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Turing @ Southampton

Meet the team: The Alan Turing Institute at Southampton

Published: 1 October 2020

The international expertise of Southampton in artificial intelligence (AI) and data science was recognised two years ago when the University was invited to become a partner of The Alan Turing Institute – the UK’s leading organisation in pioneering research into these areas.

Our researchers have been working alongside other Turing partner universities, industry, government and third sector partners to spearhead cutting-edge research in data science and AI. All of the University’s Turing-related activities are coordinated by Southampton’s Web Science Institute (WSI) and there are three key leads managing this relationship - WSI Executive Director Professor Dame Wendy Hall represents the University on the Turing University Partners’ Board; Professor Peter WF Smith from Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute (S3RI) is the Turing University Lead; and Susan Davies is the University Liaison Manager.

Peter said: “As a University, we were honoured to become a member of such a prestigious organisation and welcomed the opportunity of our research expertise contributing to helping solve the key challenges and problems facing the world in data science and AI. Our academics and their research are also benefiting from the links that the Turing brings.”

Reaping the rewards

The partnership is already bringing rewards to both the University and the Turing:

Turing Fellows - Southampton currently has 22 Turing Fellows who contribute to new ideas, drive collaborative projects, secure external funding and provide research expertise. They come from across the University’s five Faculties.

Pilot Projects – the University currently has 13 funded pilot projects which offer opportunities for academics to develop new multidisciplinary research ideas. These projects span the University and one of the projects – AI and Inclusion led by Professor Mike Wald - was featured in the Turing’s Annual Report 2019-2020.

Academic Secondments – three Southampton academics have been seconded to the Turing

Professor Ben MacArthur, from Medicine, Mathematics and the Institute for Life Sciences (IfLS), was appointed Deputy Programme Director for Health and Medical Science to help shape the strategy and implementation of the Turing’s Health programme which aims to explore how we can use data to improve our understanding of human disease and improve the care we can give people. He said: “I was delighted to take on this role at a time when modern developments in data science have the power to transform healthcare. The Turing is at the forefront of these developments.” Ben is also part of the Turing’s DECOVID project that uses detailed and frequently updated health data in a secure database, to provide up-to-date information about patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Gabe Weymouth, an Associate Professor of Marine Hydrodynamics, and Dr Adam Sobey, an Associate Professor in AI with applications in Maritime Engineering, have also been seconded to run the Marine and Maritime Group with Data-Centric Engineering Programme at the Turing. They are currently developing a roadmap for AI for the marine sector and will be developing research and development projects to ensure AI utilisation is maximised within this sector.

Turing Doctoral student - Joseph Early was selected as Southampton’s first Turing Doctoral Student, benefiting from the combined strength and expertise of the University and the Turing. His research focuses on allowing AI systems to be used in domains that require high levels of interpretable performance, such as medicine. He said: “It was a real privilege to be selected and the best thing is the opportunity for collaboration. I am already working with another Turing PhD student on a cross-disciplinary project and I plan to extend this further within my student cohort and with researchers in the wider Turing community.”

Enrichment Students – four Southampton students have been appointed onto the Turing Enrichment Scheme which gives them the opportunity to boost their research project with a placement for up to 12 months at the Turing.

Networking Events – a series of networking events are held for people to find out more about the links between the University and the Turing and to facilitate dialogue between the organisations.

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