This event brings together leading experts from different and distal disciplines to explore the diverse research methodologies and methods that can drive responsible AI forward. The audience will be invited to participate and reflect on how different approaches and diversity of knowledge in AI research and development are key for ensuring a responsible future. From ethical considerations to technical advancements, the event will include keynote presentations followed by a roundtable discussion and Q&A.

Download a copy of the agenda here.

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Location: The University of Edinburgh, West Court Edinburgh College of Art, 74 Lauriston Place, EH3 9DF

Event Programme

09:30-10:00 Registration and Welcome Breakfast

10:00-10:10 Welcome and introduction – Elvira Perez Vallejos

10:10-10:25 ‘Magic that happens in a box’ – Promoting participator approaches in responsible AI – Claire Paterson-Young

10:25-10:40 Responsible AI and Policing – Muffy Calder

10:40-10:55 Trustworthy & Ethical Assurance of AI-Enabled Digital Twins – Christopher Burr

10:55-11:10 Refreshment break

11:10-11:25 Dis-array: a mess of methods for composing with AI and why the mess is necessary – Martin Parker

11:25-11:40 Granny Jackson’s Dead: immersive performance, grief technology, memory and mourning – Michael Pinchbeck

11:40-12:00 Closing presentations – Ewa Luger

12:00-12:10 Refreshment Break

12:10-13:10 Panel discussion: Opportunities and challenges for driving inclusive and responsible AI. Chaired by Shannon Vallor

13:10-14:30 Networking Lunch

Speakers' Info:

• Dr Claire Paterson-Young

Claire Paterson-Young (BA MSc PhD) is an Associate Professor & Research Leader at the University of Northampton. Claire's current major research projects include AI in Law Enforcement (RAI-UK funded 4-year interdisciplinary project titled 'PROBabLE Futures – Probabilistic AI Systems in Law Enforcement Futures'). Claire has over 15 years practice and management experience in safeguarding, child sexual exploitation, trafficking, sexual violence, youth and restorative justice. She has expertise in ethics, serving as Chair of the University of Northampton Research Ethics Committee and member of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Ethics Committee. Claire is a Research Affiliate at Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre. She has held a Visiting Fellowship position at Binus University (Indonesia) and Associate Fellowship position at Children and Young People Centre for Justice (Scotland).

• Professor Dame Muffy Calder FREng FRSE, Vice-Principal and Head of College of Science and Engineering, University of Glasgow. Chair RAi UK Skills Pillar

Muffy Calder is a Computer Scientist. She was Vice-Principal and Head of College of Science and Engineering, University of Glasgow 2015-2025 and is a Senior Visiting Fellow at CETaS (Centre for Emerging Technology and Security). Previously she was the Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland. Her research interests are in modelling and automated reasoning for complex, sensor-driven systems, responsible AI, and privacy and national security. She is a member of the executive team of RAi UK, a Co-I of the RAi Keystone project Probable Futures: Probabilistic AI Systems in Law Enforcement Futures, and was a Co-I of the BRAID project Responsible AI Practice in Policing: Understanding the Potential of West Midlands Police's specialist data ethics. She has been a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology, deputy chair of REF main panel B, member of UKRI-EPSRC council, a Royal Society Leverhulme Research Senior Fellow, and a Suffrage Science award winner in Computing Science and Mathematics.

• Dr Christopher Burr

Dr Christopher Burr is a Senior Researcher in Trustworthy Systems and Head of the Innovation and Impact Hub (Turing Research and Innovation Cluster in Digital Twins) at the Alan Turin Institute. He specialises in the trustworthy and ethical design, development, and deployment of data-driven technologies. In 2024, he was principal investigator for the Trustworthy and Ethical Assurance of Digital Twins project (UKRI BRAID). He is currently a Co-Investigator for the Networks of Cardiovascular Digital Twins (CVD-Net) project (EPSRC)—a 5-year programme that is exploring how digital twins can transform care for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

• Dr Martin Parker, Head of Music, Programme Director, MScR Sound Design, University of Edinburgh

Dr Martin Parker is a composer and sound designer making music and sonic art with computers, people and places. He researches how the experience of music evolves alongside the technologies we use to craft, perform and listen to music. Dr Parker does this work by designing responsive computer systems that are used in live performance. Dr Martin Parker has been exploring the overlap between computers and music for 22 years as Senior Lecturer in sound design at the University of Edinburgh. During 2025, he will be on a fellowship with BRAID, researching sonic identity in the context of AI music production tools.

• Professor Michael Pinchbeck

Michael Pinchbeck is Professor of Theatre and Senior Research Lead for the Department of Art & Performance at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He is a writer and theatre maker based in Nottingham and has toured extensively nationally and internationally. His research explores dramaturgy, scores, practice-as-research and the performance of commemoration. He recently collaborated with Big Telly Theatre Company on Granny Jackson’s Dead, exploring AI and grief.