It was with a strong focus on human-computer interaction, and research in artificial intelligence within humanities and social sciences, that 35 PhD students attended the first annual Winter Conference of the WASP-HS Graduate school. This first time the meeting was held online, due to the Covid19-pandemic.
All of the doctoral students presented their ongoing research, spanning from medical ethics and social robotics, to how AI effects law, business and learning. The students expressed a great interest in listening to the presentations as well as taking part in the discussions that was held with their supervisors that also was attending the conference.
In a blog post Dominika Lisy, PhD student at Linköping University, wrote this “this first winter conference offered the unique opportunity to be part of each other’s work in these early stages and to develop a wider view on issues around AI and autonomous systems”.
“My project on empathy and social robots from a feminist philosophy perspective had overlap with many great projects and I am already filling my calendar with meetings for the upcoming weeks to follow up on the shared interests,” she continued. (Read the blog post.)
Her fellow student colleague Bijona Troqe. Linköping University, was also grateful for the meeting.
“Attending the conference for me has been interesting to say the least. I got a renewed boost of motivation for my research topic, learning that other PhD students are looking into various aspects of decision-making and AI, allowing for multiple exciting opportunities for cross-thematic discussion and future collaborations. Like the rest of the participants, I´m thankful for this program and I can´t wait to witness the future progress in AI in humanities research,” Bijona Troqe wrote in a blog post afterwards.
Erik Campano, PhD student at Umeå University, emphasizes the interdisciplinary approach that is a cornerstone of WASP-HS. “Sweden has a group of scholars who are doing the necessary outside-the-box creative work about how to best incorporate extremely powerful computers into day-to-day life. Young AI researchers are proving themselves to be flexible, interdisciplinary thinkers. That helps fulfill the mission of WASP-HS,” he says. (Read the blog post.)
The PhD students that attended the conference came from Chalmers University of Technology, Karlstad University, KTH, Linköping University, Lund University, Stockholm University, Umeå University, University of Gothenburg, and Uppsala University.
The conference was held online on 9 – 11 February, 2021. Read more about the WASP-HS Graduate school.
