AI Centre welcomes New Zealand’s Science Minister

University College London
Written By Rosie Niven
L-R: Bina Fatania, David Barber, Shane Reti, Miguel Rodrigues, Tim Bodley-Scott, standing in front of banners at UCL’s Centre for Artificial Intelligence

L-R: Bina Fatania, David Barber, Hon Dr Shane Reti, Miguel Rodrigues, Tim Bodley-Scott at UCL’s Centre for Artificial Intelligence

The Gen AI Hub was delighted to welcome Hon Dr Shane Reti, New Zealand's Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology, to UCL’s AI Centre on 4 July.

The Minister met with David Barber, Bina Fatania and Miguel Rodrigues of the Hub, and Tim Bodley-Scott of UCL Department of Computer Sciences’ Strategic Alliances team.

New Zealand is in the process of establishing a public research organisation with a strong focus on advanced technologies, including AI.

Hon Dr Reti was interested in the work of both the AI Centre and the Hub, a network of eight universities from across the UK. Tim Bodley-Scott outlined the Centre’s strategic approach to industry engagement, while Bina Fatania provided an overview of the Hub's cross-disciplinary and cross-institution approach.

David Barber shared insights into the models used by the Centre and the Hub, as well as some of the broader challenges currently faced in AI research and academia. This provided a valuable opportunity to share what works well within the UK ecosystem, and what does not.

We hope that the insights shared by the team prove valuable as they develop this new initiative. We anticipate further opportunities for knowledge exchange in the future, so keep an eye out for updates.

Rosie Niven

Rosie joined the hub from the regional university consortium Science and Engineering Sourh where she was a Communications and Events Manager. Since 2020 she has held a number of communications roles at UCL. Previously a journalist, Rosie has worked in higher education organisations since 2014, including Jisc and Universities UK where she edited the Efficiency Exchange website.

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