Fabrizio Capobianco (The Liquid Factory) Speaker on Friday 28th March

Speaker: Fabrizio Capobianco (Partner, The Liquid Factory)

Date: Friday 28th March

Time: 3:00

Venue: Jack Cole 1.33A/B

The Liquid Factory (www.theliquidfactory.com).

At The Liquid Factory, they support the next generation of European entrepreneurs in successfully bridging the gap to Silicon Valley. They achieve this by investing in talent through a 4M EUR fund, which sponsors four Entrepreneurs in Residence each year who temporarily join them in the Italian Alps.

Fabrizio has given talks across Europe sharing his journey as a European entrepreneur who spent 23 years in Silicon Valley before returning to Europe to contribute what he had learned. His presentation also highlights why Silicon Valley remains relevant, though it’s no longer essential for an entire company to be based there. And of course ends with the reasons why he started the Liquid Factory and why it makes sense to apply. These talks typically spark engaging Q&A sessions.

Distinguished Lecture Series: Data Mining and the “Curse of Dimensionality”

Tuesday 1st April

Booth Lecture Theatre, School of Medicine

Schedule:

  • Talk 1: 10:00 – 11:30
  • Lunch: 12:00 – 13:00
  • Talk 2 : 13:00 – 14:30
  • Coffee break: 14:30 – 15:00
  • Talk 3: 15:00 – 16:30

We look forward to welcoming Professor Arthur Zimek, University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Denmark, who will talk about Data Mining and the “Curse of Dimensionality”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Zimek

Abstract:
While the “curse of dimensionality” is a famous (or rather infamous) phenomenon, it has many different aspects that are not always clearly distinguished, and the impact and relevance of these aspects for some specific task remains often unclear. In this lecture series we consider the challenges of the “curse” from the perspective of data mining. In the first part, we discuss the “curse” in more detail, identifying relevant aspects or problems. In the second part, we consider clustering facing these problems and discuss some strategies and example methods for subspace clustering. In the third and last part, we discuss outlier detection, considering strategies for improved efficiency, effectiveness, and subspace outlier detection.

SACHI Seminar with Aluna Everitt – Democratising the Design and Development of Emerging Technologies

We are pleased to share our upcoming SACHI research seminar by Dr Aluna Everitt, a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand:

📅 Today | 🕛 12:00 – 1:00 PM | 📍 JCB, Room 1.33B

Title:

Democratising the Design and Development of Emerging Technologies

Abstract:

My research focuses on democratising the development of emerging technologies. More specifically, by establishing accessible approaches for designing and building emerging technologies such as robotics, wearables, and shape-changing interfaces. To advance the field, my research focuses not only on understanding these technologies (e.g., their design), but also how to build them (e.g., engineer them), and how to innovate with them (e.g., application). In this talk, I will go into detail about some of the projects I have worked on around this topic across the fields of HCI, Design, and Engineering.

Bio:

Dr. Aluna Everitt is a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Prior to moving to Christchurch (NZ), she was a Research Associate in the Cyber-Physical Systems group at the University of Oxford and a Junior Research Fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford. She was also a Senior Visiting Researcher and postdoc at the University of Bristol (BIG Lab). Dr. Everitt was awarded her PhD in Computer Science from Lancaster University, specializing in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). As a multi-disciplinary researcher, her areas of interest and expertise lie across the fields of HCI, Design, and Engineering. She has a particular interest in conducting both quantitative and qualitative research which combines a mix of engineering fabrication approaches for iterative prototyping, together with collaborative design (co-design) to encourage users and experts from different domains to develop content and applications for the next generation of interactive hardware systems and interfaces (e.g., shape-changing displays, wearables, and robotics).

PGR Seminar with Mirza Hossain

The next PGR seminar is taking place this Friday 14th March at 2PM in JC 1.33a

Below are the Title and Abstract for Mirza’s talk – Please do come along if you are able.

Title: BioFuse: Optimizing Biomedical Embeddings with Foundation Models

Abstract: Pre-trained foundation models have revolutionized biomedical AI, excelling in specialized domains like radiology and histopathology. However, integrating multiple models remains a challenge due to compatibility and feature fusion issues. BioFuse is an open-source framework designed to optimize biomedical embeddings by automatically selecting and fusing the best model combinations. Leveraging 9 state-of-the-art foundation models and a grid search strategy, BioFuse generates task-specific embeddings that improve downstream classification. On the MedMNIST+ benchmark, it achieves SOTA AUC in 5/12 datasets while maintaining near-SOTA performance in others. Surprisingly, our experiments reveal strong cross-modal capabilities, where models trained on one modality perform well on others. With a high-level API and an extensible architecture, BioFuse streamlines model integration and paves the way for new insights in biomedical data fusion.

PhD student project showcase in CyberASAPY8 Demo Day

A group of PhD students: Yaxiong Lei and Zihang Zhang, in our school have been awarded a CyberASAP project. This is funded by the Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) and organised by InnovateUK. CyberASAP aims to fund innovative cybersecurity solutions from academics. Their project, LockEyeGaze, confronts the cybersecurity challenge of sophisticated computer vision and 3D modelling technologies such as deepfake and AI-generated tampering. They are leveraging the dynamic patterns of eye movements for security, which are significantly more difficult to replicate than static biometric features like static face, iris and fingerprints. Their project is selected to present at CyberASAP Year 8 Demo Day in Canary Wharf, London today.

Links:

https://web-eur.cvent.com/event/4a986031-294f-4ad0-9a9b-a4863690bd19/summary

https://iuk-business-connect.org.uk/events/cyberasap-year-8-demo-day/

PGR Seminar with Ben Claydon and Erdem Kus

The next PGR seminar is taking place this Friday 28th February at 2PM in JC 1.33a

Below are Titles and Abstracts for Ben and Erdem’s talks – Please do come along if you are able.

Ben Claydon

Title: Mechanisms for Similarity Search

Abstract:

Similarity search encompasses the task of finding those objects in a large collection which are most alike to, in some way, an object presented by the user as a query. The domain of these objects is wide, from images to text to chemical structures. This task becomes yet harder when the database becomes extremely large, and a sublinear query time with respect to the database size becomes a requirement. This talk discusses why the problem becomes so hard when presented with complex data, and how algorithms and data structures can be engineered to serve these queries.

Erdem Kus

Title: Frugal Algorithm Selection

Abstract: When solving decision and optimisation problems, many competing algorithms (model and solver choices) have complementary strengths. Typically, there is no single algorithm that works well for all instances of a problem. Automated algorithm selection has been shown to work very well for choosing a suitable algorithm for a given instance. However, the cost of training can be prohibitively large due to running candidate algorithms on a representative set of training instances. In this work, we explore reducing this cost by choosing a subset of the training instances on which to train. We approach this problem in three ways: using active learning to decide based on prediction uncertainty, augmenting the algorithm predictors with a timeout predictor, and collecting training data using a progressively increasing timeout. We evaluate combinations of these approaches on six datasets from ASLib and present the reduction in labelling cost achieved by each option.

PGR Seminar with Sharon Pisani

The next PGR seminar is taking place this Friday 21st February at 2PM in JC 1.33a

Below is a Title and Abstract for Sharon’s talk – Please do come along if you are able.

Title: Digital Cultural Landscapes for Sustainable Development in Remote and Island Communities

Abstract: Heritage plays a crucial role in community identity and sustainable development, yet remote and island communities often face challenges in engaging with and protecting their landscapes. This research explores how emergent digital technologies—such as 3D modelling, VR, and AR—can enhance heritage engagement and contribute to sustainable development. Using a practice-led methodology, case studies from Scotland and Malta demonstrate how digital cultural landscapes can support climate action, institutional capacity-building, and sustainable communities. A sustainable virtual museum framework is being developed, linking heritage to real-world environmental and socio-economic challenges. This presentation highlights the findings from these case studies, and the next steps in developing an immersive digital environment for an underwater heritage site.

PGR Seminar with Sachin Yadav and Junyu Zhang

The next PGR seminar is taking place this Friday 14th February at 2PM in JC 1.33a

Below is a title and Abstract for Sachin and Junyu’s talks – Please do come along if you are able.

Sachin Yadav

Title: Reimagining the Digital Gig Economy: Evaluating the economic feasibility and technological capabilities of physical cooperative gig platform

Abstract: The gig economy, fuelled by digital platforms, has transformed the labour markets around the world, offering flexibility but often at the cost of security for the worker and fair compensation. This presentation explores platform cooperatives – a democratically owned and governed alternative – as a potential solution to these challenges. I will delve into the economic feasibility and technological capabilities of physical delivery cooperatives, comparing them to traditional investor-owned platforms. By examining key performance metrics, regulatory environments, and worker empowerment, my ongoing work will assess whether platform cooperatives can achieve a comparable level of service while fostering more equitable working conditions. This presentation aims to spark discussion on the future of the gig economy and the role cooperative models can play in creating a more sustainable digital labour landscape.

Junyu Zhang

Title: Engaging Culture Heritage with Authentic Characters to Support Inclusive Learning

Abstract: Digitalization opens up new opportunities for cultural heritage, and lately the exploration of virtual reality has created new forms of representation of cultural content for educational institutions, museum exhibitions, and heritage preservation organizations. High-fidelity technology allows virtual agents to simulate realistic human appearances and behaviour to interact and engage with their surroundings. This speech presents work-in-progress research regarding designing, creating and utilising authentic characters to strengthen the exhibition of cultural heritage. Through the discussion on research design and practice, this research examines the capability of characters to enrich immersion and communication with heritage. This presentation introduces the realism and authenticity of character design, clarifies the goals for digitalization for inclusive learning opportunities in SDG, and ends with future work.

Seminar, Nobuko Yoshida, Monday 3rd February

Prof. Nobuko Yoshida of Oxford University is visiting us next Monday (3 February).

Nobuko has kindly agreed to give a talk on her work during her visit. The talk will be at 1pm in JC1.33a.

Nobuko Yoshida, University of Oxford, UK
https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/nobuko.yoshida/

Title
Multiparty Session Types: Separation and Encodability Results

Abstract

Multiparty session types (MPST) are a type discipline for enforcing the structured, deadlock-free communication of concurrent and message-passing programs. Traditional MPST have a limited form of choice in which alternative communication possibilities are offered by a single participant and selected by another. Mixed choice multiparty session types (MCMP) extend the choice construct to include both selections and offers in the same choice. This talk first introduces the history and background of types for communications and multiparty session types, relating to the history of Computer Science in Oxford. This talk then presents a mixed choice synchronous multiparty session calculus and its typing system, which guarantees communication safety and deadlock-freedom. We then discuss the expressiveness of nine subcalculi of MCMP-calculus by examining their encodability (there exists a good encoding from one to another) and separation (there exists no good encoding from one calculus to another). The highlight is the binary (2-party) mixed sessions by Casal et al (2022) is strictly less expressive than the MCMP-calculus.

A joint work with Kirstin Peters appeared in LICS’24 (https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.08104)

About the speaker. Nobuko Yoshida is Christopher Strachey Chair of Computer Science in University of Oxford. She is an EPSRC Established Career Fellow and an Honorary Fellow at Glasgow University. Last 10 years, her main research interests are theories and applications of protocols specifications and verifications. She introduced multiparty session types [ POPL’08, JACM ] which received Most Influential POPL Paper Award in 2018 (judged by its influence over the last decade). This work enlarged the community and widened the scope of applications of session types, e.g. runtime monitoring based on Scribble (co-developed with Red Hat) has been deployed to other projects such as cyberinfrastructure in the US Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI); and widened the scope of her research areas. She received the Test-of-time-award from PPDP’24 and the best paper awards from CC’20, COORDINATION’23 and DisCoTech’23. She received the third Suffrage Science Awards for Mathematics and Computing from MRC for her STEM activity. She is an editor of ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems, ACM Formal Aspects of Computing, Mathematical Structures in Computer Science, Journal of Logical Algebraic Methods in Programming, and the chief editor of The Computer-aided Verification and Concurrency Column for EATCS Bulletin.