PhD students from the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe and Trusted AI (the STAI CDT) Anna Gausen (2020 cohort) and Madeleine Waller (2021 cohort) have been accepted on to the Turing Enrichment Scheme for 2023/24.
This competitive scheme gives UK university doctoral students the opportunity to undertake a six- or nine-month placement at the Alan Turing Institute in London. Anna and Madeleine will join a cohort of data science and AI PhD students from October 2023. They will have opportunities to learn from and collaborate with a diverse community of researchers at the Institute and will gain new research skills that will positively impact their PhDs.
Anna is really looking forward to the enrichment placement and said, “The enrichment scheme is uniquely placed to provide the type of collaboration I need to make my research truly impactful. My research focuses on improving the transparency of recommendation algorithms on social media. This involves the private sector because of the the social media platforms I evaluate and the government because of the relationship between what I do and regulation of the social media platforms. There is no other institution that bridges the gap between academia, private sector and government like the Alan Turing Institute, so it feels like the perfect research opportunity for me”.
Madeleine is also excited to join the scheme in October and believes it will positively impact both her PhD and future career. She said, “I’m interested in helping shape the future policy around technology and AI and I think I can learn a lot during my time at the Alan Turing. I want to get involved with the ‘Fairness, transparency, and privacy’ research group there as I hope I can get some inspiration for the next part of my PhD. I’m already lucky with the CDT to be able to take a multidisciplinary approach to my research but I think I can extend this further on the scheme and make some great connections for my future career”. Getting to work at the Turing offices at the British Library is also a bonus for Madeleine!
We look forward to hearing more about their experiences on the Turing Enrichment Scheme.