News on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
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MARCH 15th, 2023
Ritsumeikan-UoA MOU, learn more about it here
On February 28th, 2023 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Japanese Center for Game Studies hosted at Ritsumeikan University and the University of Alberta own Kule Institute for Advanced Study that includes a strong association with AI4Society Signature Area and all its members. A true team effort driven by the Prince Takamado Japan Centre
Learn more about details of this important connection, on the article written by our friends from Folio.
Call for Papers 2023
This conference, hosted by Nagoya Zokei University, is organized in collaboration with the Ritsumeikan Center for Game Studies, the University of Alberta, the University of Delaware, Bath Spa University, Seijoh University, DiGRA Japan, and Liege Game Lab. This conference, the 11th collaboratively organized event, focuses broadly on Japanese game culture, education, and industry. It aims to bring together a wide range of researchers and creators from many different countries to present and exchange their work.
The main theme of the conference this year will be “Local Communities, Digital Communities and Video Games in Japan.” With the recent interest in the Metaverse and the continuing popularity of titles with strong social elements, digital games are seen more and more as social platforms in their own rights — virtual meeting spaces for digital communities. At the same time, from department store rooftop amusement parks and pachinko parlours, to living room and portable consoles, the history of gaming in Japan is inextricably tied with the changing social fabric of local communities.
Read our 2021-2022 Report
Curious about our work this past year? Have a look at our interactive report, learn about our goals, success stories, our members’ work and its educational, research, and social impact.
AI and the Junos 2023
Through Amii, AI4Society members Michael Frishkopf and Osmar Zaiane presented their project Autonomously Adaptive Soundscapes for Reducing Stress in Critically-Ill Patients and the JUNOS 2023. This project has roots in AI4Soceity (more information here).
Watch the recording of live stream below!
AI Events
All of the VR artworks in the exhibition have been made using personal data such as medical, biometric, and social media data.
Know Thyself as a Virtual Reality exhibition
Marilène Oliver and team
February 21 to March 18, 2023
FAB Gallery
Five of the VR works are by invited guest artists and two of the works have been made by an interdisciplinary team at the University of Alberta. All the artists in the exhibition invite visitors to explore and question the different virtual worlds they have created, placing their own bodies and embodied experience of being digitized at the centre. Each artist experimented with digital technologies, many working with experts at the Peter S Allen MR Research Centre at the University of Alberta to acquire high-resolution magnetic resonance (MR) scan datasets of their diverse bodies to feature in their VR artworks.
The J-Series is pleased to host Dr. Shelley Tremain, Dr. Johnathan Flowers, and Corinne Lajoie in a panel discussion that will open lines of inquiry into “access” by exploring spaces, temporalities, and affects within higher education. Celebrating the panelists’ contributions to the forthcoming Bloomsbury Guide to the Philosophy of Disability (edited by Shelley Tremain), this event recognizes the ongoing labour of disability communities in asking these questions:
Algorithms as Ableist Orientation Devices: The Technosocial Inheritance of Colonialism and Ableism
March 30th, 2023
2:00 - 4:00 MT | Online
Who are we building worlds of access for? Who is included in the processes of knowledge creation and world-building? What conceptual and disciplinary commitments animate these processes?Questioning disability access in an equitable manner requires accountability to lived experiences of disability ("nothing about us without us") but also requires grappling with the heterogeneity of disability experiences. Book contributors Dr. Joshua St. Pierre, Dr. Kristin Rodier, and Dr. Emily Douglas will be responding.
Opportunities
France - Canada collaboration opportunities
The French Embassy in Canada has a list of excellent opportunities for France-Canada programs, here a list of them and links to their full descriptions:
- FCRF fund, a 2-year mobility fund ($15 000) to fund research and student mobility between the two countries http://francecanadaculture.org/france-canada-research-fund/
Call is open in Fall. - Mourou/Strickland program aiming at funding new collaborations (travel and one-week accommodation expenses are covered). The success rate is around 40%.
Call is open at the beginning of the year.
http://francecanadaculture.org/mourou-strickland-mobility-program/ - MITACS/French embassy GRA program funds mobility of young researchers (MSc, PhD, post-doc) from Canada to all research institutions in France.
The call is open all year long. There are still some funds available for 2023. https://www.mitacs.ca/en/programs/globalink/globalink-research-award - French + Sciences program, a new summer school program that combines learning French (or improving it) and exploring a scientific field among the followings: Ocean, Sustainable development, Energy and Micro/Nanotechnology. The success rate is around 30%. http://francecanadaculture.org/frenchsciences-program/
- Case-by-case subvention, allowing funding special initiatives such as French-Canadian workshops or research mobility.
Science and Engineering-ELITE Program-IBET PhD Fellowships
The Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Science at the University of Alberta are pleased to announce a national call for new PhD candidates for four-year fellowships. Built into this novel initiative is a collaborative effort to create the Indigenous and Black Engineering and Technology (IBET) Momentum Fellowship supported by the Indigenous | Black Students in Engineering and Technology (IBET) PhD Project, the Experiential Learning in Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship (ELITE) Program for Black Youth, and the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta to provide financial support to Indigenous and Black scholars to pursue full-time PhD studies in any engineering discipline at the University of Alberta.
Recipients of the fellowship will receive a $30,000 stipend per year for four years, which includes funding for tuition and fees, plus $4,000 over four years to support attendance at technical conferences or workshops where they are encouraged to present their research work. Funding will be from the Faculty of Engineering or the Faculty of Science at the University of Alberta ($25,000 or $15,000 per year), the PhD program supervisor ($5,000 or $15,000 per year), and the ELITE Program for Black Youth ($4,000 total). PhD program supervisors will agree to provide a supplementary cash contribution of either $5,000 or $15,000 per year, as determined by the fellowship award amount received by the PhD candidate from the Faculty of Engineering or the Faculty of Science at the University of Alberta.
Who
Any UofAlberta community member (faculty, researcher, or student) interested in any and all aspects of Artificial Intelligence!
Why
- To stay informed about AI-related funding opportunities and events (research grants, internships, competitions, ...)
- To access AI4Society support for research and teaching initiatives
- To profile your research and to collaborate with other community members, through our Forum.
How
Send an email with a brief description of your affiliation, interests, and activities related to artificial intelligence to ai4s@ualberta.ca.
