Research Area

My  scientific interests revolve around the challenges of interdisciplinary research at the intersection of deep learning, explainable AI and digital arts and humanities. My research is focused on exploring deep learning techniques for computational image understanding and multimodal learning in the context of visual art and culture. I am currently interested in studying the various cultural, ethical and societal implications of emerging multimodal foundation models, with a particular focus on how text-to-image models encode various socio-cultural patterns, as well as impact artistic and cultural production and appreciation.

Academic Career

I received my Ph.D. degree in Computer science from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb in 2019. In my Ph.D. thesis, I investigated how computer vision and deep learning methods can be used for computational analysis of large collections of digitized fine art images. From 2015 to 2021, I was employed as professional associate and postdoc at the Centre for Informatics and Computing at the Rudjer Boskovic Institute in Croatia. Within the scope of my work, I was actively involved in international projects working on establishing and disseminating technological solutions for the Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH) research community. Prior to joining DSI in March 2023, I was a postdoctoral researcher in Digital Humanities and Machine Learning at the Department of Computer Science, Durham University;  and postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Digital Visual Studies at the University of Zurich.

Projects

Within the scope of my DSI Bridge Postdoc Fellowship, I am conducting my research project «From Text to Image with AI: How Multimodal Deep Learning Impacts Art and Culture». The goal of this project is to perform a multiperspectival analysis of multimodal AI technologies and their impact on artistic and research practices in (digital) arts and humanities. Additionaly, I am currently leading the project «From Hype to Reality: Artificial Intelligence in the Study of Art and Culture», which is funded by the UZH Global Strategy and Partnerships Funding Scheme and aims to strengthen the collaboration between UZH and the University of Cambridge, with the goal of facilitating AI literacy in the arts and humanities.

External links:

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5R4EpaEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5330-1259

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EvaCetinic