In-person Delivery (Venue: University of Birmingham - PLEASE  NOTE THE ROOM ON FRIDAY IS DIFFERENT:
Room on Monday to Thursday: Aston Webb G33 What3Words: https://w3w.co/curve.enter.kinks 

Room on Friday ONLY: Muirhead Tower Room 121 What3Words: https://w3w.co/prom.major.petty

Aimed at: All Years

Duration: 2-5 days

CENTA Training Credits:  4-10

Training Area(s): Theme Science and Technical Skills

This is a modular 2-5 day training opportunity to learn more about AI. You can choose to attend for 2 days, 3 days, or 5 days option, depending on how deep/applied you want to go with your AI knowledge!

The 2-day intro option (25th & 26th November) is a general introduction to AI/Machine Learning and is recommended for all researchers who are generally curious about AI, why scientists (and everyone!) seems so excited about it, and how they might use it in their current or future research.

The 5-day whole-course option (25th -29th November, open to everyone) or the 3-day 'Coding Workshop Only' option (27th-29th November, for those who are already very familiar with AI) is for people who want to get started with the nuts and bolts of AI: learn how Python can be used to build simple models for you to use in your research, and make your very own 'proof of concept' model. (You don't need to have experience in Python as the course will factor different levels of experience into account, but you may find it easier if you have done some coding (including R) before).

***This is CENTA organised training; if you are a CENTA student you may reclaim your expenses to attend this training in line with the University of Birmingham Expenses Policy. All others should consult with their own funder's regulations.***

The deadline to request accommodation has technically passed, however if you are CENTA student please email s.smith.17@bham.ac.uk with your requested check in/check out dates to request a last-minute booking. Please do this before noon on Friday 22nd November.

If you register and later find that you cannot attend, please cancel your space so that another student may attend. No-shows without cancellation are not acceptable and anyone who does this will be contacted to ask why. 

CENTA AI Training Week Draft Schedule

Day 1 (Monday 25th November)

10:00-12:30: Session 1: Introduction and Background: What actually is AI? (Lead: Martin Jones)

12:30-13:30: LUNCH

13:30-15:30: Session 2: Pros, Cons, and Mythbusting of different methods in AI (Lead: Richard Everitt)

15:30-16:00: Ethics in AI

Day 2 (Tuesday 26th November)

10:00-12:30: Session 3: Application of AI in Environmental Science Research (Lead: Rob McKenzie, Yuqing Dai, Bowen Liu)

12:30-13:30: LUNCH

13:30-16:00: Session 4: Creativity exercise: ‘Future Scenarios' (Session mentored by Martin Jones, Rob McKenzie, Anthony Bridgen, Stephanie Smith)

***Days 3-5 will be the ‘nuts and bolts’ of AI, and more code-based, for students who would like to get started on using AI methods in their research or want to get hands-on experience making simple models. You can attend these sessions without prior coding experience, but you will be put into groups with more experienced registrants in order to build the proof-of-concept model***

Day 3 (Wednesday 26th November)

10:00-16:00: Session 5: Lightning ‘Python for Machine Learning’ sessions (Lead: Martin Jones)

Day 4 (Thursday 27th November)

10:00-16:00: Session 6: Machine Learning (building mini models etc.) (Lead: Martin Jones)

Day 5 (Friday 28th November)

10:00-16:00: Session 7: Group ‘proof of concept’ sessions (Lead: Martin Jones)