STFC Astronomy and Artificial Intelligence Summer School with Public Engagement

<h3><strong>Context</strong></h3> <p><strong>Summer School. </strong>As part of the Epistemic Insight Initiative of the LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) research and outreach centre, an&nbsp;<a href="https://futureofknowledge.com/summer-school/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">STFC Astronomy and Artificial Intelligence summer school with public engagement</a> was organised by Prof Berry Billingsley and Dr James Pearson, held over five days from 8th-12th July 2024 at Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK.&nbsp;The summer school was aimed at astronomy PhD students as well as final year undergraduate &amp; master's students in physics and computer science, and placed emphasis on a <a href="https://futureofknowledge.com/astronomy-and-ai-multidisciplinary-and-outreach/">multidisciplinary approach</a> of bringing together knowledge and researchers from different fields utilising AI, to devise solutions and create new opportunities. The summer school provided seminars, workshops and one-to-one conversations where participants could learn about current uses of AI, collaborate to co-create new projects and get expert perspectives on their work. Participants also explored and gained insights in three key areas:</p> <ol> <li>What are the roles of AI in astronomy and in the sciences more broadly?</li> <li>What do curiosity and knowledge creation look like in a world of AI?</li> <li>Public engagement and working with AI and immersive technologies to engage new audiences in astronomy, which involved outreach training.</li> </ol> <p><strong>Public Engagement.&nbsp;</strong>There was also the opportunity for attendees to participate in outreach training and contribute to a public engagement event for schools, involving working with immersive tech to communicate ideas in astronomy, and assessing generative AI as a tool for creating activities and puzzles relating to their work. The outputs of this can be found here:&nbsp;<a href="https://futureofknowledge.com/q-and-a-with-astronomers/">https://futureofknowledge.com/q-and-a-with-astronomers/</a></p> <p><strong>Specialist Event and Case Studies. </strong>As part of this summer school, an additional free&nbsp;<a href="https://futureofknowledge.com/astronomy-and-ai-online-event/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Astronomy and AI Online Event</a> day was held the week before on Wednesday 3rd July 2024 to provide specialist talks and panel discussions about AI in astronomy, the recordings of which can be found here: <a href="../doi/10.5281/zenodo.12674685">https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.12674685</a>. Alongside this event, a number of recorded case studies were released showcasing how researchers in astronomy are using AI and deep learning in their own work, which can be found here: <a href="../doi/10.5281/zenodo.12594632">https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.12594632</a></p> <p><strong>Principal Investigator:</strong> Prof Berry Billingsley (Epistemic Insight Initiative)<br><strong>Project Manager:</strong> Dr James Pearson (The Open University)<strong><br>Video Editor:</strong> Mina Cullimore (Canterbury Christ Church University)</p> <h3><strong>Summer School Talks</strong></h3> <p>Here, we provide the recordings and presentation slides of the various talks. Below is an outline of the summer school's online/hybrid sessions - see the main website for the full timetable and more details about each talk.</p> <p><strong>Monday 08 July - Big Questions stimulus and introductions</strong><br>17.00-18.00 Plenary Session - <em>Workshop lead: Mina Cullimore and Berry Billingsley</em><br><strong>Tuesday 09 July - A multidisciplinary arena</strong><br>09.30-10.45 A review of yesterday and setting the agenda for today -&nbsp;<em>Berry Billingsley and Mina Cullimore</em><br>11.00-12.15 Thinking about astronomy and art &ndash; and working with virtual spaces - <em>Mina Cullimore</em><br>13.15-14.30 Cultural views of astronomy and archaeoastronomy - <em>Elfneh Bariso and Kevin Walsh</em><br>14.45-16.00 Working with GenAI and your tutor&nbsp;-&nbsp;<em>William Beckwith-Chandler and Kevin Walsh</em><br>16.15-17.30 Power &amp; Problems of the Search and Generative AI Scenarios -&nbsp;<em>Ted Selker</em><br><strong>Wednesday 10 July - Welcome to LASAR at CCCU</strong><br>13.15-14.30 Explainable AI (XAI): AI for tomorrow's scientific computing - <em>Konstantinos&nbsp;Sirlantzis</em><br>14.45-16.00 The future of AI: the loss of uncertainty -&nbsp;<em>Philippe de Wilde</em><br>16.15-17.30 Big data in astronomy: contemplating a potential future -&nbsp;<em>Matthew Graham</em></p>