DECEMBER 2020

Grant Opportunities

Tec de Monterrey - UofA Collaborative Projects and Workshop

UAlberta and ITESM, wishing to further their partnerships in Energy, Artificial Intelligence and other areas of mutual interest, have established a competitive seed grant program to encourage and catalyze collaborations between the two universities.
UAlberta and ITESM will each commit CAN $90,000 per year in funding for the seed grant program. Proposals may request up to a maximum of CAN $45,000 for one year (with up to CAN $22,500 provided from each institution).
A workshop will be held on December 15, from 1:30pm to 3:00pm, between AI researchers in the two institutions to explore opportunities for collaboration and proposal development.
You are still on time to sign in! Please register here to participate.

Call For AI Instructional Materials

The AI4Society Signature Area calls for proposals to create instructional materials, for modules on artificial intelligence and its social/ethical impact. Proposals will be funded with up to $1000.
Proposals will be adjudicated as they are submitted and up until the earmarked funds are exhausted.

University Of Alberta and Edmonton Police Services Seed Grant Program

The Office of the Vice-President (Research and Innovation) (OVPRI), the Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), and the AI4Society Signature Area (AI4S) at the University of Alberta, in partnership with the Edmonton Police Service (EPS), are pleased to announce a new seed grant program designed to encourage the co-development of research collaborations between the entities. A total funding commitment of the program - $30,000 each year for three years ($90,000) - will be made available to fund projects arising from this collaboration.
Deadline: EXTENDED to 14 January 2021

Joint Initiative for Digital Citizen Research - Connection Grants

The IDCR aims to develop a better understanding of the impacts of online disinformation in Canada, in order to better inform programs and policies, and to build Canada’s capacity to conduct research on – and related to – countering online disinformation and other related online harms. This initiative will also help foster a community of researchers engaged with digital citizenship and online disinformation in Canada.
Deadline: February 1, 2021.

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AI4IA Conference

On the past September 28th, AI4Society, the KIAS Institute, and the International Centre for Information Ethics (ICIE) helped to put together an online one-day conference focused on Inclusive AI with topics addressing information accessibility. The event was organized under the auspices of the UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean, Kingston, Jamaica and the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe. We are proud to announce the full Conference Report is available for the general public through the ICIE website. Congratulations to all panelists!

Smart City Borderless

Between November 17th and 19th in an international effort, presenters related to AI4Socierty gave lectures on their research areas. Dr. Eleni presented AI for Smart Cities: Opportunities and Challenges; Dr. Paul Messinger on eCommerce: Impacts and Benefits for a Smart City​; and Dr. Al Meldrum on Sustainable Cities and Management of Energy for their Development. Find these (and other panelists) full conferences under the Smart City Borderless video library.

Organizing Black in AI 2020

The 4th Black in AI workshop co-located with NeurIPS 2020 happened on the week December 7th 2020. The workshop was set to happen in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. AI4Society was represented by Victor Silva, a PhD Student Victor Silva at the University of Alberta under supervision of Dr. Eleni Stroulia and Dr. Joerg Sander. In this positions, he boosted the participation of Black and Diasporic individuals from South America with special focus in Brazil by six-fold. Read the full article on Victor Silva's medium page

Are you considering proposing a Collaboratory?

Please refer to our information page, and don't hesitate to contact us for more information if you think you have a proposal for us!

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.

Podcasts for Knowledge Mobilization
Podcasts are a great way to share big ideas and deliver a message to a wider audience. Perhaps you've been wondering how to produce a podcast to communicate your research or maybe you're at the early stages of exploring how podcasting could be used for knowledge mobilization. This workshop will explore how podcasts are being used by academic scholars and artists to reach new audiences, give you practical advice on how to turn your research message into show ideas and teach you the basics of recording, editing, production and distribution. Join us January 29th, 9am to noon, MT, online for an interactive session that covers:

• What is a podcast and how podcasts are being used to share big ideas
• How use the Podcast Canvas to turn your research into a compelling show
• How to find guests, conduct interviews and write for audio
• Recording gear - what you'll need to record a podcast
• How to use a microphone including performance techniques
• Field recording
• Audio processing, editing, mixing and the dark art of mastering
• Where to find royalty free music
• How to distribute and market your show

Cost: Attendance is free. This workshop is limited to 30 people to ensure we have an interactive, hands on session.
Register: Complete this form to register. A link to the session will be sent to you a week prior to the event.
Facilitators: Katrina Ingram, BBA, MA,
Tom Merklinger, BA, MMus
Scott Smallwood, BA, MMus, PhD
Presented by The Sound Studies Institute and SPAR²C

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An Afternoon with Amii

Amii would like to invite you to a virtual research event on the afternoon of December 21st, from 1.00-4.00 pm (MST). We would love to have you join us to learn about and engage with the research of our Amii Fellows and colleagues. As 2020 has been a challenging year, we hope that this will be a way to connect.
The afternoon will feature three sessions composed of 30 minutes of lightning talks followed by a 20 minutes panel discussion.

• 1.00-1.50pm: Reinforcement Learning
• 2.00-2.50pm: Learning & Humans
• 3.00-3.50pm: Language, Search & Games

You can join us via Zoom using this link (Password: 648862)
Feel free to contact Sabina Pietrosanu if you have any questions. We hope to see you all there!

Workshop Streams

Software, Hardware, Machine Learning, and Neuroscience

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For information about
AI experts, and AI-related events and opportunities,
visit https://ai4society.ca