About Mariarosaria Taddeo
Professor Mariarosaria Taddeo is Professor of Digital Ethics and Defence Technologies at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, and an Ethics Fellow with the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) at the Alan Turing Institute.
She is an internationally recognized authority on the ethics and governance of digital technologies in security, defence, and high-stakes policy contexts, advising governments, international organizations, and industry on the responsible development and use of emerging technologies.
Research Focus
Professor Taddeo’s research focuses on the ethical, legal, social, and governance challenges posed by digital technologies, with particular emphasis on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and defence systems.
Her work advances the design and implementation of governance frameworks for AI in national security and defence, the ethics of cyber conflict and information operations, and the responsible development of trustworthy digital technologies. Across these areas, her research translates ethical theory into actionable guidance for policymakers, defence institutions, and international organizations.
She has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles in this field, with work appearing in leading journals including Nature, Nature Machine Intelligence, Science, and Science Robotics.
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Policy and Governance Impact
Professor Taddeo’s work contributes directly to national and international policy debates on defence ethics, cybersecurity, and information warfare. She has examined the ethical dimensions of autonomous systems, cyber operations, and information conflict, with a focus on proportionality, responsibility, legitimacy, and accountability.
She is the Principal Investigator of the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl)–funded project Ethical Principles for the Use of AI for National Security and Defence, and has led or co-led projects supported by NATO, EPSRC, and other international bodies. Her expertise is regularly sought by governments and policy institutions shaping the future governance of security technologies
Academic Background
Professor Taddeo holds a PhD (Doctor Europaeus) in Philosophy from the University of Padua, where her research examined the epistemic and ethical implications of trust in artificial systems.
Prior to joining the Oxford Internet Institute, she was Research Fellow in Cyber Security and Ethics at the University of Warwick, and previously held a Marie Curie Fellowship at the University of Hertfordshire, working on information warfare and its ethical implications. She was trained in philosophy at the University of Florence.