IEEE Week 2024 | Public Engagement Event – London
The IEEE UK and Ireland Section is organising a series of public and invitation only meetings during IEEE Week (30th September – 4th October 2024) where IEEE Volunteers, Members and the wider community will have the opportunity to hear from and engage with IEEE President Dr Tom Coughlin.
The IEEE Week 2024 Event in London on 30 September is focused on Artificial Intelligence. This event is kindly hosted by Queen Mary University London. The event commences at 6pm followed by the opportunity for networking among speakers and participants.
Program
- Welcome, Professor Akram Alomainy, Deputy Dean for Postgraduate Research in Science and Engineering and Professor of Antennas and Applied Electromagnetics, Queen Mary University London
- Welcome and Introduction to IEEE UK and Ireland Section, Prof Paul Cunningham, UK and Ireland Section Chair
- IEEE Region 8 Presentation, Prof Mike Hinchey, Region 8 Director-Elect
- IEEE Foundation Presentation, Prof Sarah Spurgeon, IEEE Foundation Director
- Prioritizing Societal and Ethical Concerns with Responsible AI, Dr Tom Coughlin, IEEE President
- IEEE Ethics Certification Programme for Autonomous Intelligent Systems, Dr. Ali Hessami, Vice Chair and Process Architect, IEEE Ethics Certification Program for Autonomous and Intelligent Systems
- AI for transport – Holy Grail or Emperor’s New Clothes?, Prof Sarah Sharples, Chief Scientific Adviser, HM Department for Transport
- The use of Machine Learning in Safety Applications; Where do the Boundaries Lie? Prof Rod Muttram, JVP, IRSE
- Simulation-Based AI, Prof. Simon Lucas, Director of Game AI Research Group and Professor in Artificial Intelligence, Queen Mary University London
- Opportunities, Challenges and Risks of AI, Prof. Hujun Yin, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester
- Moderated discussion, Q&A
- Networking with light refreshments
Abstracts / Biographies
Welcome, Professor Akram Alomainy, Deputy Dean for Postgraduate Research in Science and Engineering and Professor of Antennas and Applied Electromagnetics, Queen Mary University London
Biography
Professor Akram Alomainy is the Deputy Dean for Postgraduate Research in the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Head of the Antennas and Electromagnetics Research Group, Lead of the Centre for Electronics and a Professor of Antennas & Applied EM in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), UK. He has authored and co-authored 5 books, 6 book chapters and more than 500 technical papers (12500+ citations) in leading journals and peer-reviewed conferences.
Prof Alomainy won the Isambard Brunel Kingdom Award, in 2011, for outstanding young science and engineering communicator and both the education and research excellence awards at QMUL in 2019 and 2021, respectively. He chairs EU and international funding panels including FWO in Belgium and serves as associate editor for various journals including IEEE AWPL, J-ERM and Nature Scientific Reports. He was the UK URSI Panel B representative until 2020 and serves as external examiner for many UK and international universities.
Welcome and Introduction to IEEE UK and Ireland Section, Prof. Paul Cunningham, UK and Ireland Section Chair
Prof Paul Cunningham will provide a brief introduction to IEEE and the activities currently being supported through the IEEE UK and Ireland Section.
Biography
Professor Paul Cunningham is a technology and innovation expert with over 25 years experience collaborating with national and international stakeholders in Europe and Africa, including governmental, industry, education and research and technology innovation and research funding organisations to support wider adoption of technological innovation to address societal challenges.
Paul has served in a volunteer capacity within IEEE at Director, Technical Activities Board, Member and Geographic Activities, Society, Region, Section and Chapter levels. He is a past Director, IEEE Division VI (2021 – 2022) and President, Society on Social Implications of Technology (2017-2018). He is currently serving in a number of volunteer roles including: Chair, IEEE UK and Ireland Section (2024 – 2025); Member, IEEE TAB Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (2023 – 2024); Member, IEEE MGA Geographic Unit Operations Support Committee – TAB Representative (2024); Member, IEEE TAB Finance Committee (2024 – 2025, 2022 – 2023) and Chair, IEEE Region 8 Committee on Climate Change (2023 – 2024).
Region 8 Presentation, Prof Mike Hinchey, Region 8 Director-Elect
Prof Mike Hinchey will provide a brief introduction to IEEE Region 8 and activities being supported across IEEE in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Biography
Professor Mike Hinchey is Professor of Software Engineering at University of Limerick, Ireland, where he was previously Head of Department of Computer Science and Information Systems and Director of Lero-the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, a national research centre headquartered at University of Limerick.
Prior to joining University of Limerick, Professor Hinchey was the Director of the NASA Software Engineering Laboratory. In 2009, he was awarded NASA’s Kerley Award as Innovator of the Year and is one of only 36 people recognised in the NASA Inventors Hall of Fame. Professor Hinchey holds a BSc in Computer Systems from University of Limerick, an MSc in Computation (Mathematics) from University of Oxford and a PhD in Computer Science from University of Cambridge.
Professor Hinchey is a Chartered Engineer, Chartered Engineering Professional, Chartered Mathematician and Chartered Information Technology Professional, as well as a Fellow of the IET, British Computer Society, Engineers Ireland, and Irish Computer Society, of which he is also Past President.
He is Director-elect of IEEE Region 8 (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and serves on IEEE Computer Society Board of Governors. He is Past President of IFIP, the International Federation for Information Processing and Past Chair of the IEEE UK & Ireland Section.
IEEE Foundation Presentation, Prof Sarah Spurgeon, IEEE Foundation Director
Prof Sarah Spurgeon will provide a brief introduction to the IEEE Foundation and activities it supports globally.
Biography
Professor Sarah Spurgeon is Professor of Control Engineering and Director of the Robotics Institute at UCL in the UK. Sarah’s research interests are in the area of systems modelling and analysis, robust control and estimation in which areas she has published over 300 research papers. She was awarded the Honeywell International Medal for ‘distinguished contribution as a control and measurement technologist to developing the theory of control’ in 2010 and an IEEE Millennium Medal in 2000. She was an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for the Control Systems Society for the period 2011-2014.
From 2017-2019 Sarah was President of the Engineering Professors Council, the representative body for engineering in higher education in the UK. She has also served as a Board Member for Engineering UK and as an elected member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Control Systems Society.
Sarah is currently Vice-President (Publications) for the International Federation of Automatic Control. She is Editor in Chief of IEEE Press and a Director of the IEEE Foundation. Within the UK, she is a Board Member of DSTL where she chairs the External Review College.
Prioritizing Societal and Ethical Concerns with Responsible AI, Dr Tom Coughlin, IEEE President
Abstract
President Coughlin will discuss IEEE’s efforts in promoting and defining ethical design with AI and its applications in advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. This includes Ethically Aligned Design for Intelligent and Autonomous Systems and standards for the ethical use of AI.
Biography
Dr Tom Coughlin, is the 2024 IEEE President and CEO. Tom has served in numerous IEEE volunteer leadership roles, including President of IEEE-USA, Director of IEEE Region 6, Vice President and Board member of the IEEE Consumer Technology Society, Chair of the Santa Clara Valley IEEE Section, and Chair of the Consultants Network of Silicon Valley. He is also active with the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers (SMPTE).
Dr Coughlin is a digital storage analyst and business and technology consultant and is President, Coughlin Associates. He has more than 40 years in the data storage industry with engineering and senior management positions at several companies.
An IEEE Life Fellow, Dr Coughlin has many publications and six patents. He is also the author of Digital Storage in Consumer Electronics: The Essential Guide, which is now in its second edition with Springer. Tom is a regular storage and memory contributor for forbes.com and media and entertainment organizations. Coughlin Associates consults and publishes books and market and technology reports, including The Media and Entertainment Storage Report and an Emerging Memory Report, and puts on digital storage-oriented events.
IEEE Ethics Certification Programme for Autonomous Intelligent Systems, Prof Ali Hessami, Vice Chair and Process Architect, IEEE Ethics Certification Program for Autonomous and Intelligent Systems
Abstract
The IEEE Ethics Certification Programme for Autonomous and Intelligent Systems is a proactive and visionary project that commenced during 2018. This has resulted in the development of a comprehensive suite of AI Ethics SMART Criteria aimed at supporting global stakeholders from public, private enterprises and governments to independently assess the ethical conformity of their AI solutions and attain a certification where desired. This global programme has now evolved into an IEEE AI Ethics Certification service under the CertifAIEd mark. This talk is primarily aimed at industry deployers of AI technologies and enterprises that may qualify as partners to the IEEE’s CertifAIEd efforts.
Biography
Professor Ali Hessami is the Director of R&D and Innovation at Vega Systems. He has an extensive track record in systems assurance and safety, security, sustainability, knowledge assessment/management methodologies and has a background in design and development of advanced control systems for business and safety critical industrial applications.
Ali represents UK on CENELEC & IEC safety systems, hardware & software standards committees. He was appointed by CENELEC as convener of a number of Working Groups for review of EN50128 Safety Critical Software Standard. Ali is also a member of Cyber Security Standardisation WG26 Group and started and the IEEE SMC and the Systems Council Chapters in the UK and Ireland Section.
During 2017 Ali joined the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) initially as a committee member for the new landmark IEEE 7000 standard focused on “Addressing Ethical Concerns in System Design”. He was subsequently appointed as the Technical Editor and later the Chair of IEEE 7000 standard. In November 2018, he was appointed as the Vice Chair and Process Architect of the IEEE ‘s global Ethics Certification Programme for Autonomous & Intelligent Systems (ECPAIS).
Ali is a Visiting Professor at London City University’s Centre for Systems and Control in the School of Engineering & Mathematics and at Beijing Jiaotong University School of Electronics & Information Engineering. He is also a Fellow of Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), Fellow of the UK Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) and a Life Senior Member of IEEE.
AI for transport – Holy Grail or Emperor’s New Clothes?, Prof Sarah Sharples, Chief Scientific Adviser, HM Department for Transport
Abstract
In this talk, Sarah will outline work that is taking place across the sector to embed use of AI. She will reflect on progress so far, describe some of the approaches taken to support AI in transport from government and consider next steps.
Biography
Professor Sarah Sharples is Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department for Transport. She is a Professor of Human Factors in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham and from 2018-2021 was Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion and People.
She has led research in transport, manufacturing and healthcare, and has a particular interest in designing systems that successfully integrate novel technologies and people in complex systems in settings including rail, highways and aviation.
Professor Sharples was President of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors from 2015-16.
The use of Machine Learning in Safety Applications; Where do the Boundaries Lie? – Prof Rod Muttram, JVP, IRSE
Abstract
AI is delivering significant benefits to humanity in applications such as medical diagnostics but these usually involve a human ‘sense check’ from either a medical professional or to some degree the patient themselves. Autonomy is increasingly being progressed and promoted in the road transport sector and there is an expectation that it will extend into other modes.
However other modes require a much higher level of integrity to maintain or improve safety performance, for instance in the UK road deaths still average around 1600 per year whereas on the railways there are only around 40 non-suicide deaths per year and there have been only 4 fatalities in collisions or derailments in the last 25 years. So how might a much higher safety benchmark be achieved?
Biography
Roderick Muttram is a systems and safety engineer with well over 40 years’ experience in four industries, Nuclear, Plastics, Defence and Rail.
He joined Railtrack shortly after its formation in 1994 becoming a Main Board Director of Railtrack Group PLC (then FTSE 100). Chief Executive of independent Railtrack subsidiary ‘Railway Safety’ from 2000 to 2003 which became the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB). Network Rail replaced Railtrack in 2002. Other posts in that period include Chairman of the Rail Industry Training Board (RITC), Chairman of the European Rail Research Institute (ERRI) and Vice-Chairman of the Association Européenne pour l’Interopérabilité Ferroviaire (AEIF) the body which wrote the original European rail interoperability Standards. Roderick held Vice-President level posts at both at Headquarters and an Operating Division in Bombardier Transportation (at that time the world’s largest railway equipment supplier)and was a lead auditor for critical projects worldwide. In May 2012 he established Fourth Insight Ltd, an engineering consultancy.
Roderick is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng), a First Class member of the Smeatonians, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (FIET), a Fellow of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (FIRSE), a Senior Member of the Institution of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (SMIEE) and was appointed an Advisory Professor to Beijing Jiaotong University in 2016. He volunteers for most of these organisations and is currently Honorary Treasurer of The Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers, the world’s oldest engineering society founded in 1771, and will be President of the IRSE in 2026.
Simulation-Based AI, Prof Simon Lucas, Director of Game AI Research Group and Professor in Artificial Intelligence, Queen Mary University London
Abstract
Despite amazing progress in generative AI, even the largest smartest models have serious and insurmountable limitations in their reasoning abilities.
Simulation-based AI makes intelligent decisions based on the statistics of simulations using a forward model of a problem domain. SBAI algorithms have very attractive properties, including instant adaptation to new problems, tunable intelligence and some degree of explainability.
Well known examples of this approach include Monte Carlo Tree Search and Rolling Horizon Evolution.
In this short talk I’ll outline how recent developments including utilising the power of Large Language Models are taking SBAI to new heights, with examples drawn from the 2024 AAMAS competition on Maritime Capture The Flag.
Biography
Professor Simon Lucas is a full professor of AI in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, where he leads the Game AI Research Group. His previous roles include the Head of School of EECS at QMUL, and research scientist and software engineer at Meta.
Simon established the IEEE Transactions on Games as its first Editor-in-Chief and co-founded the IEEE Conference on Games.
His main research focus is simulation-based AI (SBAI) applied to multi-agent games and real-world applications, with new developments including the integration of large language models (LLMs) to rapidly adaptive AI.
Opportunities, Challenges and Risks of AI, Prof. Hujun Yin, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester
Abstract
Prof Hujun Yin will remind the audience that AI isn’t a done deal yet and a fast increasing number of areas now require AI approaches such as medicine, agriculture, sustainability, net-zero, materials, etc. Prof. Hujun Yin will also touch on risks that pose for developers, practitioners and societies. The current AI (activities and funding) is too skewed to NLP, while many other domains should be invested to better realise the full potential and ethical impact of AI.
Queries
Any queries as well as accessibility challenges or dietary requirements can be submitted as part of the Registration Form.
We look forward to your active participation in IEEE Week 2024 Activities of our IEEE UK and Ireland Section.