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This Week’s Events

Beyond Relevance: Understanding the Distracting Effect of Retrieved Passages in RAG Systems

Group: Information Retrieval (IR)
Speaker: Florin Cuconasu, Sapienza University of Rome
Date: 07 July, 2025
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 422 Seminar Room

Title: Beyond Relevance: Understanding the Distracting Effect of Retrieved Passages in RAG Systems

Abstract:
Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) has emerged as a crucial method for enhancing Large Language Models (LLMs) by incorporating external knowledge from retrieval systems. However, the effectiveness of RAG systems is significantly impacted by distracting passages—content that appears semantically related to the query but lacks the correct answer, potentially misleading the LLM and degrading answer generation.
In this talk, I will present an investigation into irrelevant documents in RAG systems, with particular focus on distracting passages. I will introduce a framework for quantifying the "distracting effect" of passages and show novel methods for identifying and generating hard distracting examples, which can be used to fine-tune LLMs for robustness.
Building on this framework, I will then examine how distracting passages interact with positional bias—the tendency of LLMs to weight information differently based on its position in the prompt. Through extensive experiments, I will show that while the "lost-in-the-middle" effect is prominent in controlled settings, its impact becomes negligible in practical RAG applications due to the simultaneous presence of both relevant and distracting content at top retrieval ranks.
These findings suggest that future improvements of RAG systems should focus on retrieval quality and LLM distraction robustness.
 
Bio:
Florin Cuconasu is a second-year PhD student at Sapienza University of Rome, enrolled in the Italian National Doctorate on Artificial Intelligence. His research centers on NLP and IR, with a current focus on the effectiveness of Retrieval Augmented Generation systems. He is conducting a research internship at Technology Innovation Institute, working on the robustness of LLMs against irrelevant and distracting content in RAG systems. His work has been published at top-tier venues including SIGIR and ACL, with research contributions that challenge conventional assumptions about information retrieval in the context of modern AI systems. His research on "The Power of Noise" was recognized with the best poster award at Google's M2L Summer School 2024.

TBC

Group: Networked Systems Research Laboratory (NETLAB)
Speaker: TBC
Date: 09 July, 2025
Time: 10:00 - 11:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 423 Seminar Room

GIST Seminar: Human-Centred Agentic AI

Group: Human Computer Interaction (GIST)
Speaker: Alan Blackwell, University of Cambridge
Date: 10 July, 2025
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: SAWB 423, Sir Alwyn Williams Building

Abstract: 

Now that the strengths and weaknesses of large language models are becoming apparent, what HCI methods and insights will be needed to develop the next generation of “agentic" AI super-tools? Issues of transparency and bias that are already problematic in generative and decision support systems will become far worse when agents are operating with more autonomy. This talk will present human-centred design principles for the next generation of agentic AI, drawing lessons from previous cycles of user experience innovation, and especially from advances in end-user development that provide a more technically feasible alternative to the challenges of “alignment” in autonomous systems.
 
Bio:
 
Alan Blackwell is Professor of Interdisciplinary Design in the Cambridge Computer Laboratory. He has been designing programming languages since 1983 and carrying out research into Artificial Intelligence since 1985. He originally studied engineering, practising with professional certification in his home country Aotearoa New Zealand, before completing further degrees in Computer Science and Experimental Psychology. His multi-disciplinary interests have included an undergraduate major in comparative religion and 40 years as an orchestral musician. He has developed and taught university courses in Software Design and Software Engineering, Interaction with Machine Learning, Usability of Programming Languages, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Music, and Theories of Socio-Digital Interaction.

Upcoming events

Beyond Relevance: Understanding the Distracting Effect of Retrieved Passages in RAG Systems

Group: Information Retrieval (IR)
Speaker: Florin Cuconasu, Sapienza University of Rome
Date: 07 July, 2025
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 422 Seminar Room

Title: Beyond Relevance: Understanding the Distracting Effect of Retrieved Passages in RAG Systems

Abstract:
Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) has emerged as a crucial method for enhancing Large Language Models (LLMs) by incorporating external knowledge from retrieval systems. However, the effectiveness of RAG systems is significantly impacted by distracting passages—content that appears semantically related to the query but lacks the correct answer, potentially misleading the LLM and degrading answer generation.
In this talk, I will present an investigation into irrelevant documents in RAG systems, with particular focus on distracting passages. I will introduce a framework for quantifying the "distracting effect" of passages and show novel methods for identifying and generating hard distracting examples, which can be used to fine-tune LLMs for robustness.
Building on this framework, I will then examine how distracting passages interact with positional bias—the tendency of LLMs to weight information differently based on its position in the prompt. Through extensive experiments, I will show that while the "lost-in-the-middle" effect is prominent in controlled settings, its impact becomes negligible in practical RAG applications due to the simultaneous presence of both relevant and distracting content at top retrieval ranks.
These findings suggest that future improvements of RAG systems should focus on retrieval quality and LLM distraction robustness.
 
Bio:
Florin Cuconasu is a second-year PhD student at Sapienza University of Rome, enrolled in the Italian National Doctorate on Artificial Intelligence. His research centers on NLP and IR, with a current focus on the effectiveness of Retrieval Augmented Generation systems. He is conducting a research internship at Technology Innovation Institute, working on the robustness of LLMs against irrelevant and distracting content in RAG systems. His work has been published at top-tier venues including SIGIR and ACL, with research contributions that challenge conventional assumptions about information retrieval in the context of modern AI systems. His research on "The Power of Noise" was recognized with the best poster award at Google's M2L Summer School 2024.

TBC

Group: Networked Systems Research Laboratory (NETLAB)
Speaker: TBC
Date: 09 July, 2025
Time: 10:00 - 11:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 423 Seminar Room

GIST Seminar: Human-Centred Agentic AI

Group: Human Computer Interaction (GIST)
Speaker: Alan Blackwell, University of Cambridge
Date: 10 July, 2025
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: SAWB 423, Sir Alwyn Williams Building

Abstract: 

Now that the strengths and weaknesses of large language models are becoming apparent, what HCI methods and insights will be needed to develop the next generation of “agentic" AI super-tools? Issues of transparency and bias that are already problematic in generative and decision support systems will become far worse when agents are operating with more autonomy. This talk will present human-centred design principles for the next generation of agentic AI, drawing lessons from previous cycles of user experience innovation, and especially from advances in end-user development that provide a more technically feasible alternative to the challenges of “alignment” in autonomous systems.
 
Bio:
 
Alan Blackwell is Professor of Interdisciplinary Design in the Cambridge Computer Laboratory. He has been designing programming languages since 1983 and carrying out research into Artificial Intelligence since 1985. He originally studied engineering, practising with professional certification in his home country Aotearoa New Zealand, before completing further degrees in Computer Science and Experimental Psychology. His multi-disciplinary interests have included an undergraduate major in comparative religion and 40 years as an orchestral musician. He has developed and taught university courses in Software Design and Software Engineering, Interaction with Machine Learning, Usability of Programming Languages, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Music, and Theories of Socio-Digital Interaction.

45th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 20 July, 2025
Time: 01:00 - 01:00
Location: TBA

The annual IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS) is a premier international forum for researchers, developers and users to present, discuss and exchange the cutting edge ideas and latest findings on topics related to any aspects of Distributed Computing Systems. ICDCS 2025 is held in the vibrant and compact city of Glasgow, Scotland. Find out more information on the IEEE ICDS 2025 website.

TBC

Group: Networked Systems Research Laboratory (NETLAB)
Speaker: TBC
Date: 23 July, 2025
Time: 10:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 423 Seminar Room

SAT/SMT/AR - Summer School 2025

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 06 August, 2025
Time: 01:00 - 01:00
Location: TBA

Satisfiability (SAT), Satisfiability Modulo Theories (SMT), and Automated Reasoning (AR) continue to make rapid advances and find novel uses in a wide variety of applications, both in computer science and beyond. The SAT/SMT/AR Summer School aims to bring a select group of students up to speed quickly in this exciting research area. The school continues the successful line of Summer Schools that ran from 2011 to 2024. The summer school will take place from Wednesday the 6th to Friday the 8th of August. It will precede the following conferences: 18th International Symposium on Combinatorial Search (SoCS) 28th International Conference on Theory and Applications of Satisfiability Testing (SAT) 31st International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2025) 23rd International Workshop on Satisfiability Modulo Theories (SMT) Applications will be opening soon on the SAT/SMT/AR – Summer School 2025 website.

SICSA Data Analytics Conference and Sandpit

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 22 August, 2025
Time: 08:00 - 17:00
Location: TBA

The SICSA Data Analytics Conference & Sandpit will provide an opportunity for students and academics from across Scotland to showcase their research, and for industry professionals to collaborate with academic experts to design innovative solutions for data problems in their businesses through a series of sandpit sessions on the day. Find out more and register

24th UK Workshop on Computational Intelligence

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 03 September, 2025
Time: 01:00 - 01:00
Location: Edinburgh Napier University

We invite papers on all aspects of Computational Intelligence to UKCI 2025 (The 24th UK Workshop on Computational Intelligence, first held at University of Edinburgh) which will be held in Edinburgh from the 3rd-5th September 2025 at Edinburgh Napier University We are particularly delighted to welcome this workshop back to Edinburgh – the 1st edition was held at the University of Edinburgh in 2001. UKCI 2025 welcomes original research papers (including significant work-in-progress) in the broad area of Computational Intelligence (CI). Indicative topics include but are not limited to: -Machine-Learning (including Deep Learning) -Evolutionary Computation -Fuzzy Systems -Data-Mining -Intelligent Robotics -Cognitive Computing -Explainable AI (XAI) -Trust and Ethics in AI systems -Applications Papers can cover theoretical approaches, new methods, empirical and/or benchmark studies, and applications, particularly to real-world problems. We accept long papers (12 pages) or short papers (6 pages). The latter are particularly suited to position papers or presenting early results/work in progress IMPORTANT DATES: Submission Deadline 31st May 2025 (non-extensible) Read our guidelines on paper submission. Accepted papers will be published by Springer in the Advances in Computational Intelligence Series (AISC)

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