September 8th, 2021

AI4Society calls for proposals for activities, grant support, big questions, and other initiatives for the 2021-2022 academic year.

The Call
AI4Society is a University of Alberta Signature Area that brings together interdisciplinary research around artificial intelligence, big data, ethics, and social impact. Researchers at the University of Alberta in any discipline are invited to propose projects, grant preparation ideas, and big question events for funding support from AI4Society. Applications should:

• Be led by a full-time faculty member of the University of Alberta
• Include an interdisciplinary team of researchers. (Researchers at other universities and community researchers are welcome)
• Be relevant to the focus of the AI4Society Signature Area

Applications will be reviewed over the Fall 2021 term. We will continue to accept applications over the academic year or until our funding is finished.

More information here

Welcome students!

AI4Society spend three days during the fantastic Week of Welcome organized by the University of Alberta Students' Union, we share a tent with our friends from ISAIC and talked with a great number of students interested in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, giving away tumblers, stickers and impulsing everyone to this rare but unique Fall term. It was three days under the rain, sun, wind, and cloudy with enormous energy. Thanks to every one who stopped and welcome to your UofA!

What is AI4Society?

Thank you for joining us! We are a Signature Area at the University of Alberta, a VPRI (research) initiative that focus in the development of AI in the modern world, we have a large variety of initiatives and events. Please visit our Forum and website for more information.
You will find one of these every fifteen days, if you think some information that can be include please contact us at ai4s@ualberta.ca

AI4Society Team

What we have done so far?

Interested in our activities of our first year? check our annual report by clicking on the image below. We thank all our members, students, and associates for the hard work and support, this is a shared success!

EVENTS

AI4Society is proud to be part of the organizing team of this important event:

UNESCO Working Group on Information Accessibility (WGIA) Hosts Global Gathering

28 September 2021

2nd Annual Artificial Intelligence for Information Accessibility (AI4IA) Conference Highlights the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI)

The UNESCO Working Group on Information Accessibility (WGIA) is set to host its 2nd Annual Artificial Intelligence for Information Accessibility (AI4IA) Conference bringing together global experts to draw attention to the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI). Recognised annually on the 28th of September, this year's themes are “What We Know about our Right to Know” and "The Right to Know - Building Back Better with Access to Information". The theme will highlight the role of access to information laws and their implementation to build back strong institutions for the public good and sustainable development, as well as to strengthen the right to information and international cooperation in the field of implementing this human right.

This year’s event is hosted in collaboration with the Kule Institute for Advanced Studies (KIAS) and the AI for Society (AI4S), both at University of Alberta, Canada, the International Centre for Information Ethics (ICIE), Future Africa at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy (CNED) in ORF, India and the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica, all under the auspices of the UNESCO Caribbean Office and the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa.

You can find out more information and register at https://www.i-c-i-e.org/ai4ia.

NRC Responsible Data Speakers Series.

AI for Logistics Program / Programme IA Logistique (NRC/CNRC)

Please join us for the 2021-22 NRC Responsible Data Speakers Series.

The bi-weekly series structure, as well as the choice of themes, reflect the feedback we received following the Forum last winter. We have maintained our focus on research, data sharing, and research ethics-type concerns. Talks will occur on alternating Tuesday afternoons (Eastern Time).

This year’s themes are:

1. Responsible Collection and Use of Internet-Derived Data
2. Cultural Knowledge and Community Data in research and publication
3. De-identification and Anonymization of Data for Sharing or Collaborative Research Purposes
4. Interoperability in Research Data Storage and Analysis Platforms

Theme 1 Details: Responsible Use of Internet-Derived Data

September 14: Panel Discussion on Clearview AI Situation, David Goodis (INQ Law, formerly of Ontario Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner), Mike Larsen (President, BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, Co-chair, Criminology Dept., KPU), Research Officer, National Research Council of Canada - Digital Technologies Research Centre.

Register here

5th International School on Deep Learning

(DeepLearn 2022 Winter), Bournemouth, UK, January 17-21, 2022

DeepLearn 2022 Winter will be a research training event with a global scope aiming at updating participants on the most recent advances in the critical and fast developing area of deep learning.
Graduate students, postgraduate students and industry practitioners will be typical profiles of participants. However, there are no formal pre-requisites for attendance in terms of academic degrees, so people less or more advanced in their career will be welcome as well.

More information here

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.

Calls for Papers

Reimagining Public Spaces and Built Environments in the Post-pandemic World

AI4Society is proud to be part of this meaningful symposium.

Don’t Let Another Crisis Go to Waste – Cities are shaped by the aftermath of various crises. History of the pandemic shows how urban life and the built environment have been rehabilitated as a result of crisis/disasters and cure/ prevention measures from chronic diseases. In reverberation, we saw reimagining public spaces and built environments by embracing new socio-spatial concepts, design, policies, and practices.

The upcoming virtual symposium website Reimagining Public Spaces and Built Environments in the Post-pandemic World is now open for registration and submissions for abstracts (deadline: September 20, 2021). If this is in line with the area of your post-pandemic research, we invite you and your colleagues to submit a contribution to this symposium call for the book chapter publications.

More information here
Full CFP here
Submit your proposal here

Research Proposals

Research and Knowledge Initiative

The Research and Knowledge Initiative (RKI) is a competitive, merit-based contributions funding program that supports data and research on issues related to public infrastructure and communities. The purpose of the Research and Knowledge Initiative is to advance the understanding of public infrastructure needs, challenges, and opportunities relevant to Canadians. The program aims to strengthen the evidence base on public infrastructure and communities in Canada, facilitate collaboration and partnership among key public infrastructure actors and stakeholders, and support data, research, and knowledge-sharing activities.

The Research and Knowledge Initiative is currently inviting research proposals under the theme: Cultivating Community Data and Research to Inform Public Infrastructure Decision-making.

Submission deadline is October 25, 2021.

More information here

Grant Opportunities

UofA and EPS 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 the launch of Year 2 of our University of Alberta and Edmonton Police Service Seed Grant Program.

These grants provide support for the co-development of research collaborations between University of Alberta researchers and members of Edmonton Police Service. The program will fund up to three projects per year. Grants are capped at a maximum of $10,000 each, are to be carried out over a period of 18-months, and should focus on one or more the following areas:

• Policing among marginalized populations
• Police legitimacy and racism
• Use of data and analytics in policing
• History of Colonialism and the impacts on policing today
• Evaluation of Edmonton Police Service training initiatives

The Program Guidelines are attached for your information. They can also be found on our Internal Research Funding website. Applications are to be submitted to Leslie Parsad at uofaepsgrant@ualberta.ca by 4:30 p.m. on December 10, 2021.
Find more information and the full call here

Competitions

Futures Forum on Learning - Tools Competition 2021

The Futures Forum on Learning launched the 2021 Learning Engineering Tools Competition. It invites technologists, digital learning platforms, researchers, students and teachers from around the globe to propose innovative tools or technologies that address one of the pressing challenges in education. The competition expects to award at least $3 million in prizes, and competitors are eligible to receive prizes of up to $250,000. The deadline for applications is October 1st, 2021.

Proposals for this year’s competition should focus on (1) accelerating learning in elementary and secondary literacy and math, (2) transforming K-12 assessments in both cost and quality, (3) facilitating faster, better, and cheaper learning science research, (4) drive improvements in adult learning that boost middle class wages.

We’d love to see proposals that focus on data science in either K-12 or adult education.

More information here

Co-horts

Digital Law Cohort 2021-2023

The Digital Law Cohort is an opportunity for Juris Doctor students to engage with UAlberta’s digital law community through curricular and extracurricular offerings. Cohort members will have access to targeted learning opportunities, mentorship and cross-sector activities related to digital law. Students will have the opportunity to meet digital law experts and practitioners, and receive recognition and support for their engagement. The successful completion of the Cohort requirements will be recognized by a letter from the Faculty of Law Dean upon convocation. Applications are due September 14, 2021.

Please find more information here

UofA RA Opportunities

Computer science RA position

As part of a SSHRC-funded research project, Professor Ali Shiri I is developing a digital storytelling system for the Inuit communities in the Western Arctic.

We are looking for a computer science student with HCI experience and also experience with C# and NET Core expertise with Vue.JS exposure.

If this sounds like you, please contact Dr. Shiri at ali.shiri@ualberta.ca

Are you teaching an Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning (AI/ML) course? Or a course that applies AI/ML and data-driven learning?

Would you like to know about GPU, CPU resources on campus for teaching and industry driven projects?

ISAIC (Industry Sandbox and AI Computing) is “your friendly, Alberta campus cloud”. We're working with AI4Society and want to understand the needs for instructional compute on campus. Reach out to Griselda at sukmoro@isaic.ca or fill the contact form and we'll follow up directly.

Western Canada instructors, innovators, and learners gain access to secure, local and advanced computing resources.

• JupyterHub for serving Jupyter Notebook or JupyterLab

• On demand virtual machines for student projects

• Queuing options to maximize processing and conveniently manage class participation

• Dedicated CPU only and/or GPU resources for month or semester long projects o

• Tailored support to reduce your effort, worry, and time spent

• Custom solutions as supplements or add-ons

ISAIC will work with you to set up a trial and lead start-up sessions or tutorials as required. Our team can also organize or support data-driven events such as case competitions, hackathons, matching capstones with industry projects, reverse pitches and other sessions.

Computing power for rapid AI solutions: easy, dedicated, trusted. ISAIC provides flexible, scalable computational resources for AI/ML classes, for applied research and AI/ML projects aimed for commercialization. Develop your projects in local, open source, and cost effective infrastructure funded by Prairies Canada to accelerate adoption and commercialization of AI.

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