Conference Programme
This year’s IT Futures conference, “The Future of AI at the University Of Edinburgh”, will be held on Tuesday 10 December 2024 at the Informatics Forum, hosted by Professor Michael Rovatsos with an introduction by the Principal, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson. The IT Futures Conference is our largest university-wide IT and technology event to foster engagement, future thinking and provocative discussion across the university community and beyond.
We have a great line up of speakers and sessions on the future of AI with: Burkhard Schafer on AI Ethics and the regulatory environment; Students talking about their aspirations and expectations in an AI enabled world; Sian Bayne speaking about AI Education futures; and speakers on the impact AI is having on research as well as the support, platforms, training and emerging ideas to help you use AI.
Professor Michael Rovatsos and Vice Principal Gavin McLachlan hope you will join us this year to explore and discuss our IT future.
Please see the below link for the conference agenda and registration:
IT Futures 2024 – Register Here
A key section of the programme is the 5 minute “lightning Talks”. It is anticipated that these short sessions will present new or novel uses of AI in Higher Education, lessons learned about AI, or concepts for the future.
If you would like to participate then please complete the application form with your name and a brief summary of what you would present. Deadline for submissions is Friday 22 November 2024 at 5pm.
We hope you will join our conference and I look forward to seeing you there.
Best wishes,
Professor Michael Rovatsos, Personal Chair of Artificial Intelligence
Vice Principal Gavin McLachlan, Chief Information Officer and Librarian to the University
| 09:30-10:00 | Registration in person (refreshments provided) |
| 10:00-10:05 | Welcome Professor Michael Rovatsos – Personal Chair of Artificial Intelligence |
| 10:05-10:15 | Opening Address Professor Sir Peter Mathieson We are delighted to have the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh open the conference again this year. |
| 10:15-10:35 | Keynote: The Future of AI in the HE Sector Professor Michael Rovatsos – Personal Chair of Artificial Intelligence No other technology creates as many hopes and fears as AI – but what can we do as universities to navigate the opportunities it offers and challenges it presents us with? This presentation will provide an overview of recent advances in AI and their implications for learning, scientific enquiry, and how academic institutions operate, and try to map out pathways for improving our collective ability to deal with future developments in AI. Building on the University’s Digital Strategy, I will introduce the approach we are taking toward AI adoption at the University and set the scene for the topics covered during the conference. |
| 10:35-10:55 | AI Ethics and Regulatory Environment Professor Burkhard Schafer – Professor of Computational Legal Theory While research and the university sector had featured prominently in the debate surrounding the enactment of the GDPR, the discussions that led to the recently enacted EU AI Act were curiously silent on any impact on the research side of the higher education sector, while potentially impacting EduTech and the use of Ai in teaching considerably. In the UK, the recent proposal by Lord Holmes would align the UK regime more closely with that of the US, and there too, HE has been absent from much of the debate. The talk reports some of the findings of a REPHRAIN-financed project between Strathclyde University and the University of Edinburg on sifting (or strangely, static) legal-regulatory landscape of AI in HE research environments. |
| 10:55-11:15 | Refreshment Break (refreshments provided) |
| 11:15-11:30 | Life as a Student in an AI Enabled World Dylan Walch – EUSA Vice President: Education It’s essential to consider its impact on learning experiences, employability, and institutional reputation. Navigating this landscape involves balancing integration with clear policies and consistent communication. By doing so, universities can continue to innovate and meet the evolving needs of students and staff. That is why we have to look at the cost and benefits for students and staff of where we place ourselves on the slider, from rejecting AI to fully embracing it. |
| 11:30-12:10 | 4, 5-Minute Lightning Talks 1. ‘The Scoping AI Developments in EdTech at Edinburgh (SADIE) project’, Wesley Kerr 2. ‘Prompting for efficiency – exploring generative AI use in a Learning & Development context’, Satu Kapiainen 3. ‘PTAS on Understanding and Shaping Generative AI Integration in Computer Science Education’, Pavlos Andreadis 4. ‘Analysis, AI & PowerED BI’, Dr Louise Ker |
| 12:10-13:10 | Lunch Break (refreshments provided) |
| 13:10-13:30 | AI in education – critical issues and current debates Professor Sian Bayne – Professor of Digital Education This talk will look at what the academic community globally is saying about generative AI in Education. Are universities responding well to the challenges is poses? Are the ‘technosolutionists’ right about what it can offer teachers and education systems? What is generative AI doing to the nature of learning, and to the nature of knowledge? Is it already a bursting bubble, or should we be actively burning it down? The talk will give an overview of the global conversation and consider what it means for our own university. |
| 13:30-13:50 | AI in Internal Operations Vice Principal Gavin McLachlan – Chief Information Officer and Librarian to the University I will explore some of the challenges and opportunities to leverage AI in our internal operations and in our personal productivity. Though the promise of AI has been high, many organisations face difficulties in getting benefits such as higher quality or productivity from AI. Low data maturity, training, support, governance, vendor’s over-promising and many other issues can slow adoption and use if AI. How can we overcome these barriers to use this powerful new technology in a effective, ethical and responsible way. |
| 13:50-14:10 | AI in Biodiversity Research Simon Chapple – Head of Data Technology Soprano – Sounding out the Environment From April 2024 to April 2027, working with our partners in Forest Research, we are funded by Natural Environment Research Council to complete the development and evaluation of a novel EdgeAI eco-acoustics service, Soprano. The Soprano project will deliver a full end-to-end digital AI platform, from sensor device to cloud-hosted web portal, providing automated continuous real-time remote biodiversity and related environmental monitoring, through the application of on-device EdgeAI that can recognise the sounds made by species of birds, bats, fish, animals and insects, and natural phenomena such as wind, rain and rockfall. This talk will give an overview of the Soprano project, and its service infrastructure and ecosystem that can support both research and commercial use of acoustic monitoring, and that will also enable third parties to contribute their own EdgeAI capabilities into the service. |
| 14:10-14:25 | AI Tools and Resources Anne Robertson – Director of EDINA This presentation will provide an overview of ELM, the universities’ generative AI platform: how to access and use ELM, highlighting the benefits of ELM over other generative AI tools. Examples of how the service is already being used will be provided. |
| 14:25-15:10 | Speaker Panel Event Delegates have the opportunity to join a virtual question and answer session with Professor Michael Rovatsos, Professor Burkhard Schafer, Dylan Walsh, Professor Sian Bayne, Vice Principal Gavin McLachlan, Simon Chapple & Anne Robertson. |
| 15:10-15:30 | Closing remarks Professor Michael Rovatsos – Personal Chair of Artificial Intelligence |
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