Tag: #ucd

UCD Centre for Digital Policy Unveil AI Video Series

The UCD Centre for Digital Policy, with the support of Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Dara Calleary TD and Microsoft, today announced the release of a newly created AI video series to help build AI policy understanding and capabilities among policymakers, developers and others.   

Bringing expert academic, legal, industry, political and policy expertise and insights together, the five short videos provide a solid base for anyone interested in deepening their knowledge and understanding of this dynamic technology and social policy space.  Contributors include Minister Dara Calleary; AI Ambassador, Patricia Scanlon; Drs. Elizabeth Farries and Susan Leavy from UCD; AI Advisory Council member, Barry Scannell; and TrialView’s Stephen Dowling.

The video series builds on a collaboration between UCD and Microsoft, which saw the introduction of the Microsoft-UCD Digital Policy Programme at UCD in 2020 with the goal of building digital policy capability amongst the public and private sector in Ireland and across the wider EU.  

The announcement was made at the Digital Ireland Conference organised by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment today in Dublin Castle. The event sought to underline Ireland’s position as a digital leader at the heart of European and global digital developments and demonstrate Government’s commitment to drive greater clarity, coherence and cooperation in digital in Ireland.

Welcoming the release of the AI video series, Minister Dara Calleary TD said: “Ireland can lead in responsible AI and innovative AI and be at the core of AI innovation in Europe. As we look ahead, skilling up in AI will give people the skills and confidence to deal with and manage AI. Skills are also crucial to understanding ethical AI and person-centred AI which are two key principles of Ireland’s national AI strategy.”

Dr. Elizabeth Farries from the UCD Centre for Digital Policy said: “Communication and comprehension needs to occur along every point of the AI supply and development chain. We need communication and understanding of ethics from researchers and developers to Governments embracing these technologies. That is why we recommend capacity building for policymakers and developers alike through education including the programmes offered at UCD Centre for Digital Policy.”

James O’Connor, Microsoft Ireland Site Lead and Vice President of Microsoft Global Operations Service Center said: “AI is a transformative technology that has huge potential to empower workers, businesses and communities across Ireland. As the use of AI tools and technologies accelerates, it is important that both the policy opportunities and challenges created by the technology are well understood. By providing insights from a wide-ranging set of experts across academia, policy and industry, the new AI video series produced in collaboration with the UCD Centre for Digital Policy can help to deepen understanding in these key areas and ensure responsible AI principles are put into practice.”

The AI Video Series, along with a similar series on Cyber Security produced last year, are available to view at www.digitalpolicy.ie.

Researchers led by University College Dublin could save tens of thousands of lives with new pre-eclampsia diagnosis

A team led by University College Dublin (UCD) has been working on an innovative research initiative that could transform pre-eclampsia diagnosis. It is designed to support clinicians to make effective and efficient clinical diagnosis of suspected pre-eclampsia through intelligent and timely risk stratification of patients’ clinical and blood biomarker data, using technology from SAS, the leader in AI and analytics.
With 140 million births each year, more than 11 million women and their babies could be affected by pre-eclampsia globally. Difficult to diagnose and with complex origins, pre-eclampsia has a long-term impact on the health of mothers and their children. The condition claims the lives of 70,000 expectant mothers and 500,000 babies every year worldwide.
Every pregnant women with suspected pre-eclampsia will undergo multiple blood tests, but there is no effective rapid test to aid clinicians in diagnosis of pre-eclampsia. Research by the UCD team funded by Science Foundation Ireland, led to the discovery of important biomarkers with diagnostic and predictive power which, when combined with other clinical data, could be used to create a powerful AI (or machine learning) model to support clinical decision-making.
The solution developed is called AI_PREMie and uses SAS® Viya® hosted on a Microsoft Azure cloud environment.
When clinicians are faced with complex individual cases, AI_PREMie will offer a pre-eclampsia risk score, with red, amber, or green flags to support their clinical decision; including a unified view of the patient data used to create the classification, incorporating unique platelet biomarkers as well as relevant clinical data and demographic information.
“SAS and Microsoft brought experience from banking and government, for example bringing data security skills as well as scalability and resilience,” explained Patricia Maguire, Professor of Biochemistry at University College Dublin. “Clinicians must have absolute trust in the system, and SAS and Microsoft were able to help us deliver on this right at the start.”
With immediate plans to trial AI_PREMie in Dublin maternity hospitals later this year and roll out globally in the coming years, UCD hopes to help care providers around the world prevent thousands of deaths and medical complications caused by pre-eclampsia.
Professor Maguire adds: “Every seven minutes an expectant mum loses her life because of the complications of pre-eclampsia. And about every 40 seconds, a little baby is lost again due to complications of pre-eclampsia. We’re looking forward to deepening our partnership with SAS as we develop AI_PREMie and, ultimately, help clinicians save more lives.”
Alan McGlinn, Director, SAS Ireland, said: “We are delighted to be working alongside Microsoft supporting the tremendous work that’s already been achieved by the team led by University College Dublin and to continue the partnership as they look to broaden the uptake of the AI_PREMie solution.
“This is a great of example of a Data for Good project where data, analytics and AI can support the healthcare sector in saving the lives of patients. Powerful analytics combined with the human expertise of medical professionals is a potent combination and something we can expect to see more of over the coming years.”
Find out more about this project here and listen to this webinar featuring Professor Maguire on how to use cloud-based analytics and AI to accelerate health care research.

Microsoft-UCD Digital Policy Programme. #Microsoft #UCD

In collaboration with Microsoft in Ireland and in Brussels, UCD has established the Microsoft-UCD Digital Policy Programme at UCD with the goal of building digital policy capability amongst the public and private sector in Ireland and across the wider European Union.

In today’s rapidly-evolving digital world, it can be a challenge for legislators and policy makers to keep abreast of the pace of change and its potential impact. This programme is designed to support those in government with the skills and knowledge necessary to amend existing legislation and plan for new legislation that will protect society and provide a relevant framework in which organisations can operate.

The features of the programme will fill a short term need while also building a sustainable pipeline of skills for long-term impact. It will build on existing expertise and curriculum already offered at UCD, while also recruiting leading academics to develop and oversee its success.

Under the direction of Programme Director, Professor Kalpana Shankar, the programme aims to fulfil this demand for digital policy knowledge and skills in the policy ecosystem. The Digital Policy Programme, which will welcome its first intake of students in September, includes the establishment of new educational programmes, including a Certificate course and a Masters in Digital Policy as well as the opening of the UCD Centre for Digital Policy under the leadership of Professor Eugenia Siapera. Elizabeth Farries has been appointed Assistant Professor for the programme and there are plans to appoint a Microsoft Newman Fellow in Digital Policy in September.

The last few weeks and months have demonstrated in a very real way, the transformative impact of technology. Digital solutions have been at the heart of the healthcare and societal response that we have seen – not just in Ireland and Europe but across the globe. The technology led response, driven by innovation and the creative thinking of public servants, has been done at a pace not previously imagined. The reality is that the policy environment and legislation are not, by their nature, as responsive. In addition to the need to create a policy environment that caters for a digital future, it is likely that there will need to be amendments to policy to reflect the rapid change that has already happened. This Digital Policy Programme will help equip those in decision making positions with the skills and capabilities that they need to help inform this important work.

Cathriona Hallahan, Managing Director, Microsoft Ireland said: “Microsoft is proud to have worked with industry partners, the public sector and leading academics to help inform the development of a programme that will build digital expertise into existing policy making frameworks. This much needed and timely programme will help to advance capabilities amongst Irish and EU policy makers on legislative and policy matters that arise in the context of digital technologies. Irish policy makers have the potential to take the lead in Europe on the evolution of laws and policies that remain relevant in a digital world while also fostering innovation and building trust.  The Microsoft team here in Ireland and in Europe are delighted to partner with UCD in the development and delivery of this new academic programme.”

Professor Kalpana Shankar, Professor in UCD School of Information and Communication Studies said: “This MSc in Digital Policy is the first of its kind in Ireland. It is designed to offer graduates the opportunity to learn more about some of the core policy issues that are arising with the prevalence of digital and data technology in all dimensions of life. The course will build on the rich offerings in the School of Information and Communication Studies as well as the wider College of Social Sciences and Law through taught modules, independent projects, and interactions with policymakers and evaluators in the public and private sectors.”

For details on the Microsoft-UCD Digital Policy Programme log on here.