Alan Turing Institute
The Turing has seen some changes this academic year, with Jean Innes stepping down as CEO after guiding the Institute through the current transformation programme. The search for her replacement is underway to help shape the next phase of development, seeing the focus home in on defence, national security and sovereign capabilities. Leeds continues to be part of the Turing University Network which helps to build on our connections with other UK Universities and increase the potential for collaboration.
LIDA funded places for 10 PhD students to attend the Turing’s annual PhD Connect event. This 2-day data science and AI event brings together doctoral researchers from across the UK to share research, develop skills and build their networks.
LIDA also funded a number of places at this years’ AIUK, the Turing’s flagship annual event which shows how data science and AI can be applied to challenges within society, with a focus on the three grand challenge areas of defence and security, environment and sustainability, and transformation of healthcare.
One of the great things about the AI UK conference event was the opportunity to spend time looking at data science work being undertaken across other domains unrelated to my own usual work. This often offers the possibility of learning about methods and solutions to similar problems in a different setting which may have applicability to your own work. The event also draws a broad range of attendees, and I was able to meet new people and form connections from both the academic and commercial sectors which have spawned new collaborations.
Dr. Kieran Zucker
NIHR Clinical Lecturer (University of Leeds)
Honorary Clinical Oncology Registrar (Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust)
Photos from PhD Connect November 2024
The Alan Turing PhD Connect event was an inspiring experience that showcased the breadth of AI-driven research across disciplines. One of my favourite talks was by Dr Christopher Windows-Yule, founder of EvoPhase, who discussed how AI is transforming industrial processes. I found it especially engaging because my own PhD also uses machine learning (though in a very different context) to identify and map viable mariculture sites in the Philippines. Hearing how AI is applied beyond academia reinforced the importance of interdisciplinary approaches and reminded me of the broader potential of data science to drive meaningful, real-world change.
Ankitha Manohar
PhD Candidate (NERC Panorama DTP)
School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability (University of Leeds)
Turing Data Study Group
Ajaykumar Manivannan (Research Fellow in Computational Climate Politics, School of Politics and International Studies) was successful in applying to take part in a Turing Data Study Group (DSG) in January this year. These intensive collaborative hackathons bring together great minds to tackle challenges set by government, academia, or industry partners. Ajay shared his thoughts on the application process and his time on the DSG and why he would recommend the experience.
Read Ajay's blog Find out more about our work with The Alan Turing Institute Return to the Annual Showcase 2025