Overview
Following the success of previous years, the UKRI Inter AI CDT Conference will take place in person on the 28th and 29th October 2025 at The Apex Hotel, James Street West, Bath. This two-day event will bring together students, academics, and industry professionals affiliated with the ART-AI CDT (University of Bath), the Environmental Intelligence: Data Science & AI for Sustainable Futures CDT (University of Exeter), and the Safe & Trusted AI CDT (King’s College London). The conference is designed to foster collaboration across institutions and sectors while delivering engaging and relevant sessions throughout.
Keynote Speakers and Conference Information
We are delighted to welcome our keynote speakers:
- Day 1: Dr Katie Ledingham, Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter
- Day 2: Dr Jindong Gu, Senior Research Scientist at Google, and Dr Martim Brandao, Lecturer in Robotics and Autonomous Systems in the Department of Informatics at King’s College London
Titles, abstracts, and bios for the keynote speakers are provided at the bottom of the webpage.
On both Day 1 and Day 2, there will be two parallel sessions in the morning and afternoon. When registering, please select your preferred sessions. Please note that while we will do our best to accommodate everyone’s first choices, session places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Poster Competition (Students Only)
At the end of Day 1, there will be a student poster competition. All students are encouraged to take part. To enter, please email your poster to your CDT no later than 12 noon on Monday, 6th October 2025. Posters will be printed on your behalf.
Winners will be announced during the conference dinner on Day 1. A £30 voucher will be awarded to the best poster from each CDT, as selected by a panel of judges.
For the full event programme, session details, and travel information for the Apex Hotel, please see the sections below. Registration is now closed. For more information, please e-mail [email protected].
Event Programme
Day 1 – Tuesday 28th October 2025
08:30 Registration, tea/coffee & networking – Meeting & Events Lobby
09:20 Welcome to Day 1 – Lansdown Suite
09:30 Keynote Speaker – Dr Katie Ledingham – ‘Where Responsible AI and Responsible Innovation Meet‘ – Lansdown Suite
10:30 Refreshment break & networking – Meeting & Events Lobby
Morning sessions
11:00 Advanced Reasoning in Large Language Models – Kingsmead Room (First floor)
11:00 AI for Sustainability in Research and Industry – University of Exeter Student led session – Lansdown Suite
13:00 Lunch & networking – Main Restaurant
Afternoon sessions
14:00 Engaging with policy influencers: AI Security Institute and UK Parliament – STAI student led session – Kingsmead Room (First floor)
14:00 AI effects on Labour market – ART-AI student led session – Lansdown Suite
16:00 Poster session, pre dinner drinks & networking (First floor)
16:00 Meme-tivism: Rethinking AI’s Environmental Impact – Kingsmead Room (First floor)
18:30 Conference Dinner & Prize Giving – Lansdown Suite
Day 2 – Wednesday 29th October 2025
09:00 Registration, tea/coffee & networking – Meeting & Events Lobby
09:20 Welcome to Day 2 – Lansdown Suite
09:30 Keynote Speaker – Dr Jindong Gu – ‘Responsible Generative AI: Ensuring Safety in Textual and Visual Generation’ – Lansdown Suite
10:30 Refreshment break & networking – Meeting & Events Lobby
Morning session
11:00 AI Policy – Kingsmead Room (First floor)
11:00 Multidisciplinary Collaboration in AI Research – Lansdown Suite
13:00 Lunch & networking – Main Restaurant
Afternoon sessions
13:45 Is AI a saint or sinner within the climate and ecological crisis? – Kingsmead Room (First floor)
13:45 Interdisciplinary AI Workshop – ART-AI student led session – Lansdown Suite
15:45 Refreshments and networking – Meeting & Events Lobby
16:15 Keynote Speaker – Dr Martim Brandao – ‘Responsible and people-centered AI in robotics: practical lessons and a holistic toolkit‘ – Lansdown Suite
17:15 Close – Lansdown Suite
Information about the sessions
Day 1 – Morning
Advanced Reasoning in Large Language Models
To think, or not to think: is that the right question? Emergent Advanced Reasoning in LLMs
Reasoning without consciousness, creating without intent, and solving problems without a mind. Hosted by Dr Harish Tayyar Madabushi, Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Bath, this session will feature a talk on using Large Language Models (LLMs) for robotic planning and control by Dr Claire Bonial, Senior Research Scientist at the U.S. Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory. This will be followed by a short talk on the advanced reasoning capabilities of LLMs and a panel discussion (with audience Q&A) focused on their possibilities, ethical implications, and what the future might hold.
AI for Sustainability in Research and Industry
The Environmental Intelligence CDT at the University of Exeter is a centre for cutting-edge PhD research applying AI to pressing environmental challenges. This student-led showcase highlights a selection of innovative projects and invites you to take part in an interactive workshop. The workshop encourages participants to explore innovative applications of AI for sustainability while critically reflecting on the ethical and societal implications of this research.
Student speakers:
Cesar Arturo Angeles Ruiz – Using AI to Predict Green Energy Supply and Consumer Demand to Stabilise UK’s Electricity Grid
Elizabeth Galloway – Data-Driven Impact-Based Forecasting for Tropical Cyclones in the Philippines
Day 1 – Afternoon
AI effects on Labour market – ART-AI student led session
Dr. Aida Garcia Lazaro (Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath) will be giving a talk which will be followed by Q&A.
Themes that will be addressed:
- What a future might look like if income becomes increasingly concentrated in companies that automate a larger share of tasks with AI (including impacts on income inequality and skills changes).
- Potential policy responses, ranging from regulation and workforce upskilling to more radical proposals such as UBI.
Engaging with policy influencers: AI Security Institute and UK Parliament – STAI student led session
Bessie O’Dell (Strategy and Delivery Manager at the AISI) will introduce the work of the UK AI Security Institute, how they operate within government and how their research feeds into UK policy and decision-making. She will also speak on pathways into careers in AI safety and security.
Tom Williams (Senior Education and Engagement officer for Parliament) will introduce how Parliament works:
- Learn about the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the function of UK Parliament by exploring representation, how Parliament scrutinises the Government and the legislative process
- Who uses research in Parliament? Learn about how Select Committees, the Libraries, the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology and All Party Parliamentary Groups draw upon research to inform their work
- How to engage with Parliament as a researcher: Learn about how UK Parliament’s Knowledge Exchange Unit supports researchers to engage with Parliament, the Parliamentary Academic Fellowship Scheme, and guidance for submitting evidence to Select Committees
Followed by a Q&A session.
Meme-tivism: Rethinking AI’s Environmental Impact
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure has grown in scale and complexity, the planetary resources and energy that are required to feed its computational operations have seen a significant increase, posing a substantial threat to environmental sustainability. While this impact is gaining attention, widespread adoption of sustainable practices and sustainable decision-making mechanisms in AI work remains limited. To meaningfully communicate the responsibility of AI practitioners in addressing the environmental footprint of their work, there is a need to foster situated awareness grounded in practitioners’ own contexts and that goes beyond generic, abstract and guilt-inducing narratives.
This project explores how creative, participatory strategies can make sustainability concerns more approachable and relatable, utilizing humour and memes as a medium to critically reflect not only on the impacts but also on the challenges and lived experiences of addressing them. Drawing on the established culture of online humour within developer communities, and inspired by use of memes for climate advocacy, we investigate memes as a medium for shared reflection and critical dialogue. This workshop is a hands-on guided meme creation session to collaboratively utilize humour to shed light on lived experiences, perceptions, challenges and concerns of AI practitioners regarding environmental footprint of their work.
Day 2 – Morning
Academic workshop: Multidisciplinary Collaboration in AI Research
Hosted by Dr Caitlin Bentley.
Multidisciplinary AI research can be challenging, especially when integrating diverse methodological approaches and disciplinary perspectives. The tension between what constitutes cutting-edge AI research across different fields creates both opportunities for innovation and barriers to effective collaboration. For instance, mismatches may occur when technical disciplines may prioritise advances in methods without current application, while social science disciplines may focus on understanding AI’s societal implications. This session will examine the benefits and challenges of multi-disciplinary collaboration through a recent study conducted at RAI UK, analysing how different disciplinary definitions of rigour, innovation, and impact can be reconciled when addressing critical AI challenges. The workshop will engage participants in a discussion, focusing on developing practical strategies for bridging these conceptual divides and establishing productive dialogue between varied research traditions.
AI Policy
A series of short talks from a panel followed by Q&A with the audience, moderated by Charles Larkin. Panel members include:
Deirdre Bane, Deputy Dean, Institute of Bankers, Ireland
Malcolm Byrne, TD, Chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on AI
Jernej Renko, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana
Vladimir Sucha, Professor at the European University Institute, former DG of the European Commission’s JRC
Day 2 – Afternoon
Is AI a saint or sinner within the climate and ecological crisis?
Seminar delivered by Environmental Intelligence CDT Director James Dyke.
Global warming will soon pass 1.5°C. Greenhouse gas emissions are at an all-time high. Net zero policies and pledges are being rolled back across corporations while the current US administration is doubling down on fossil fuels while also radically reducing its capacity to monitor and understand climate change by slashing federal science programmes. We are entering ‘climate overshoot’ in which policy makers increasingly recognise that efforts to avoid dangerous climate change have failed, and new approaches are needed to recover humanity back into a safe climate. It has been argued that AI could have a key role in decarbonising societies. At the same time, there is increasing concern that the environmental impacts of rapidly increasing AI cannot be sustained. In this workshop, participants will explore the current and proposed role of AI within climate and sustainability policies with outcomes including an increased ability to critically consider how and where AI can function as a saint, not a sinner within the climate and ecological crisis.
Interdisciplinary AI Workshop – ART-AI Student led session
Hosted by ART-AI students Ben Rogers and Joshua Tenn.
Are you a Postgraduate student interested in Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Would you like to learn more about using AI in research, and to discuss ideas with fellow students from a range of disciplines, from those experienced with AI to those new to the field? As part of this workshop, you will be placed into interdisciplinary teams and asked to come up with an idea for a solution or product that harnesses AI. It is the perfect opportunity to develop your understanding of the most exciting tools that AI has to offer, and how they can enrich your research and widen your understanding. You will be assisted by doctoral students who currently use AI in their research and asked to create a poster showcasing your idea: the best idea will win a prize!
Keynote Speakers – Day 1
Dr Katie Ledingham
Title:
Where Responsible AI and Responsible Innovation Meet
Abstract:
Responsible AI has become a powerful rallying point in industry and policy, signalling serious intent to develop artificial intelligence that works for both people and the planet. Yet alongside this momentum come sharp critiques—particularly of slippage from lofty principles to business-as-usual practices. This presentation explores how insights from Responsible Innovation can disrupt that pattern. By exposing the often-hidden, value-laden decisions shaping AI, we can create space for more reflective, democratic, and inclusive innovation. This means rethinking not just technologies, but the organisations and systems behind them—embedding inclusive design and asking not only what is possible, but who stands to gain or lose. In a landscape marked by deep inequalities and opaque governance, we need bold, transparent, and accountable design practices to steer AI toward more just and sustainable futures.
Bio:
Katie Ledingham is Senior Lecturer in Responsible and Transformative Innovation at the University of Exeter Business School and Director of Executive Education and Learning at the Centre for Responsible Innovation. An interdisciplinary social scientist with an MRes and PhD in Human Geography, her work explores how innovation can drive more sustainable futures for people and planet. She pushes the boundaries of innovation beyond technology, reframing it as a force for cultural, institutional, and social change. Katie has developed executive education programmes for businesses focused on Responsible AI, including its strategic application in areas such as climate services. Her recent research focuses on the political and ethical dimensions of AI in environmental contexts and the growing need for critical and politicised approach to AI literacy.
Keynote Speakers – Day 2
Dr Jindong Gu
Title:
Responsible Generative AI: Ensuring Safety in Textual and Visual Generation
Abstract:
This talk addresses key safety challenges in generative AI, focusing on text-to-image and image-to-text systems. For text-to-image generation using diffusion-based models, I will cover detecting harmful prompts, removing inappropriate content during generation, and tracing the origins of problematic images. In the image-to-text domain, I will present how images can be used to mislead multi-task prompting and chain-of-thought processes of multimodal LLM, and jailbreak the alignment of multimodal LLMs. This talk provides a comprehensive overview of current practices and emerging solutions in ensuring the safety and reliability of generative AI systems.
Bio:
Dr. Jindong Gu is a Senior Research Scientist at Google. He is also affiliated as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. His research interest is Responsible AI. In this area, he has regularly published papers, served as Area Chair, and organized workshops in top AI conferences. More information about him can be found https://jindonggu.github.io
Dr Martim Brandao
Title:
Responsible and people-centered AI in robotics: practical lessons and a holistic toolkit
Abstract:
The adverse impacts of AI, and methods towards its responsible development, have been widely researched in recent years. While most research has focused on dimensions of evaluation and mitigation of impact, in this presentation I will take a more holistic approach to responsible AI – one that considers multiple dimensions and stages of intervention. Using concrete applications in robotics, I will show how Responsible AI can and should involve not only impact anticipation and safeguarding, but also participation, observation, philosophical critique, oversight, and power contestation. I will highlight concrete and practical lessons learned in the “Responsible Robotics and AI” lab through research across these dimensions.
Biography
Martim Brandão is a Lecturer in Robotics and Autonomous Systems in the Department of Informatics at King’s College London. Martim’s goal is to contribute to the responsible development of robotics and AI. Towards this, he systematically investigates the risks and social impact of robotics and AI, critically examines current approaches to R&D in the field, and develops new algorithms towards more socially just and human-compatible technologies. Martim leads the Responsible Robotics and AI (RRAI) lab at King’s, and he is also Co-Director of the CDT in Safe and Trusted AI. Previously, Martim was a post-doc at King’s (2019-2021), at the Oxford Robotics Institute, University of Oxford (2017-2019), and at Takanishi Laboratory, Waseda University, Tokyo (2016-2017). He holds a PhD in Engineering from Waseda University, Japan.
Getting to The Apex Hotel
Apex City of Bath Hotel is conveniently located on James Street West, in the heart of the city. The hotel is within walking distance of Bath Spa train station and all the main attractions. Once you arrive in Bath, the best way to get around is by walking – everything is close by.
Train
The closest train station to the hotel is Bath Spa train station, just a short walk from Apex City of Bath Hotel. Exit the train station and walk west towards Brunel Square before turning left on to Dorchester Street. Then, turn right on to St James’s Parade and continue onto James Street West. The hotel will be on the right.
Driving to the Apex
The Apex City of Bath Hotel does not have on-site parking, but the closest facility is Charlotte Street Car Park, BA1 2NE. You can find details and payment options for Charlotte Street Car Park on the Bath & North East Somerset Council website.
