Professor Andrew Charlesworth to be part of new Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence

Press release issued: 5 March 2019

The Law School’s Professor Andrew Charlesworth is a member of the University of Bristol team that successfully bid for a Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence. The new Centre will train the next generation of innovators in human-in-the-loop AI systems, enabling them to responsibly solve societally important problems.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) announced on 21 February that the University of Bristol has successfully received a share of their £100 million investment towards the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) research.

The UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Interactive Artificial Intelligence will build on Bristol's unique strengths in intelligent systems, machine learning, and human-computer interaction. The Centre will equip at least 50 PhD researchers over five cohorts with the skills needed to design and deliver AI systems that satisfy the fundamental need for meaningful and productive interaction with humans.

An important theme running through the Centre’s training will be responsible AI. Cross-disciplinary instruction and guidance on issues such as transparency, accountability, fairness, privacy, and trustworthiness in AI development and deployment will be provided, equipping students with a working knowledge of their importance to, and impact upon, practical design and implementation of AI systems.

The Responsible AI theme will be led by Andrew Charlesworth, Professor of Law, Innovation and Society and Dr Miranda Mowbray, Lecturer in Computer Science. Training includes input from social sciences and law, as well as computer science. The theme will be present in both foundational teaching and project work. The intention is that in their subsequent careers, graduates will be ambassadors for responsible AI, benefitting citizens and customers, as well as the AI industry.

Professor of Artificial Intelligence Peter Flach, who will lead the Centre, said: “In the past decade we have seen the first exciting and productive examples of interactive AI in the form of voice-driven virtual assistants such as Siri and Alexa. The next decade will bring many more and diverse human-centred applications of AI, but getting the interaction between humans and intelligent machines right is critical to ensure these systems are safe, fair, and intelligible.

“We are delighted to have been given the opportunity to train the next generation of innovators and research leaders in responsible human-in-the-loop AI systems.”

Earlier this month the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) awarded Bristol funding for nine CDT's – the highest number awarded to any university in the country. This new generation of PhD students across the CDT’s will use AI technology to improve healthcare, tackle climate change and create new commercial opportunities.

All of the PhD programmes are open for application, with students due to start in September 2019. Interested applicants should contact the Centres and start the online application immediately, making sure to specify the particular Centre for Doctoral Training that is of interest.

Read more about the new Centre in the University’s press release and in the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) news item ‘£200m to create a new generation of Artificial Intelligence leaders’.

Further information

Andrew Charlesworth is Professor of Law, Innovation & Society at the University of Bristol. His research runs across a number of legal subject areas including, but not limited to, information technology law, intellectual property law, e-commerce law, public law, and socio-legal studies. He is interested in the role of the law in determining the access to, use of, and controls over all kinds of information; whether the information is software source code, personal data, information collected for research, or data held by public authorities.