School of Computing Science

GIST Seminar

Group: Human Computer Interaction (GIST)
Speaker: Dr Brendan David-John, Virgina Tech
Date: 01 December, 2022
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 423 Seminar Room

Dear all,

There are two GIST seminars this week: one on 29 November at 11:00, and one in the regular slot on1 December at 13:00. Both will be hybrid, taking place in SAWB 423 and on zoom via the link below.

Below are the details for the one on 1 December, delivered by Dr. Brendan David-John from Virgina Tech. This talk will be delivered remotely by the speaker, and is titled "Providing Privacy for Eye-Tracking Data with Applications in XR". 

Bio:
Dr. Brendan David-John (he/him/his) is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Virginia Tech. Brendan was the first Native American male to graduate with a doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Florida in 2022, and received his BS and MS from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2017. He is from Salamanca NY, which is located on the Allegany reservation of the Seneca Nation of Indians. His personal goals include increasing the representation of Native Americans in STEM and higher education, specifically in computing. He is a proud member of the American Indian Science & Engineering Society and has been a Sequoyah Fellow since 2013. His research interests include virtual reality and eye tracking, with a primary focus on privacy and security for the future of virtual and mixed reality.

Abstract:
Eye-tracking sensors track where a user looks and are being increasingly integrated into mixed-reality devices. Although critical applications are being enabled, there are significant possibilities for violating user security and privacy expectations. There is an appreciable risk of unique user identification from eye-tracking camera images and the resulting eye movement data. Biometric identification would allow an app to connect a user’s personal ID with their work ID without needing their consent, for example.  Solutions were explored to address concerns related to the leaking of biometric features through eye-tracking data streams. Privacy mechanisms are introduced to reduce the risk of biometric recognition while still enabling applications of eye-tracking data streams. Gaze data streams can thus be made private while still allowing for applications key to the future of mixed-reality technology, such as animating virtual avatars or prediction models necessary for foveated rendering.

Location: SAWB 423 and via zoom.

Kindly find the zoom link below:
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/96540497220?pwd=TlROd0srSGZLUzZ3QXhQV2VDOTVhZz09

https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/96540497220?pwd=TlROd0srSGZLUzZ3QXhQV2VDOTVhZz09

GIST Seminar

Group: Human Computer Interaction (GIST)
Speaker: Dr Brendan David-John, Virgina Tech
Date: 01 December, 2022
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 423 Seminar Room

Dear all,

There are two GIST seminars this week: one on 29 November at 11:00, and one in the regular slot on1 December at 13:00. Both will be hybrid, taking place in SAWB 423 and on zoom via the link below.

Below are the details for the one on 1 December, delivered by Dr. Brendan David-John from Virgina Tech. This talk will be delivered remotely by the speaker, and is titled "Providing Privacy for Eye-Tracking Data with Applications in XR". 

Bio:
Dr. Brendan David-John (he/him/his) is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Virginia Tech. Brendan was the first Native American male to graduate with a doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Florida in 2022, and received his BS and MS from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2017. He is from Salamanca NY, which is located on the Allegany reservation of the Seneca Nation of Indians. His personal goals include increasing the representation of Native Americans in STEM and higher education, specifically in computing. He is a proud member of the American Indian Science & Engineering Society and has been a Sequoyah Fellow since 2013. His research interests include virtual reality and eye tracking, with a primary focus on privacy and security for the future of virtual and mixed reality.

Abstract:
Eye-tracking sensors track where a user looks and are being increasingly integrated into mixed-reality devices. Although critical applications are being enabled, there are significant possibilities for violating user security and privacy expectations. There is an appreciable risk of unique user identification from eye-tracking camera images and the resulting eye movement data. Biometric identification would allow an app to connect a user’s personal ID with their work ID without needing their consent, for example.  Solutions were explored to address concerns related to the leaking of biometric features through eye-tracking data streams. Privacy mechanisms are introduced to reduce the risk of biometric recognition while still enabling applications of eye-tracking data streams. Gaze data streams can thus be made private while still allowing for applications key to the future of mixed-reality technology, such as animating virtual avatars or prediction models necessary for foveated rendering.

Location: SAWB 423 and via zoom.

Kindly find the zoom link below:
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/96540497220?pwd=TlROd0srSGZLUzZ3QXhQV2VDOTVhZz09

https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/96540497220?pwd=TlROd0srSGZLUzZ3QXhQV2VDOTVhZz09

Teaching and Assessing Technology Ethics

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 06 December, 2022
Time: 00:00 - 17:00
Location: Room 1.33, Jack Cole Building, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom

As ethical issues surrounding technology become increasingly prevalent in society, they are also seeing commensurate interest amongst computer science educators. A recent SIGCSE paper (Fiesler, Garrett and Beard 2020) found 202 different syllabi across a variety of university technology ethics courses. One of the conclusions of the paper is that “there is a lot that computing ethics educators could learn from each other”. With this in mind, the School of Computer Science is holding a workshop to bring together educators interested in technology ethics to discuss, share and build best practices in this area. In particular the aim of the workshop is to: share syllabi and anecdotes about what works and what does not work when teaching and assessing tech ethics develop shared resources that may benefit all explore any Scottish-specific considerations, e.g., Scottish case studies that are good for teaching, or how best to embed ethics in a four-year Scottish subhonours/honours degree programme. This half-day workshop should be of interest to anyone who is involved, or interested, in teaching technology and ethics. The format of the event will be a small number of short, invited presentations, interspersed with breakout groups where participants will discuss their existing or desired teaching, any challenges, and possible solutions. Participants are thus asked to bring their current syllabi or other teaching materials where relevant. The workshop will take place in Room 1.33 of the Jack Cole Building at the University of St Andrews, and the rough schedule is as follows: 11.30am to 12 noon – arrivals 12 noon to 1pm – lunch + welcome 1pm to 1.45pm – presentations 1.45pm to 2.30pm – breakout groups 2.30pm to 3pm – afternoon tea 3pm to 3.45pm – presentations 3.45 pm to 4.30pm – breakout groups 4.30pm to 5pm – reporting back, summary and outcomes The intended outcomes of the workshop are a paper to appear in CEP or UKICER, and a shared repository of module syllabi and other teaching resources. Depending on the outcomes of discussions, we may pursue follow-up funding or research projects based on shared needs or interests. This event is free, thanks to sponsorship by the Scottish Informatics & Computer Science Alliance through its Education Programme. Spaces are limited and priority will be given to current educators. Register here If you have any questions or suggestions, please get in touch by e-mail with the event organiser Tristan Henderson.

FATA Seminar: Applications of difference families and their generalizations

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: Laura Johnson, University of St Andrews
Date: 06 December, 2022
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

Difference families and their generalizations are combinatorial structures with applications in design theory, coding theory and cryptography. Recently, I have defined two new types of difference families; namely Disjoint Partial Difference Families (DPDFs) and External Partial Difference Families (EPDFs). To further motivate the study of these new combinatorial structures, I will discuss an application of DPDFs in design theory and an application of EPDFs in coding theory.

Cardiac MRI segmentation using MATLAB

Group: Computing Technologies for Healthcare
Speaker: George Amarantidis Koronaios, Mathworks
Date: 07 December, 2022
Time: 14:00 - 15:00
Location: https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/84190142074?pwd=dkx3eGlCK2MxSXUwbHQ2V2ErZmRDZz09

Abstract: 

Semantic segmentation is a common problem in medical imaging. In this seminar, we will examine how MATLAB Tools (medical imaging toolbox and deep learning toolbox) can streamline this process. We will look into the tools available at your disposal and do a deeper dive into an example of semantic segmentation cardiac MRI data. This example will cover streamlining data labelling, transfer learning, and dealing with label imbalance.

Venue: 422 Sir Alywn Williams Building (Join us in person to discuss internship/job opportunities at Mathworks)
(Hybrid Format- https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAsfumpqjkqHdBuQcvARMF5brkCgoR_cLjx)

Biography:

George Koronaios works with mathworks team to support academics with research and teaching. Recently MathWorks released the Medical Imaging Toolbox to visualise, register, segment and label 2D and 3D medical images. This presentation will provide few examples with a focus on semantic segmentation and labeling. Medical Imaging Toolbox™ provides apps, functions, and workflows for designing and testing diagnostic imaging applications. You can perform 3D rendering and visualization, multimodal registration, and segmentation and labeling of radiology images. The toolbox also lets you train predefined deep learning networks (with Deep Learning Toolbox™).

From Gambles to User Interfaces: Simulating Decision-Making in the Real World

Group: Inference, Dynamics and Interaction (IDI)
Speaker: Aini Putkonen, Aalto University
Date: 08 December, 2022
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

Classical models of decision-making offer valuable insights about people's decision-making tendencies, for example, how they manage risk and uncertainty. This behaviour is often studied in tasks where individuals choose between uncertain outcomes, or gambles. Such tasks are also common when using interactive systems. However, applying models of decision-making in naturalistic settings can be a challenge as they were largely developed in controlled experiments. Experimental settings allow controlling the task design, whereas real-world user interfaces often lack this level of control. In this talk, I hypothesise that considering aspects of the human cognition is key in moving from modelling gambles to similar tasks on real information-rich user interfaces. Such aspects include the visual system, memory and cognitive capacity. I address how to model real-world user behaviour by combining understanding of cognition with reinforcement learning. In particular, theories of human decision-making and psychology are used to process information on displays, producing human-like observations for the learning problem. This problem is then solved using reinforcement learning. The advantages of this approach will be discussed, including construction of simulation models of users for applications like prototyping, recommender systems, and decision support.

SICSA Cyber Security Research Theme Event: Cyber Speed Dating Event

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 09 December, 2022
Time: 11:00 - 14:00
Location: TBA

Please note a speed-dating online event on the 9th December 2022 (11am-2pm). We hope you can join us! The idea is to bring SICSA cybersecurity researchers together who have never worked together before, to brainstorm an idea for future research. We, the two theme leaders, will review and rank proposals and provide travel/subsistence grants of £200 to those we consider to have merit, to enable researchers to meet with each other to continue development of the project idea. Requirements: Scottish cybersecurity academics have to register by 11 November 2022, stating research interests After registration, the theme leaders will circulate the list of registrations and ask people to mention three people, in ranked order, that they would like to be matched with. A requirement is that they should not have done research with these people before The theme leaders will pair people based on their rankings On the day of the event, we will create a breakout room for each pair so that they can work together on a proposal. After the workshop they will have the weekend to refine their 1 page proposal, which will then be emailed to both theme leaders by COB on Monday 12th December. Agenda: (1) Lightning talks by all attendees (2) Go to breakout rooms to talk about potential research Register here.

Networking and Systems Research Theme Event: Scottish Autonomous Networks Systems Event

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 12 December, 2022
Time: 09:00 - 20:30
Location: University of Glasgow, James Watt School of Engineering, James Watt South Building, Level 6 - Creativity Suite, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, United Kingdom

This is the event to bring together the Scottish research community working the space of autonomous networked systems. This event will be held both in-person and online. The in-person meeting will be in the level 6 'creativity suite' @ James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow. Topics The Scottish Autonomous Networked Systems (SANS) event is an opportunity to bring together researchers from different areas to share ideas and learn about ongoing work in relation to autonomous networked systems. Topics can include: Applying novel AI & ML techniques in an innovative manner to create evolvable and autonomous compute and network infrastructure. Repurposing robotic operation techniques to distributed and federated software control to achieve runtime operational assurance. Investigating new programming interactions between user, system, and network to achieve trust for autonomous operation. The use of formal methods to help achieve trustworthy operation in the face of dynamic and adaptable operational environments. Attending If you would like to attend physically, please register on the Doodle. There is no need to register if you would like to attend online. Information on how the seminar will be streamed is coming soon. COVID-19 Following Scottish Government and University guidance, we ask participants displaying potential COVID-19 symptoms not to attend physically, and encourage participants to wear masks in indoor areas should they become busy. The University supports the Distance Aware scheme, and can provide appropriate lanyards and badges. We strongly encourage participants to take a Lateral Flow Test (LFT) prior to the event; although the national testing programme has now finished, LFTs can be purchased from most major supermarkets and pharmacies. Programme The following is a tentative schedule for this edition of SANS. Note that the call for talks, demos, and posters is currently open, feel free to get in touch here to share your ongoing work. Schedule Monday 12th December 09:00-09:30 Welcome / Registration 09:30-11:00 Academic Keynote Speaker: Wolfgang Keller 11:00-11:30 Coffee 11:30-13:00 Session: Short Talks & Demos 13:00-14:00 Lunch 14:00-15:30 Session: Short Talks & Demos 15:30-16:00 Coffee 16:00-17:00 Session: Short Talks & Demos 17:00-18:00 Session: Discussion Tuesday 13th December 09:00-09:30 Welcome / Registration 09:30-11:00 Industrial Keynote Speaker: Rakuten Symphony 11:00-11:30 Coffee 11:30-13:00 Session: Short Talks & Demos 13:00-14:00 Lunch 14:00-15:30 Session: Short Talks & Demos 15:30-16:00 Coffee 16:00-17:00 Session: Posters 17:00-17:30 Closing Remarks 19:00-20:30 Social Event Location: TBA Talks Wolfgang Keller, Technical University of Munich TBA TBA, Rakuten Symphony TBA Organisers The organisers of this edition of SANS are Paul Harvey, Jeremy Singer, Colin Perkins, Marc Roper, Blesson Varghese, and Philip Rodgers. Feel free to contact any of the organisers about queries regarding this seminar.

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: Daniel Hillerström, University of Edinburgh
Date: 13 December, 2022
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

Abstract TBC

2023 SICSA HCI All-Hands Meeting

Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 12 January, 2023
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Location: University of Dundee, ,

The 2023 SICSA HCI All-Hands Meeting will take place in Dundee on Thursday 12 January. The event will primarily be an in-person workshop, but an online stream of the event will also be available. We would highly encourage people to attend in person. This meeting will include a retrospective on SICSA HCI activities over the years, as well as some more forward-looking discussions and activities as the future of collaborative HCI research in Scotland.   10:00 Welcome and coffee 10:30 Panel The panel includes past HCI Theme research leads and will be used to reflect on what worked well (and what didn't work so well) over the last 10 years of SICSA HCI 11:30 SICSA 4.0 Talk Talk from SICSA Executive on future priorities for SICSA 4.0, where funding is coming from, and the vision for how research themes will work with other agencies. 12:30 Lunch 13:30 Recap on Past Funding A reflection on how SISCA HCI funding has been spent in the past, what events have been sponsored and how this has changed over time. 14:00 Discussion on Future Funding Group-based discussion on what type of activities we should be funding in the future and the best mechanisms to support this 15:00 Coffee 15:30 Feedback on Discussion Feedback from groups and decisions made on how HCI funding can be prioritised for SICSA 4.0 16:00 Close   Register for the event (both in-person and online) here.

GIST Seminar

Group: Human Computer Interaction (GIST)
Speaker: DR STEPHEN LINDSAY
Date: 12 January, 2023
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 423 Seminar Room

Healthcare Seminar & CIVIS Network: TBC

Group: Computing Technologies for Healthcare
Speaker: Prof. Elias Manolakos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Date: 18 January, 2023
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJElc-mtrzMqGtQGQoSpPlNbHkfwWVibgSfH

Healthcare Seminar: TBC

Group: Computing Technologies for Healthcare
Speaker: Dr. Tanaya Guha, University of Glasgow
Date: 25 January, 2023
Time: 14:00 - 15:00
Location: https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAscuCgrDgvGNEB9piiUZf_mCbyPsEBu4c2

Biography: 

Dr. Tanaya Guha is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in University of Glasgow and a member of the Glasgow Interactive Systems (GIST) section. Her research focuses on developing machine intelligence capabilities to understand human activities and behaviour combining machine learning, computer vision and signal/speech processing. She received her PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver. Among other awards and honours, she is a recipient of Warwick Global Research Priority award, ICME Outstanding Area Chair award and Mensa Canada Woodhams memorial scholarship. She is also a member of ISCA, IEEE, an elected member of IEEE MSA Technical Committee and an Executive Committee member of AAAC. She is actively involved in the Organizing and Program Committees of several conferences. 

FATA Seminar

Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: Ruth Hoffmann, University of St Andrews
Date: 07 February, 2023
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB

Abstract TBA