AI Seminar Friday 18th October – Leonardo Bezerra

The School is hosting an AI seminar on Friday 18th October at 11.30am in JCB1.33A!

Our speaker is Leonardo Bezerra from the University of Stirling.

FAIRTECH by design: assessing and addressing the social impacts of artificial intelligence systems

In a decade, social media and big data have transformed society and enabled groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) technologies like deep learning and generative AI. Applications like ChatGPT have impacted the world and outpaced regulatory agencies, who were rushed from a data-centred to an AI-centred concern. Recent developments from both the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) originated in the executive branch, and the most advanced Western binding legislation is the European Union (EU) AI Act, expected to be implemented over the next three years. In the meantime, the United Nations (UN) have proposed an AI advisory body similar to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and countries from the Global South like Brazil are following Western proposals. In turn, AI companies have been proactive in the regulation debate, aiming at a scenario of improved accountability and reduced liability. In this talk, we will briefly overview efforts and challenges regarding AI regulation and how major AI players are addressing it. The goal of the talk is to stir future project collaborations from a multidisciplinary perspective, to promote a culture where the development and adoption of AI systems is fair, accountable, inclusive, responsible, transparent, ethical, carbon-efficient, and human-centred (FAIRTECH) by design.

Speaker bio: Leonardo Bezerra joined the University of Stirling as a Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Data Science in 2023, after having been a Lecturer in Brazil for the past 7 years. He received his Ph.D. degree from Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) in 2016, having defended a thesis on the automated design of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms. His research experience spans from applied data science projects with public and private institutions to supervising theses on automated and deep machine learning. Recently, his research has concentrated on the social impact of AI applications, integrating the Participatory Harm Auditing Workbenches and Methodologies project funded by Responsible AI UK.

2024-2025 CS-EDI Poster Competition

The school EDI committee would like to run an EDI-themed poster competition during the academic year 2024-2025. The goal is to enhance EDI awareness and foster conversations around EDI topics. Posters aim to voice what really matters to you, and a means to celebrate the value of our diverse background and experiences. The selected posters will be displayed on the school walls and screens.

We welcome entries from all students in Computer Science. Participants can be teams or individuals. Prizes will be awarded to the winning teams. If you want to register interest to the competition or you have any questions, please contact edi-cs@st-andrews.ac.uk. More details can be found https://tinyurl.com/yx63a6sa. The deadline for expressing interest is 11 Oct 2024. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Constraint Programming research group at the CP2024 conference

The 30th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP2024) was held in Girona, Catalonia during the first week of September. The CP conference series are the main event for researchers in constraint programming to get together, share latest developments and for networking. 

Our School contributed to the conference in large numbers this year. 

  • Ian Gent was the invited speaker on the conference’s first day, with his talk entitled “Solving Patience and Solitaire Games with Good Old Fashioned AI” (abstract) (video recording).  
  • Christopher Stone was invited to the discussion panel ‘Have Chatbots Reached the Holy Grail?’ at the same workshop and presented the paper: Ian Miguel, András Z. Salamon, Christopher Stone, Automating Reformulation of Essence Specifications via Graph Rewriting (paper) 
  • Özgür Akgün was the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion chair of the conference and presented the DEI initiatives to all the attendees (video recording).
  • We presented several papers at ModRef 2024, the 23rd workshop on Constraint Modelling and Reformulation: 
  • Csobán Balogh, Ruth Hoffmann and Joan Espasa, Towards Understanding Differences Between Modelling Pipelines: a Modelers Perspective (paper) (slides) 
  • Joan Espasa Arxer, Ian Gent, Ian Miguel, Peter Nightingale, András Z. Salamon and Mateu Villaret, Cross-Paradigm Modelling: A Case Study of Puzznic (paper) 
  • Carla Davesa Sureda, Joan Espasa Arxer, Ian Miguel and Mateu Villaret Auselle, Towards High-Level Modelling in Automated Planning (paper)
  • Nguyen Dang, Ian Gent, Peter Nightingale, Felix Ulrich-Oltean and Jack Waller, Constraint Models for Relaxed Klondike Variants (paper) (slides)
    • Jack Waller (who is an undergraduate student at St Andrews!) presented this work.
  • Alessio Pellegrino, Özgür Akgün, Nguyen Dang, Zeynep Kiziltan and Ian Miguel, Automatic Feature Learning for Essence: a Case Study on Car Sequencing (paper) (slides) 
    • Alessio Pellegrino (who is a visiting student from University of Bologna) presented this work.
  • Orhan Yigit Yazicilar, Özgür Akgün and Ian Miguel, Automated Nogood-Filtered Fine-Grained Streamlining: A Case Study on Covering Arrays (paper) 
  • Our PhD students Orhan Yigit Yazicilar, Erdem Kus, Carla Devesa Sureda, and Joseph Loughney attended the doctoral program. As part of the doctoral program they presented their work by giving a talk and presenting a poster. In addition, they were assigned a mentor during the conference. 
  • Visiting research student (from University of Bologna) Alessio Pellegrino gave his first talk at the ModRef 2024 workshop. 
  • PhD student Erdem Kus presented the following paper in the technical track of the main conference: 
  • Erdem Kuş, Özgür Akgün, Nguyen Dang, and Ian Miguel, Frugal Algorithm Selection (slides) (video recording)

Finally, here is a group photo of the St Andrews group, standing at the front steps of the beautiful conference venue in Girona. 

Week 1 Social Events

The following social events are being held in the School this week in the Jack Cole coffee area:-

  • Monday 16 September – 17:00 – 18:00 – MSc and MSci welcome reception (TODAY)
  • Wednesday 18 September – 16:00 – 17:00 – Honours (Junior & Senior) welcome reception
  • Friday 20 September – 17:00 – 18:00 – Sub-honours (students on first and second years of CS programmes) social event

Drinks 🍷 and snacks 🍰 available at all events, so please come along and join us!

STACS Welcome BBQ 🍔

If you are a new Undergraduate or Postgraduate Taught student to the School of Computer Science, you are invited to the STACS Welcome BBQ outside the Jack Cole Coffee Area on Friday 13th September 5.30pm-7.30pm.

The usual BBQ favourites will be available from the grill and refreshments will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there!

WICS Coffee Break is back!

Women in Computer Science is back and are excited to invite you to the first coffee break of the academic year. This is a perfect opportunity for incoming students and returning students to meet each other and academic staff in the School.

Event Details:

  • Date: Wednesday 11th September
  • Time: 14:00-15:00
  • Where: Jack Cole Coffee Area

Chat, coffee and snacks available!