Events

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Details and reports of our events which have now been presented are available from this link or from the left menu bar item "Seasons past".
Did I mention that all our open meetings are open?

Branch Events

All events are free (in the unlikely event they are not we will let you know up front) and booking is only essential where we ask you to prebook. In that case, please email the , thanks.  

Slumdog Millionaire Inspired by IT?

Date	Wednesday 16 Sep 2009
Time	18:30 - Tea 18:00
Speaker	Dr Sugata Mitra - Professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle University coventry.bcs.org/index.php
Location	Please watch this space, it may be AS124 or a bigger lecture theatre depending on the number of people who confirm attendance - please let me know on the Coventry Secretary email address (link provided above) with the title "Slumdog" if you would like to attend. Please note: I won't reply straight away: assume that as you've emailed me you are "registered", at this early stage we need to know numbers for planning purposes. I'll then confirm the room back to you nearer the time (I may regret saying that if I've got to send a couple of hundrer confirmations!!!!)
Abstract	Are you one of the millions who've seen the film 'Slumdog Millionaire'? It is based on the book 'Q&A' by Vikas Swarup; who has acknowledged as his inspiration the extraordinary research begun in Delhi in 1999 by Dr Sugata Mitra whilst Chief Scientist at NIIT Technologies. Do you know about the 'Hole in the Wall' work with Indian slum children? It supplies computers with internet connections for unsupervised use by children. Astoundingly, groups of underprivileged children learn how to use the internet and much more. What can children teach themselves without guidance, using only the internet? How do they do it? What is 'Minimally Invasive Education'? How do children self-organise to learn? How can the internet help alternative schooling for the world's children? The 'Hole in the Wall' project has become the largest experiment in alternative primary education in the world. More than 300,000 children have benefited from 300 'Hole in the Wall' stations over the last 8 years. And NIIT plan to install another 200 stations this year. There are projects running in India, Uganda, Rwanda, Mozambique, Zambia, Swaziland, Botswana, Nigeria, Cambodia and ... England!
Downloads	Colour Poster

Artificial Intelligence Demystified

Date	Wednesday 20 Jan 2010
Time	18:30 - Tea 6:00pm for 6:30 start
Speaker	Professor Adrian A. Hopgood - Dean of Faculty of Technology, De Montfort University www.dmu.ac.uk/technology
Location	!!NOT AS124!! TBA
Abstract	Artificial Intelligence has been a rich branch of research for computer science and psychologists for over 50 years. The concept of mimicking human intelligence in a computer fuels the public imagination and had led to countless academic papers, news articles and fictional works. Such exposure has led to high public expectations despite the incredible complexity of everyday human behaviour and the difficulties of replicating even limited aspects of it. The challenge now is to build systems that can operate across the spectrum of intelligent behaviour from low-level reaction and control to high-level specialist expertise. The achievement of this goal requires a hybrid approach that draws on a variety of different techniques. Several practical examples will be highlighted and no prior knowledge of Artificial Intelligence will be assumed. Professor Adrian Hopgood joined De Montfort University in June 2007, having previously worked for Nottingham Trent University and the Open University. He also has industrial experience within Telestra Research Laboratories in Melbourne, Australia, and Systems Designers plc (now part of EDS.) Adrian had published widely and his text book “Intelligent Systems for Engineers & Scientists” is ranked a bestseller. He is a visiting professor at the Open University, a Fellow of the British Computer Society, a Chartered Engineer and a member of the Peer Review College of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.