About DISI

DISI is a is hosted within the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The Provost’s Strategic Fund has supported DISI by providing 2 Lectureships, a Centre Manager and a 1-year Postdoc. This has enabled us to create an umbrella structure, DISI, which now incorporates:

• The DIS-CDT, which was established in 2017, and selected recently by STFC for an extension for 3 more cohorts, hence operating until at least 2028, with typically 10 PhD students per year.
• An MSc 1-yr programme in Scientific and Data-Intensive Computing, with typically 70 students per year.
• The relationships with over 30 industry partners (IPs) are a vital component of DISI’s mission to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange between industry and academia in the fields of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. The placement opportunities provided by these IPs are an integral part of the training and development of DIS-CDT students.

Our vision

• Train the next generation of leaders in DIS for roles in academic and industry.
• Exchange knowledge between fields and academia/industry.
• Develop multi-disciplinary collaboration in DIS (cross-departmental, nationally, internationally, between academia/industry).
• Foster responsible research and innovation.

The future of DISI

• Run 1-2 topical workshops per year, with participants from both academia and industry.
• Encourage candidates for advance fellowships (e.g. ERF, URF, FLF and similar international schemes) to have UCL (and the DISI Centre) as their host.
• Establish a Visiting Fellows scheme, hosting DIS experts from other universities and industry for periods of 1-12 months.
• Establish a network with half a dozen ML/AI centres around the world, for supporting closer collaborations, e.g. exchange schemes, workshops (in person and online) etc.
• Enhance the cooperation with the other 4 STFC-funded DIS-CDT centres and with the Alan Turing Institute.
• Expand the ML research directions beyond Astrophysics and HEP, e.g. towards Fusion and Climate Change.