MAPPING AND GUIDING AI RESEARCH AT SOUTHAMPTON

The Web Science Institute (WSI) was formed at the University of Southampton in 2014 to study the transformational impact of online ecosystems as they reshape business, culture and society. Since then, the emergence of massive online platforms that collect and process personal data has opened up new opportunities for the development of human-centred AIs.

Interdisciplinary AI is a key WSI focus, and the Institute has launched a plan to map and guide AI activity from across the University.

The aim is to bring faculties, schools, and disciplines together, using disciplinary expertise around AI to promote activity around all three strands of the University’s triple helix – education, research, and knowledge exchange and enterprise (KEE).

WSI Deputy Director Leslie Carr emphasised, “Our institute isn’t saying, ‘we’re the place where the AI is happening’ – quite the reverse. Instead, the WSI is the hub for discovering exactly where AI is happening across the University, and we’re putting up signposts to help everyone discover this activity and connect with one another.”

The wider strategy will encourage the creation of new knowledge through novel interdisciplinary combinations of methods, methodologies, expertise, arts and cultural practices. The WSI has plans to extend its network through new interdisciplinary staff, and to deepen AI partnerships with policymakers, industry, business and third sector organisations.