Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 welcomed more than 100 researchers from 30th May to 3rd June

In the framework of the Arqus Alliance, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 welcomed about a hundred researchers on its campus from 30th May to 3rd June. These researchers, coming from all the Arqus universities, came to participate in two events: a Research Focus Forum on Climate Change and Biodiversity from 30th May to 1st June and a Workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Digitalisation from 1st to 3rd June.

The first event on Climate Change and Biodiversity allowed more than 50 researchers from the University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Université Jean Monnet, University of Granada, Vilnius University, Leipzig University, University of Graz and University of Padua to exchange their research projects and to discuss possible future collaborations. During the three days, the participants attended different sessions on various themes such as the role of scientists in the climate crisis and the importance of biodiversity, as well as a poster session presented by PhD / post-doctoral students.

The second event, organised by Arqus RI, was attended by nearly 70 researchers who came to discuss the various applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Some participants focused on AI and law, others on AI and health, and still others on AI and finance. For the researchers, it was an excellent opportunity to meet their colleagues and to start joint projects. The participants from the University of Granada brought some proposals to initiate joint projects on themes of smart cities and mobility; intelligent human-machine collaboration for explainable, controllable and accountable AI; AI techniques to mitigate gender biases in online services; AI for the detection and prevention of fake news and hate speech; improving tools for personal data management or smart tools for analytics and energy consumption management, among others. 

These events, which were postponed due to the pandemic, were eagerly awaited by the researchers, who were overall very satisfied with these few days. Collaborations have already been initiated and look promising!

Some of the participants said: “Arqus was essential to promote collaborations between my lab and the Universities of Padua, Lyon and Leipzig.” Others added: “Networking worked very well. I got acquainted with people from several different places and with the most diverse expertise. In some cases, concrete cooperation in research and teaching seems to be promising. So, these were three very productive and informative days.”

This kind of events gives concrete expression to the vision and mission of the Arqus Alliance and is a sign of the success that European Universities can have in the future.