the unifying backbone of the research agenda, ensuring that technological progress across all domains remains human-centered, trustworthy, and socially beneficial.
is a cross-cutting core of the Center’s research agenda. It has the twofold purpose of ensuring that all digital technologies developed within the Center respect fundamental rights, legal standards, and democratic values, and develop tools for checking the compliance of AI systems with respect to trustworthy AI principles and to regulations (in particular, the AI Act and sectorial regulations)
DigiS works with partners on concrete challenges where digital technologies can create social impact, improve public services and support democratic governance.
Supporting communities, cities and public institutions in co-designing, governing and using data and AI as shared digital infrastructures and digital commons.
Strengthening AI and data literacy among policymakers and public institutions to enable informed, responsible decisions in the digital age.
Using AI, data and remote sensing to support climate adaptation, risk management, critical infrastructure and public safety.
DIGIS develops reusable digital assets – platforms, services and tools – that can be adapted and extended with partners.
DigiS is organised into research units and support units that collaborate on projects and programmes across the Center.
Director of DIGIS – Center for Digital Society
Full Professor of Computer Science, University of Bologna
Michela Milano is the Director of DIGIS and a Full Professor of Computer Science at the University of Bologna. Her work focuses on artificial intelligence and optimisation, with a strong attention to the societal impact of AI.
Data-informed statistical modelling of individual and collective human behavior
Head: Riccardo Gallotti
Design, development and analysis of digital commons based on open data
Head: Maurizio Napolitano
Extraction and analysis of textual information from non-standard multilingual data to address societal issues
Head: Sara Tonelli
Design and development of energy efficient networked embedded systems for IoT applications with AI inside
Head: Elisabetta Farella
Artificial Intelligence for motivation and behavior change in socio-technical systems
Head: Annapaola Marconi
AI and data-empowered modeling and simulation techniques for complex socio-technical systems
Head: Marco Pistore
Remote sensing and AI for the digital monitoring and the sustainable management of the Earth
Head: Francesca Bovolo
Organizing and supporting project financing and project management in Digital Society
Head: Matteo Gerosa
Digital platforms and advanced digital tools to support research and impact in Digital Society
Head: Raman Kazhamiakin
Do you want to explore new ideas, experiment with a project, or propose a collaboration?
DigiS brings together research, technology, and social impact: get in touch and let’s build the next step together.
Via Sommarive 18
38123 Trento (TN), Italy
Phone: +39 0461 314 444
Email: digis@fbk.eu
More about us
read our strategy document
