Women in AI and Sustainability

Dr Alina Patelli holds a PhD in computer science awarded by Aston University in 2017, and one in systems engineering awarded by her Romanian alma mater in 2011. She is currently a senior lecturer in applied Artificial Intelligence at Aston University, having recently completed her tenure as programme director of the undergraduate Digital and Technology Solutions degree apprenticeship, Aston’s flagship work-based course. Dr Patelli specialises in evolutionary computation, a type of biologically inspired AI. Her focus is on genetic programming with transfer learning and its applications in smart cities, specifically traffic modelling and prediction. Dr Patelli is also interested in autonomic, knowledge-based systems, and self-adaptation and self-organisation in computing. Her academic expertise is applied in the private sector, as part of knowledge transfer partnerships with industry. In the public arena, Dr Patelli has been publishing her academic outputs at a sustained pace in reputable journals and conference proceedings. She has given several public talks at science events (including the 2024 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition), has featured in podcasts and interviews on her personal and professional development, her research and her apprenticeship work, has written articles for various scientific news outlets, and has contributed her insight to national science strategy planning and in response to parliamentary calls for evidence related to her field. Dr Patelli is a founding member of the UK Young Academy where she contributes and furthers her expertise in AI, digital industry and the communication of science to complete interdisciplinary work for the public good alongside her peers from academia, industry, the public sector and the other learned societies in the UK. Dr Patelli is the trust and ethics theme lead within the Aston Centre for AI Research and Application, where she also holds the role of industry and impact lead.

Anikó Ekárt is Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Aston University and Director of the Aston Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Application (ACAIRA). She joined Aston University as a lecturer in Computer Science in 2006. During her time with Aston University, Prof Ekárt served in various roles, including Director of Research Degree Programmes and Associate Dean for Postgraduate Programmes in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. She led the development and was founding programme director for the very successful MSc Artificial Intelligence and MSc Artificial Intelligence with Business Strategy programmes at Aston University.  Following her PhD in 2001, Prof. Ekárt held research positions at the Institute for Computer Science and Control, a part of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, Hungary, and was external lecturer in Artificial Intelligence at Eötvös Loránd University and Dennis Gábor University in Budapest. Between 2001 and 2003 she was a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Birmingham, where she lectured in Artificial Intelligence and Human Computer Interaction. Prof Ekárt’s research interests are in the broad area of Artificial Intelligence: computational intelligence, theory and applications of genetic programming and evolutionary computation, evolutionary art, and data mining for engineering, design, and health. More recently, Prof Ekárt has started contributing to the field of social learning and trust in AI. She is author or co-author of over 120 publications and she enjoys numerous international interdisciplinary collaborations. In 2022 Prof. Ekárt was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Evolutionary Computation in Europe award by the Society for the Promotion of Evolutionary Computation in Europe and Surroundings (SPECIES).