AI - Efficiency Tool of the Future?

Dr Jennifer A. Cassidy is a diplomatic scholar at the University of Oxford, where she lectures on Diplomacy and International Law, Digital Diplomacy, and Gender and Diplomacy. Her PhD (2017) from the University of Oxford focused on the emerging discipline of Digital Diplomacy, with a specific focus on the changing nature of digital diplomatic signalling and online strategic narratives during times of political crisis. Jennifer produced the first edited volume on Gender and Diplomacy: Theory and Practice (Routledge). Prior to teaching, Jennifer served as a diplomatic attaché to Ireland's Permanent Mission to the United Nations (New York), European External Action Service to the Kingdom of Cambodia, and Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Headquarters during the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Jennifer also contributes regularly to media commentary, including the BBC, Sky News, ABC Australia and The Irish Times 

Dr Malika Bendechache is a Lecturer in the School of Computer Science, at the University of Galway and an SFI Funded Investigator at the ADAPT SFI research centre.

Malika has a strong background in Big data Analytics, Machine Learning, AI & Data Governance, Security and Privacy. She designs novel Big Data Analytics and Machine Learning techniques to enhance the capability and efficiency of complex systems, and she also leverages complex systems to improve the effectiveness, privacy and trustworthiness of Analytics/Machine Learning techniques.

Previously, Malika held the position of Lecturer/Assistant Professor in the School of Computing at Dublin City University (DCU). She has also occupied the position of Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Irish Institute of Digital Business (IIDB, dotLab), School of Business, Dublin City University (DCU) and at the CONSUS research centre, University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland, in collaboration with Origin Enterprises PLC.

Malika obtained her PhD thesis in Computer Science in Insight Centre for Data Analytics, UCD. Her PhD topic was "Study of Distributed Dynamic Clustering Framework for Spatial Data Mining".

Ciaran Treanor has a diverse and extensive work experience in the technology industry. Ciaran has held various roles throughout their career, including CTO, Director of Product Development, Technology Consultant, and Lead Architect. Ciaran has worked for notable companies such as Sonalake, Munich Re, Katamer Technologies, and Broadcom Eireann Research. Ciaran has also served on advisory boards and steering boards in the industry. Ciaran'swork spans multiple years and showcases their expertise in the field. 

Ciaran Treanor obtained a Bachelor of Engineering (hons) degree in Electronic Engineering from Dublin City University, completing their studies from 1988 to 1992. In recent years, they pursued further education at the Institute of Directors  

Professor Martin Hayes is a Professor of Digital Technologies and University of Limerick Academic lead on the UL@Work Human Capital Initiative (HCI-Pillar3) programme. Martin has lectured at the University of Limerick since 1997. He is a Funded Investigator(FI) with Confirm, the SFI Smart Manufacturing Research Centre and is a director of the Intelligent Power Management and Control group within the Centre for Robotics and Intelligent systems, CRIS (www.cris.ul.ie). Prior to this he served as director of the power management group within the Circuits and Systems Research Centre, CSRC, a platform research centre for the Power Electronics Ireland(PEI) and also the Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) programmes in Advanced Technology. 

Martin holds a BE in Electronic Engineering anda ME in Computer Systems from the University of Limerick and his PhD is in Machine Learning for Automatic Control from Dublin City University. His research interests lie in the area of Systems Theory in general and in particular on the intelligent use of machine learning for the optimisation of system resources within Smart Manufacturing use cases where operator safety must be guaranteed in the midst of channel, sensor or operator performance uncertainties. He is a member(and previous chair) of the Signals and Systems subcommittee of the Royal Irish Academy. 

Dr Martin Cunneen is associate professor in Data Analytics and Risk Governance, Lead of AI ERA (Ethics, Regulation and Accountability) Research Group and Course Director of Machine Learning in Finance MSc.

His research investigates the societal impacts of machine intelligence technologies, encompassing fields such as data analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Language Theory and robotics. His primary focus lies in addressing the challenges of anticipating and implementing timely and informed governance frameworks to regulate and guide the commercial applications of these transformative technologies. 

Leveraging years of professional experience in the technology sector—spanning sustainable technology initiatives, educational technology, community programming projects, and Big Data—Dr Cunneen’s work explores the intricate relationships between society and AI technologies. His research includes the development of innovative frameworks designed to facilitate multi-stakeholder engagement in assessing AI and socio-technological risks and ethics