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Activities

 Cohort Activities   /   External Activities

 


Cohort Activities

Applications and Implications of AI (AI^2) forum

All of our blogs and posts about AI^2  can be found here: https://leeds-ai-cdt.github.io/tag/AI_squared/

Oct 2024 - This month’s AI^2 Forum on 30th October 2024 was a special farewell event for some members of Cohort 2 in the AI for Medical Diagnosis and Care CDT. The forum featured a fantastic line up of presentations, covering a wide range of topics.

Sep 2024 - At the AI^2 Forum 25th September 2024, Xinyi Wang from the University of Tasmania (UTAS) presented ground breaking research at the AI^2 forum, focusing on dementia prevention and early detection. Dementia, a devastating and irreversible condition, affects millions worldwide, with Alzheimer’s disease being the most common form, accounting for 70% of cases.

Aug 2024 - This month during theAI^2 Forum 28th August 2024, we were privileged to host Dr Colin Paterson, who delivered a thought-provoking talk titled “That Can’t Be Right? Making Decisions in an Uncertain World.” His presentation touched on the complexities of decision-making, particularly in environments where uncertainty is a constant companion.

Jul 2024 - This month in AI^2 Forum 31 July 2024, Dr Nicola Dinsdale gave us an overview of the technical and logistical challenges facing the clinical translation of big data imaging studies.

Jun 2024 - Is there a better way to learn about Active and Retroactive Learning than through the discussion of homing pigeon tracking? On 26th June 2024 at the  AI^2 Forum, we had two speakers: Richard Mann talking about ‘Active and Retroactive Learning for Animal Behaviour’ and Danny Wood discussing ‘The Transition from Academia to Industry’.

May 2024 - This month during AI^2 Forum 29 May 2024 , we shifted our focus from human health to pet health, featuring guest speaker Max Barton, alongside Rob Cooper, from Vet-AI. Vet-AI is part of Joii, a company dedicated to making veterinary care more accessible and affordable while improving the lives of pets

Apr 2024 - This month at AI^2 Forum 24 April 2024 there was a discussion about the downfall of the company that once claimed their goal was to “put accessible, affordable health service in the hands of every person on Earth”.

Mar 2024 - This months AI^2 Forum 27 March 2024 forum was about how to ‘Communicate your Work to a Non-Technical Audience’

Feb 2024 - This month in AI^2 Forum 28 February 2024, we had a fantastic guest speaker, Declan Baldwin from Aire Logic. Declan is a senior software engineer with around 8 years of software engineering experience.

Jan 2024 - On January 31st, the School of Computing hosted a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) Showcase and Digital Health Panel event, bringing together a diverse array of research and insights in digital healthcare. The event featured a poster session where PhD students from the CDT showcased their work, followed by presentations.

Dec 2023 - The AI^2 Forum on 20th December 2023 hosted its second Christmas bake-off! This year, we had a range of exciting entries, from delicious Snow DAG chocolate fudge cakes and Random Forest Brownies to melted Snow people Cookies and Gingerbread AI^2 Cookies.

Nov 2023 - We are delighted to share the highlights from our recent AI^2 Forum 29th November 2023. The event, featuring Dr. Keith Tsui from medwise.ai, combined an insightful talk about using AI in a medical setting and challenges faced by start-ups, and engaging discussions about the dangers of modern chatbots, drawing a crowd eager to discuss the aforementioned topics and enjoy the great pizza and cake offered.

Oct 2023 - We’re happy to share the highlights from our 25th October AI^2 Forum. This event, towards the beginning of the new academic year, featured Dr. Duygu Sarikaya, a Lecturer within the School of Computing, who discussed her advanced work in AI and healthcare.

Sep 2023 - In September 2023's AI^2 forum, we had two fantastic guest speakers: Associate Prof. Dave Wong and Dr. Alexa Ruppertsberg. Dave discussed the pros and cons of being a post-doctoral researcher. Alexa emphasised the importance of research engagement.

Aug 2023 - To help ease your concerns and provide valuable insights, the recent AI^2 Forum session on August 30th was dedicated to “Demystifying the PhD Viva.”

Jul 2023 - In July 2023 edition of AI^2, we had the privilege of hosting two esteemed guests from NHS England: Dr. Dan Schofield and Dr. Jonathan Pearson. They provided us with a fascinating overview of NHS England and its Digital Analytics Research Team (DART).

Jun 2023 - Zoe Hancox and Jason Keighley hosted a testathon session where together we explored Pytesting of AI models to improve our code reliability, reduce bugs and increase our error finding efficiency in June 2023's AI^2 forum.

May 2023 - Dr. Kieran Zucker spoke at the May 2023 AI^2 forum about the challenges of implementing AI in healthcare.

Apr 2023 - Dr Keiran Suchak and Dr Peter Hristov gave a talk titled “What to Expect When You’re Expecting… the End of Your PhD” in the April 2023 AI^2 forum.

Mar 2023 - Four clinicians discussing the challenges and opportunities for data science and AI in their specialties in the March 2023 forum.

Feb 2023 - In the February 2023 forum, Hamidreza Saligheh Rad gave a talk about his work in Radiology and the impressive companies and initiatives he’s been a part of.

Jan 2023 - In Jan 2023's forum, Alexia Toumpa was our guest speaker who shared her fascinating work on ‘Prediction of object interactions in the real-world’ and thoughts on her time in industry.

Dec 2022 - We had an AI-themed Christmas bake off and medical quiz to end the year for December's forum. 10 bakers took part in the 2022 Bake Off.

2024 CDT Retreat

Empowering Future Researchers: The AI-Medical CDT Retreat

Retreat Signage

The recent CDT AI-Medical 24 hour retreat was a transformative experience with over 60 delegates attending, it was designed to equip students with essential skills for their future careers. The retreat's primary purpose was to provide mentorship and training, focusing on effective communication with patients and industry partners, as well as honing the art of pitching innovative ideas.

Throughout the retreat, students engaged in a variety of activities aimed at enhancing their professional development. We started the retreat with a mentoring session led by Vania Dimitrova CDT Co Director, expert mentors from diverse fields shared their insights and experiences, offering invaluable guidance to cohorts 2 & 3 students. Interactive workshops and role-playing sessions allowed students to practice and refine their communication skills in realistic scenarios.

David & Vania Intro retreat & mentoring session Oliver - mentee feedback Brown Team mentee feedback

The evening featured a networking dinner, with a delightful meal prepared by the Weetwood Hall staff. Special thanks to Ben Keel for organising the after dinner quiz, which added a fun and engaging element to the evening.

One of the highlights of the retreat was the collaborative design session led by Owen Johnson – CDT Co Director. This session brought together patients, resident doctors, supervisors, and students, fostering a deeper understanding of the challenges and needs withing the healthcare industry. The collaborative environment encouraged the exchange of ideas and perspectives, leading to innovative solutions using AI and building stronger connections among participants.

Cohort 2 write up

During this time some of our Cohort 2 students (pictured left) were given the opportunity to write up their thesis in a quiet location away from everyday distractions, which they found highly beneficial.

 

Simon Cain - Westbourne Training & Consulting, delivered a workshop on the art of presenting pitches, where he shared valuable tips and strategies with the students; who then used these tools to enhance their pitches. The session culminated in a pitch competition, moderated by CDT Co-Director Owen Johnson in front of an expert panel of David Hogg - CDT Director and Vania Dimitrova – CDT Co Director with Simon Cain observing the pitches and providing individual feedback as well as awarding the prize for the best pitch.

 Group Collab Design sessionOwen - Collab Design Intro Vania - Collab Design feedback Simon Cain Prizes

The retreat concluded with a talk by Phil Wood, Chief Executive, Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust on Emerging opportunities & challenges for AI in health care – an NHS perspective. Which left a lasting impression on the attendees.

Overall, the retreat not only provided practical training but also fostered a sense of community among the students. Networking opportunities were abundant, allowing participants to connect with peers and mentors, forming relationships that will support their professional journeys.

In summary, the CDT retreat was a resounding success, leaving students better prepared to navigate the complexities of their future careers. The skills and connections gained during this retreat will undoubtedly serve as a strong foundation for their professional growth.

Lastly, it was heart warming to see the students and Directors welcome Hien Nguyen(CDT Manager) back for the retreat. Everyone was excited to catch up with her creating a warm and uplifting atmosphere.

Hien and Sharib reconnecting Retreat registration networkingPre dinner networking Pre dinner networking David, Owen & Omar Networking DinnerDirectors catch upPhil Wood talk Yushi Guo & Phil Wood following talkretreat table set upRetreat registration Networking

A special thanks to Felicia Black for organising the event, the Retreat was a great success!

2024 Cohort 2 Farewell

Best Wishes For Your Future Endeavours!

This October the CDT Management Board bid a heartfelt farewell to cohort 2. We celebrated their invaluable contributions and camaraderie with a memorable meal at the Lost and Found restaurant in Leeds. Their presence has been a cornerstone of the CDT, they will be greatly missed!

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Jack Breen who is the first from Cohort 2 to successfully defend his PhD thesis and has secured employment at Perspectum Ltd based in Oxford.

Cohort 2 farewell meal at the Lost & Found Restaurant in Leeds Oct 2024

2024 CDT Dragons Den

This year, once again the students were given the opportunity to be part of the Dragons Den organised by Mr Richard Stevens – Patient Advocate. 12 students presented their ideas to a panel of experts following consultation with patients over Zoom. This process involved multiple stages of interaction with patients, to gather valuable insights and feedback. These consultations ensured that the projects addressed real-world needs and challenges faced by patients.

The event was a testament to the students’ creativity and dedication. Each presentation reflected hard work and commitment of the students. The panel of experts provided constructive feedback, helping to refine and enhance the projects further. The Dragons Den event fostered collaboration with patients, encouraging students to think critically and creatively about their work.

Overall the event was a resounding success, highlighting the importance of patient-centred research and the potential of these innovative ideas to make a significant impact. It was an inspiring experience for all involved, showcasing the bright future of our PhD Students.

2024 CDT Networking Walk

This year cohort 5 invited students from the other cohorts to join them for their networking walk from Burnsall to Grassington in Yorkshire. This provided an opportunity to socialise and discuss their work with more experienced students in the great outdoors. The event fostered meaningful connections making it a valuable experience for everyone involved.

Burnsall to Grassington CDT Networking Walk 20242024 Networking Walk Group photo near grassington by the falls

2024 Leeds AI-Medical ConSim Conference

This year cohort 5 were given the opportunity to present their MSc project presentations as simulated in a real conference, to fellow students and supervisors. The event was a fantastic platform for showcasing their ground breaking ideas and fostering collaborative discussions making it a memorable experience for all involved.

Cohort 5 MSc Presentation Sept 2024

2024 CDT Conference

We recently hosted 2024 CDT Conference in Sir William Bragg Building, where innovation met inspiration! This annual event brought together leading researchers, industry experts and talented students from across the UK and beyond. The event featured Keynote speakers Prof. David Preen (Applications and opportunities for linked data research to tackle the big questions in health services policy and planning) and Prof. Keeley Crockett (People Powered AI- Challenged and Opportunities in Responsible and Ethical AI Development) as well as a panel of Leading Industry panellists’ Nishant Ravikumar - Adsilico, Zahra Ehteshami - Depuy Synthes (J&J) and Fiona Costello – ORCHA.

The event featured a diverse array of cutting-edge topics, from sustainable technologies to digital transformation, sparking thought provoking discussions that are set to shape the future of AI in medicine. The conference also offered students the opportunity to network, collaborate and be part of groundbreaking advancements.

CDT conference 2024 - Industry panel - Rhodes Theatre

 2023 ConSim Conference

We are organising the MSc project presentations as a simulated real conference in September 2023, ConSim2023.

 2023 CDT Conference

Our Leeds CDT AI Medical Conference in June 2023 was another great success. We were delighted to have a talk delivered by Sarah Culkin, Deputy Director of Analytics and Data Science in NHS England on ‘AI in the NHS’.

The students from all cohorts were given the opportunity to present their research and ideas through oral talks followed by poster sessions given by Cohort 1, Cohort 2 and Cohort 3.  

Participants presenting and discussing posters.

 

2023 UKRI AI CDTs in Healthcare Joint Conference

In June 2023 the University of Leeds CDT hosted the UKRI AI CDT Joint Conference, which took place at the Principal Hotel, York. The conference offered an opportunity for our PhD researchers to showcase their research through oral presentations and poster sessions. The conference welcomed guest speakers Dorothy Monekosso, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Durham who gave a keynote talk on ‘Why is innovating in digital health challenging?’ and Richard Stephens from NCRI Consumer Forum who gave a keynote talk on Fleshing Out the Data – Involving Patients in Your Research. The conference was a great success, giving the students an opportunity to network with fellow researchers.

Group photo of Healthcare Joint Conference participants.

2022 Retreat Program

In Nov 2022 our Cohort 1, 2 and 3 students attended a retreat program at Weetwood Hall in Leeds. During this program, they participated in mentoring sessions and career panels which covered academia/industry/public sectors, interdisciplinary research; delivered by Ann Blandford from UCL and included a networking lunch.

Group photos from the CDT retreat at Weetwood Hall.

 

2022 ConSim Conference

We organised the MSc project presentations as a simulated real conference C0nSim2022

2022 CDT Conference

Our Leeds CDT AI Medical Conference in June 2022 was a great success. We were delighted to have talks delivered by Hamish Fraser (Associate Professor of Medical Science Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice Brown University) on the Evaluation of diagnostic and triage accuracy and usability of a symptom checker in an emergency department: observational study” and by Alison Noble (Technikos Professor of Biomedical Engineering Fellow of St Hilda's College University of Oxford) on “The Emergence of Sonography Data Science”.  

The students were given the opportunity to showcase their research and ideas through oral talks followed by poster sessions given by Cohort 1 and Cohort 2.  

Group photo of Leeds CDT AI Medical Conference participants.

 

2022 Dragons Den

We are grateful to Richard Stephens for his enthusiasm, energy and passion to help everyone in our Centre, and especially the students, to become aware of the patients’ perspective when AI research is being translated to healthcare. Richard has been advising us, helping us shape the research programme, presenting to our students, and always reminding us to appreciate patients for sharing their data for research. The Patient Dragon’s Den Richard organised was a fantastic event that gave unique opportunity to the first cohort of our students to present their work to patients.

Alexandra, Della, John, and Richard were fantastic dragons. Not only did they share personal experience, but they could also gave a broad view of how patients could be affected by the research. We were impressed by the breadth of knowledge, understanding of AI, and the willingness to help our PhD students. They offered constructive feedback how to consider the effect on patients and shared invaluable tips how to engage with patients. Following the event, students who did not present (but participated as observers) were eager to have their patient dragon’s den presentations.

Screen captures of online hosted Dragons Den.

 

2022 UKRI AI CDTs in Healthcare Joint Conference

In May 2022 Cohort 1 and 2 attended the Joint CDT Conference. The conference offered an opportunity for our PhD researchers to showcase their research and ideas through oral talks and poster sessions. The conference began with a presentation from guest speaker Maria Liakata, Professor in Natural Language Processing (NLP) followed by a Q&A session. Our students were given the opportunity to network with fellow researchers from University College London, Edinburgh University, and Imperial College London. 

Group photo of Leeds participants from Healthcare Joint Conference.

Patient Engagement seminar with Richard Stephens 

Classroom with Richard Stephens conducting seminar with students.

 

CDT journal club and seminars

The CDT journal club involves all students who are 6 months past the start of their studies. The students meet weekly, every Wednesday at 3pm, to present and discuss papers related to AI in Medical Diagnosis and Care. Some of the slots include presentations from internal or external speakers. If you wish to join the CDT journal club and seminars, contact Lucy Godson, Anna-Grace Linton or Zoe Hancox.

A monthly university-wide forum on Applications and Implications of AI, initiated and run by the students, providing an opportunity to meet diverse role models from different sectors and career stages.

Online activities and support

CDT-led coffee and chat sessions happen every Friday and provide an opportunity for social interaction and informal catchup. The students maintain regular contact through WhatsApp and Discord. The Discord channel is particularly effective in maintaining day-to-day activities of the CDT. We have two student led discord servers, one for work-related conversations/collaborations and another for socialising. The work-related server is where students keep in contact most days to discuss our work, clarify common queries, give reminders, give announcements, share useful resources, and share any relevant events to their studies. The students have separate channels for modules and were able to utilise this space to support each other and make sure that each student had a colleague to work with during group projects, which helped with group cohesion. The social server is a space for the CDT students and related courses which is mainly used for online social events. Over the summer this server is used to aid in the cohesion of the new cohort before joining in the autumn semester. This provides new students with a local contact with whom they are able to occasionally interact or ask questions.  

CDT Cohort Walks

2024 CDT Networking Walk

This year cohort 5 invited students from the other cohorts to join them for their networking walk from Burnsall to Grassington  culminating in a delightful lunch at the Red Lion Inn. This was a great opportunity to for cohort 5 students to socialise and connect with fellow cohort students.

2024 Neworking walk Group Picture 3

As part of the induction for new students, we organise a social walk to allow the students to meet in an informal atmosphere and get to know each other. Cohort 3's induction included a walk in Ilkley Moors in September 2021.

Hiking group photos.

In the summer 2021, a walk in Ilkley (Leeds) was organised for Cohort 2 students. Due to lockdown, Cohort 2 students had all activities online. The walk provided an opportunity to meet each other face to face, offering a good chance for group bonding and team building.

Hiking photos.

As part of their induction, Cohort 1 went for a walk in the Yorkshire Dales.

Hiking photos.

 

Social Activities

In addition to the walks, we regularly organise social activities to promote group bonding, team building, build a relaxing atmosphere and have fun :). The pictures below show two examples - celebrating the Chinese New Year with Cohort 1 and farewell to  the CDT manager Ellen Goodison.

Group photos from activities.

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External Activities

  • Jason Keighley successfully defended his PhD thesis "Automated compression, classification and generation of digital colorectal tissue images using variational autoencoders" on 24/01 and was awarded the PhD subject to corrections of minor deficiencies. His examiners were Toni Lassila and C. Carlos Reyes Aldosoro (City University of London), and the supervisors were Marc de Kamps, Alexander Wright, and Darren Treanor.
  • Congratulations to Jack Breen who defended his PhD thesis today and was recommended the award of PhD subject to the correction of minor deficiencies by his examiners. External examiner was Shan Raza from Warwick University. Supervisors were Dr Nishant Ravikumar, Dr Kieran Zucker, Dr Nic Orsi, and Professor Geoff Hall. Well done Jack!
  • Omar Choudhry (Cohort 5 CDT student) has been made an associate fellow of Advance HE via the Professional Recognition in Student Education (PRiSE) scheme. Information about PRIsSE and how PhD students can apply is available here. Many congratulations on your success, Omar.
  • Congratulations to Andrew Broad (from Cohort 1 CDT students) whose PhD thesis has received research excellence recognition from the University of Leeds. Congratulations and very well done, Andrew! Very best wishes for a rewarding career ahead.Congratulations go also to the exceptional supervisory team – Marc de Kamps (School of Computer Science), Alex Wright (Leeds Teaching Hospitals) and Darren Treanor (Leeds Teaching Hospitals). Recognition of excellence at the University of Leeds recognises exceptional PhD research: "Research excellence reflects outstanding achievement in the thesis and oral examination at a level significantly above what would be expected for the award of a doctoral degree (highly original, high level of critical thought, outstanding presentation of the work), where the candidate has fulfilled all requirements for the degree either without corrections (straight pass) or with minor editorial corrections. Evidence might also be identified from associated research outputs which might include: major theoretical contribution; acceptance for publication of sections in major journals; patents; prizes for completed work; marketable software; original equipment; new therapies; major exhibitions or performances arising from the practical part of a practice-based degree."
  • MICCAI 2024 saw enthusiastic participation from our CDT students, who not only presented their research but also networked with international students and industry partners. Their involvement underscores the program’s commitment to advancing AI in healthcare and dedication to addressing worldwide healthcare challenges through collaborative efforts.MICCAI 2024
  • CDT students had the incredible opportunity to attend and present posters at the N8 Digital Health Community Day held at the University of Leeds, Nexus. This event was a gathering of experts from various fields, providing a platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration in the realm of digital health. Read more at our CDT students' blog.
  • Emma Briggs completed a short clinical observation at Oaklands Health Centre general practice, gaining first-hand experience of clinician interaction with primary care digital systems and diagnostic processes.
  • Jack Breen won the Best Poster Award at the Health Data Hub AI4Health 2023 Summer School and he have also previously won the Best Presentation Award at the School of Computing Symposium 2023.
  • Mary Paterson presented a poster about the classification of vocal pathologies at UK Speech. This was a fantastic opportunity to meet with other researcher using speech technologies and learn from some of the top experts in this field.
  • Three of our CDT PhD students (Jason Keighley, Rachel Harkness and Jack Breen) had their first experience discussing their research at SPIE Medical Imaging 2023 in San Diego. This included presentations about efficiency in ovarian cancer classification using histopathology dataexplainability in the classification of chest x-rays, and a poster about the effective compression of histopathology data.
  • Mary Paterson and Bailey Andrew attended the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2023) in New Orleans. Mary presented a poster in the Women in Machine Learning workshop summarising her work using AI to detect voice disease from speech. Bailey presented a preprint of his work at the New Frontiers in Graph Learning workshop. This conference was an amazing opportunity to meet a wide range of researchers and see the newest cutting edge work being done in computer science.
  • Anna-Grace Linton presented her research at the UK Health Text analytics conference (HealTAC 2021).
  • Three CDT students - Jack Breen, Rachel Harkness and Joe Sims - attended the leading international conference in medical image analysis (MICCAI 2021). Jack Breen presented his research to one of the workshop challenges.  
  • Rachael Harkness presented her research at the International .Medical Informatics Association conference (MedInfo21).
  • Andrew Broad presented his work to the monthly meetings of the National Pathology Imaging Cooperative's Digital Research Group at St James's Hospital.
  • Sara Jones was awarded the Margaret Steel Innovation Award (£1000) from the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Leeds.
  • Our students attend various seminars at the University of Leeds, e.g. the Leeds Institute of Data Analytics seminar series, the School of Computing colloquia, the National Pathology Imaging Cooperative seminars, the Computer Vision and AI for Languages special interest groups.

The first cohort of our CDT students met The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Baroness Nicky Morgan who visited the University on Leeds on 24 January 2020, discussing how researchers are being trained to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) in the fight against cancer.

The first cohort of our CDT students with The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Baroness Nicky Morgan.

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