Our Activities
Events
Annual events such as our conference and industry showcase will be the flagship events of the Hub. Our ECR Committee will host a quarterly series of workshops on topics suggested by the AIchemy community. In addition, we’ll be providing workshops and engagement sessions for local school children and the wider public through a series of outreach events.
Training and Community Building
To help develop the AI talent and skills pipeline in the UK, we will host an annual Machine Learning Training School, fully-funded undergraduate summer internship scheme, and annual datathons/hackathons. Our ECR Committee will run a monthly webinar series to help build the AIchemy community. In addition, we will offer industry-focused AI training to help benefit their company.
Funding
70% of the total research budget for the AIchemy Hub has been ring-fenced as a flexible fund open for biddable projects for the wider UK research community. Funding calls will cover a range of streams including larger grants (e.g. for PDRA time), Pump-priming (up to £20k), Secondment/travel funds, and access to the AIchemy’s Software Engineers and Data Officer.
>_ Events
AIchemy Conferences
Our conferences will be held annually to showcase the activities of the Hub, and bring together the community to discuss cutting edge research in AI and Chemistry.
Industry showcases
Industry showcases will include activities designed to specifically engage with our industry community, to identify areas of overlapping research and build links for future collaborations.
Webinars
Webinars will be run monthly and will be led by our ECR committee. These will be a mixture of academic, industry and policy maker talks, and also a series focused on interviewing community members (ECRs, industry, senior researchers), Q&As, and panel discussions.
Outreach and engagement
AIchemy Hub researchers will run workshops and engagement activities for local school children and for the wider public, such as Pint of Science, Imperial Exhibition Road Festival.
>_ Training and Community Building
ML Training Schools
Training Schools will be held annually and will typically be 3-5 day residential events. They will be primarily aimed at PhD students/postdocs working on AI for Chemistry, with practical training sessions focusing on ML basics (fundamentals) and advanced topics.
UG internships
We will run an annual scheme for fully-funded UG summer internships (8 weeks), to be carried out by UK based undergraduates, with the majority ring-fenced for UGs located outside of the four initial Hub partners. Our selection process will be informed by our EDI priorities.
Workshops
Workshops will be organised every quarter according to topics proposed by the AIchemy community. The ECR Committee will organise these sessions, with an aim of building links for future collaborations.
Datathons /Hackathons
Datathons or Hackathons will be held annually. These will look to investigate novel ways to create, process and model datasets, and will be inclusive to those with limited experience in AI. We expect that these will be co-run with industry partners.
>_ Funding
Larger grants (PDRA time)
Our larger grant call will run at least twice during the lifetime of the Hub. This funding will be eligible to be used for PDRA time. Prior to each call, we will run sandpits to foster collaborations and ideas for new projects.
Pump Priming
Calls for these projects will be run annually for up to £20K (at the standard FEC of 80%). There will be a focus on projects led by ECRs, including PDRAs, for applications for small sums for short periods of researcher time.
Secondments /Travel fund
We have a Secondment/Travel fund that ECRs and Postdocs can apply to, to assist in boosting their visibility and fostering (international) collaboration. This can be used for academic or industry visits.
Software Engineer/Data Officer time
Our AIchemy Software Engineers and Data Officer will have 40% of their time as biddable for short projects, e.g. ensuring software sustainability and access to the broader community.