WIREDGOV

STFC is helping to train the next generation of UK leaders in artificial intelligence by offering up data from global science facilities.

UK Research and Innovation has announced it is investing £100 million to train PhD students to use AI technology in a variety of sectors, from healthcare to industry.

Swansea University is leading a consortium which has been awarded funding to establish one of these Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT), which will utilise data from STFC-funded facilities, including the Large Hadron Collider and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.

The UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Advanced Computing will be led by Swansea University’s Professor Gert Aarts, working with the Universities of Aberystwyth, Bangor, Bristol and Cardiff, as well as Supercomputing Wales and a range of external partners, including large multinationals and locally based SMEs.

Professor Aarts said: 

“As is well known, AI nowadays underpins a wide range of activities, from the discovery of gravitational waves to the detection of breast cancer; our students will contribute to these exciting developments via state-of-the-art research projects, which cover fundamental particle physics and astronomy, the health and clinical sciences, and novel ideas in mathematical, physical and computer science.

“As a particle physicist by training, I am particularly pleased by the fact that we will be able to bring together research carried out at large STFC-funded science facilities such as the Large Hadron Collider and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, with research in the medical and computer science areas, enabling our doctoral researchers to make an impact across a wide range of disciplines and industries.” 

This builds on the existing STFC CDT in Data-Intensive Science, which looks to train expert data scientists to analyse data from gravitational wave research, astrophysics and particle physics.

Find out more about the UKRI investment and the full list of CDTs here.