The first keynote speaker was Professor Julie Wall, who presented a lecture entitled ‘The transformative potential of AI innovation and ethical considerations in speech and generative technologies’. She explored language and speech processing in AI and highlighted ethical issues, using deepfakes as an example, to question if AI creators should be accountable for malicious misuse of their programmes.

In eight breakout sessions, divided into morning and afternoon, doctoral students presented their work to attendees.

One research student, Vanessa, said,

The UWL annual doctoral students’ conference showcased the next generation of scholars with passionate presentations, followed by equally engaging intellectual discourse. A true hallmark of ingenuity and innovation.”

Professor Jeremy Strong delivered the final keynote lecture – ‘A "Career" in Academia?’ – reflecting on his background in higher education. Strong’s impressive and varied career journey, primarily in film and literature, has given him a wealth of knowledge and experience, and he generously shared some of his insights with the audience. Research student, Eduards, said the conference offered an “interesting variety of multi-disciplinary research with inspiring keynote lectures.”

The conference concluded with the awards for the best oral and poster presentations. Neil Livingstone, from LCM, received the Marcia Worrell prize, which is awarded annually in memory of Professor Marcia Worrell, to a doctoral student who demonstrates exceptional enthusiasm and commitment in their research.

Speaking about the event, Caroline Lafarge, Head of the Graduate School and a professor in Psychology, said,

The programme this year really captured the breadth and quality of research currently undertaken at UWL, and it was wonderful to see all UWL schools and colleges represented as well as (very) new doctoral students' eagerness to share their research plans.”

• Find out more about research taking place at UWL
• Learn more about the Graduate School