Are you a student at De Montfort University (DMU) interested in social, ethical and political aspects of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? We are currently inviting applications for Responsible AI Frontrunner internship. This internship is based within the Human Brain Project’s (HBP) Ethics Support team at the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility (CCSR). Application deadline is 2 April and you can apply here.

This internship will start on 12th October 2020 and end on 26th March 2021. During this period, an intern will work 10 hours during the term time. This internship provides excellent opportunities to build up a highly competitive skill set in the area of ethical, legal, political and social aspects of an emerging technology field of AI. Duties of the internship will include:

• Analysing ethical, legal, political and social aspects of AI;
• Providing research assistance for preparing scientific publications; and
• Contributing to science communication activities.

This is an interdisciplinary role and we invite applications from diverse disciplines and fields of study. If you have any questions about applications, please let us know ethicsdialogues@dmu.ac.uk. In order to apply for a Frontrunners internship, all students should attend ‘Frontrunners Effective Application Workshop’ which can be booked through the ‘All Events’ section on MyGateway. 

During previous years, several DMU students from undergraduates to PhD candidates have benefited from undertaking Responsible AI Frontrunner internship within our team and contributing to collaborative research on social, ethical and political aspects of AI.You can read reflections from one of our previous Frontrunners (2018-2019) Tonii Leach here. Below one of our current Responsible AI Frontrunner (October 2019- March 2020) Juliana Nnadi tells about her experiences.

Juliana Nnadi: Responsible AI Frontrunner experience 

My name is Juliana Nnadi, a Ph.D candidate at the Institute of Evidence Based Law Reform, Faculty of Business and Law, De Montfort University (Leicester, UK) and also a Frontrunner intern at the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Media (CEM), DMU. During my internship I worked with the Human Brain Project’s (HBP) Ethics Support team within the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility (CCSR).

My role as a Responsible AI Frontrunner involves research in the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI). More specifically my work focused on national and international government policies on artificial intelligence. I was part of a team responsible for identifying, collating and analysing national and international AI policies and legal documents. I contribute to research for the Ethics Support team in the HBP, a European Union Horizon 2020 research project aimed at developing an infrastructure that supports cutting edge medical and computing research relating to neurosciences.

My role also entails outreach and dissemination of information relating to AI in the HBP through active contributions to blogs, twitter accounts and websites. During my internship, I learnt how to publish a blog post. I was able to publish a blog post from a workshop on AI which I attended, with the support of my supervisor. The process of writing and publishing harnessed the skill of developing ideas that appeal to different stakeholders and experts in the field of AI and also in the HBP. The blog post was published on 14 October 2019 and can be read here.

I was able to understand international teamwork operations through the use of modern technology and the internet. The knowledge I acquired on policy and governance of ethics in AI, Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) would be of great benefit to anyone interested in policy and law making  in the area of AI and ICT. I followed and completed online courses on ethics of AI, RRI and ICT. These courses gave me a broader insight into the ethics of technology (AI) and a better understanding on the structure and functions of the HBP.

Given the opportunity I would like to be part of a broader team that undertakes research on the  ethical and legal impacts of AI in the modern world.