This one-day launch event of the Prob_AI Hub included talks from researchers leading on developing the foundations of probabilistic AI. The programme ran from 10:00 until 16:30 on the 9th April 2024.
 

Background

The Prob_AI Hub is a new world-leading research hub led by Lancaster University, and involving the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Manchester and Warwick, that aims to transform the way we develop and use artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The Hub aims to bring together leading researchers from mathematics, statistics and computational AI to develop the mathematical foundations of probabilistic AI. This will lead to more accurate AI models, greater transparency of the limits of AI models’ predictions, and efficiency improvements that will help reduce the energy demand of AI models.
This £9.5M initiative is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The funding comes as part of an £80 million investment in nine AI research hubs that will propel the UK to the forefront of advanced AI research.
 

Aims and Objectives

This one-day event introduced the Prob_AI Hub highlighting opportunities for both companies and early career researchers to engage with its activities at an early stage.
Talks highlighted the importance of and potential for probabilistic approaches to AI, described research projects being undertaken across the Hub’s main research challenge areas and their connection to some motivating applications. For example, applications range from weather forecasting to cyber security, and from healthcare to infrastructure planning.
The launch event was of interest to:

• Business and industry sectors who are interested in more interpretable, reliable and uncertainty-aware AI.

• Academics in the Mathematical and Computational Sciences who are interested in research challenges in AI that need input from Applied Mathematics, Probability and Statistics.

• Early career researchers who are interested in working at the interface of Mathematics and AI.

The event outlined opportunities for participants across all three groups to engage with the Prob_AI Hub: funding opportunities, PDRA and PhD positions that will be advertised, and the range of activities and events that the Prob_AI Hub will run. The afternoon presented a great opportunity for participants to network with senior scientists and relevant individuals from industry and government.
A programme is available here.
 

Registration and Venue

Registration is now closed. Please contact gateway@newton.ac.uk for any queries.

This event was held at the Wellcome Collection, London, please see the Wellcome Collection’s website for further information about the venue.