New AI research environment at Uppsala University
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are growing rapidly on a global scale and offering unique opportunities for research, education and the development of human societies. To be able to coordinate and exploit the potential of this research field, Uppsala University will start a creative hub, AI for Research, at the University Library Carolina Rediviva later in the year.
Starting in autumn 2020, researchers from all over the University will come together at Carolina Rediviva to share ideas and develop research projects related to AI. Researchers will work 50 per cent of full time for a year as part of AI for Research; after that, new researchers will move into the research environment. The idea is that the researchers will find collaborators from other disciplinary domains and take back what they learn to their home departments.
Professor of Automatic
Control
Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
“The new research environment will offer a stimulating and separate environment for AI-related questions and projects that can be taken further within each researcher’s subject area and teaching,” says professor Thomas Schön, acting scientific director for the project.
Coming together across disciplinary domain boundaries
The three disciplinary domains are sharing the costs of the five-year AI for Research project. However, accompanying doctoral students, postdocs or other researchers will be financed by their own external funding or direct government funding. Workspaces are now being set up at Carolina Rediviva so that all project participants can be part of day-to-day activities.
One of the researchers admitted for the first sabbatical period is Ida-Maria Sintorn of the Division of Visual Information and Interaction, Department of Information Technology.
Senior Associate
Lecturer in Computer-
ized image analysis
Her research focus is image analysis, but she also worked for a long time in industry with electron microscopy and the analysis of nanometre-sized biological particles.
“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun to sit with experts from different areas and explore the synergies between the problems we pose. Sharing experiences and developing methods for a technology from different focuses is going to be very exciting,” says Ida-Maria Sintorn.
Researchers so far admitted to AI for Research for autumn 2020 are:
Darek Haftor, Department of Informatics and Media
Anders Isaksson, Department of Medical Sciences
Åsa Johansson, Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology
Matteo Magnani, Department of Information Technology
Carl Nettelblad, Department of Information Technology
Alexandra Segerberg, Department of Government
Ida-Maria Sintorn, Department of Information Technology
Fiona Skerman, Department of Mathematics
Erik Zachrisson, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Anneli Björkman