RC Trust strengthens ties with Australian justice research

Dr. Jessica Szczuka has been appointed Adjunct Associate Professor at the QUT Centre for Justice at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. The appointment adds an international dimension to her work on artificial intelligence, psychology, justice, and social responsibility.

Jessica Szczuka leads the Young Investigator Group INTITEC – Intimacy with and through Technology at the Research Center Trustworthy Data Science and Security (RC Trust) within the University Alliance Ruhr and at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Her research examines how technologies shape intimacy, trust, vulnerability, sexuality, and human relationships. In recent work, she has also addressed the challenges posed by AI-generated abuse material – a topic that requires psychological expertise as well as a careful understanding of justice, harm, and technological change.

The appointment at QUT grew out of her work with Professor Kelly Richards and the team at the QUT Centre for Justice. Together, they examine how harmful forms of AI-generated material affect individuals and societies, how such harms can be studied responsibly, and how research can inform future responses.

For research on AI-generated abuse material, disciplinary boundaries quickly become too narrow. The topic touches technological capabilities, platform design, legal frameworks, psychological harm, ethical responsibility, and the protection of affected people. It also shows why research on digital intimacy cannot be separated from broader questions of justice: technologies that mediate closeness, sexuality, identity, and vulnerability can create new forms of agency and support, but they can also be misused in ways that demand careful scrutiny.

The appointment strengthens a research connection between Germany and Australia built around difficult but increasingly urgent questions: how artificial intelligence affects intimate and vulnerable areas of life, and how societies can respond to new forms of digital harm in precise, evidence-based, and responsible ways.