ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Climbing up and down the hills in Tivendens National Park in Sweden in the summer of 2023, I was pondering the journey of my PhD research that I am about to finish. Just like my hilly hike, my research has known ups and downs over the past six years. Getting one of my articles rejected and having to rewrite it completely in a different template was one of the low points. Also, not able to attend conferences in person during the COVID19 pandemic was something I hope not to relive again. However, I mainly experienced peaks during my PhD journey: the first AI Ethics & Society (AIES) in 2018 in New Orleans where I presented my first poster, attending the Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) of the UN as a member of the Dutch delegation, being part of the World Summit AI: Dual use technology expert panel, presenting my work at the AIES 2022 conference in Oxford, the panel at Summit on Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain (REAIM 2023) in The Hague, recording a BNR podcast and EuroISME webinar, and my yearly trips to Umeå University in Sweden to visit Virginia and her Responsible AI research group. These highlights would not have been possible without the excellent supervision of my two promotors Virginia Dignum and Filippo Santoni de Sio. Thank you Virginia, for sharing your experience and providing guidance during my research journey, setting a high standard with your critical viewpoint and sharp comments, and for your and Frank’s hospitality in Umeå. You are an inspiration and role model in academia and life. Filippo, I greatly appreciate our discussions during the conceptual part of my research. You helped me develop my academic attitude and thinking, especially at the start of my PhD you encouraged me to find the depth in the arguments of my reasoning. Next to my two promotors, I would like to thank my fellow PhD students and researchers with whom I have worked and discussed my ideas over the past six years. Andrea, Andreas, Klara and Rijk, thank you for sharing your ideas and feedback. You made me feel part of the research community. Lastly, I would like to thank the Royal Netherlands Army for supporting my PhD and allowing me to conduct independent research on this topic. Especially my team members and managers of my last two positions who had to deal with my absence and take over my work when I was doing research, visiting conferences, writing my articles and this dissertation. I hope that this dissertation on Comprehensive Human Oversight of Autonomous Weapon Systems will lead to awareness and initiates discussion on the deployment of Autonomous Weapon Systems and Responsible AI in the Defence organisation.
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