More than 40 researchers from TUM Campus Heilbronn, University of Oxford, TU Berlin, and the University of Toronto met at the Oxford Summer Meeting to discuss secure and trustworthy AI models. TUM Campus Heilbronn was represented by Ali Sunyaev, Professor of Information Infrastructures and Vice President of TUM Campus Heilbronn, Alexander Fraser, Professor of Data Analytics & Statistics, Stefan Wagner, Professor of Software Engineering, and 20 other researchers to the distinguished university in southern England. The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) is a partner in the Joint Global AI Research Hub of TUM Campus Heilbronn. The Summer Meeting now further deepens the long-standing cooperation between the two universities of excellence.
Impressive Diversity
Dr. Daryna Dementieva was part of the delegation from TUM Campus Heilbronn. “We had very intensive days with presentations and discussions, but also came away with lots of ideas that I personally took home with me to think about. I just hope that our visit is the beginning of many more opportunities for exchange,” says the research assistant at the Professorship of Data Analytics & Statistics.
She was particularly impressed by the diversity of all the panel discussions and roundtable talks: “First of all, it was nice to see that the number of presentations and representatives from TUM Heilbronn and the Oxford Internet Institute was equal. Secondly, the program was designed in such a way that we heard contributions from the fields of computer science and engineering as well as from politics, social sciences, and law.” In her own presentation, she introduced her work on the application of NLP (natural language processing) for various social purposes: “Specifically, I talked about how modern GenAI models can help proactively moderate online platforms to create more space for dialogue and reduce hate and polarization.”
Unique Academic Experience
Another representative of the TUM Campus Heilbronn in Oxford was Dr. Manuel Schmidt-Kraepelin. “Our colleagues at the Oxford Internet Institute welcomed us with open arms and we had a great exchange,” says the research assistant at the Professorship of Information Infrastructures. “Oxford offers a unique academic experience. In every corner of the city, you can feel the history of this place and its importance to the scientific community. I was fascinated by the variety of topics being researched at the Oxford Internet Institute.” He particularly enjoyed the exchange of ideas with Bernie Hogan, professor at the Department of Sociology. “He gave a fascinating lecture on philosophical concepts in the social sciences and how we can use ideas from machine learning as methods of inquiry for the social sciences.”
“I am impressed by the expertise gathered at this historic location. Many new ideas have emerged that we will continue to develop over the coming months and years. The Summer Meeting has added another successful chapter to our fruitful cooperation with the Oxford Internet Institute," says Ali Sunyaev, Professor of Information Infrastructures and Vice President of TUM Campus Heilbronn. It will be exciting to see what new collaborations between researchers at the two universities of excellence will emerge in the coming months and years.