Research seminars

14 April: Kathryn Jessen Eller (Data Science, AI & You (DSAIY) in Healthcare)

Teaching youth to critically evaluate AI in healthcare while learning and applying data science and machine learning skills

In this seminar, Kathryn Jessen Eller will share how the Data Science, AI and You (DSAIY) in Healthcare programme combines a semester-long high school foundations course with current event datathons to help students understand how AI works and how it impacts society. She will describe how the course introduces essential ideas, graphing, statistics, correlation, and linear regression via free online programs such as CODAP as a foundation for interpreting Python-generated pair plots, scatterplots, boxplots, and histograms. 

These visual tools and additional short engaging activities from sources like code.org help students learn to identify meaningful features, compare models, and understand supervised versus unsupervised learning. Students also learn to design, train, test, and refine a model. Kathryn will also discuss how students explore bias at every stage of the machine learning process, from data collection to model interpretation. Student collaboration with teachers, data scientists, and clinicians during DSAIY’s intergenerational healthcare datathons reinforces foundational concepts learned during the course.

Kathryn Jessen Eller is Principal Investigator of the National Science Foundation-funded Data Science, AI and You (DSAIY) in Healthcare program. Her work focuses on designing and studying data science and AI learning experiences that help high school students build statistical reasoning, interpret real-world datasets, understand core machine learning concepts, and recognise ethical and societal impacts of AI in medicine. DSAIY ensures that students are aware of their responsibility in the ethical use of AI. She collaborates with Brown University, MIT Critical Data, and Rhode Island secondary schools to broaden participation in AI and support youth in developing human-centered, critical AI literacy. 

12 May 2026: Shuchi Grover (Raspberry Pi Foundation)

More information coming soon.

16 June: Gianfranco Polizzi (University of Birmingham)

More information coming soon.

14 July: Dan Verständig (Goethe University Frankfurt)

On critique as practice and critical computational literacy

Digital tools have increasingly been subjected to critique that exposes their biases, power dynamics, and societal implications. In consequence, educational research and interdisciplinary scholarship are not only challenged to engage with what it means to be “critical,” but also to reflect on critique itself. As computational technologies and algorithmic systems become woven into educational and civic infrastructures, the task is no longer merely to analyse their effects, but to develop frameworks that also reimagine technology’s role in education and society. 

Against this background, this talk draws on historical perspectives on the relationship between romanticism and technology and argues that, together, art and science offer productive ways to overcome misconceptions about technology and to cultivate critique as practice. Romantic framings such as innovation as destiny, artificial intelligence as “mind,” or progress as inherently beneficial do not simply simplify complex systems; they shift responsibility and render political choices as technical inevitabilities. The talk proposes Critical Computational Literacy (CCL) as an educational response that treats computational systems as shaped by cultural, historical, and normative assumptions, rather than as neutral tools with the aim of supporting imagination, agency, participation and accountable educational practices in datafied worlds.

Dan Verständig is Professor of Educational Theory and Practices of Critical Computational Literacy at the Center for Critical Computational Studies (C3S), Goethe University Frankfurt. His research addresses learning in the context of digitality, with a focus on inequality, civic participation, and creative-critical approaches to coding and data literacy. He is a founding member of the Critical Big Data and Algorithmic Literacy Network (CBDALN) and works with experimental formats such as interactive installations, data-driven art, and playful methods to make digital infrastructures visible and reflect on their societal implications. He also advises NGOs on digital literacy and information security.

8 September: Jie Chao (The Concord Consortium)

More information coming soon.

6 October (7–8:30 pm BST): Eleni Petraki and Damith Herath (University of Canberra)

Advancing robotics education: directions for school and tertiary contexts

Robotics has long fascinated researchers and learners alike, and its significance has grown exponentially with the rise of artificial intelligence and automation in everyday life. This webinar explores the evolution of robotics education within STEAM disciplines, highlighting historical developments and current innovations that address the field’s multidisciplinary nature. While historically fields such as Artificial Intelligence, computer science and robotics were distinct disciplines, research is pointing to pedagogical approaches for integrated STEAM pedagogies. Drawing on the research within the first truly interdisciplinary textbooks (Herath and St-Onge, 2022), we illustrate the redesign of an engineering and robotics curriculum from an Australian tertiary course aimed at equipping future engineers with the diverse skills demanded by a growing workforce. The session concludes with evidence-based recommendations for best practices in robotics pedagogy, emphasising theory-driven methods and interdisciplinary learning approaches.

Eleni Petraki is an Associate Professor in Curriculum Design and Human–AI Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Canberra. She has over 26 years of experience in language teaching and teacher education, spanning curriculum design, educational research, and applied linguistics. Eleni was a Chief Investigator and recipient of an ARC Discovery National Competitive Grant (2020–2025) in the field of machine education and artificial intelligence. Her research focuses on curriculum design, education for human–AI collaboration, artificial intelligence in education, and interaction analysis and communication.

Damith Herath is a Professor of Robotics and Art at the University of Canberra and leads the Collaborative Robotics Lab, a multidisciplinary research team with strong industry partnerships. An award-winning entrepreneur and a roboticist, Professor Herath has over two decades of experience leading complex robotic integration projects. In 2011, he founded Australia's first collaborative robotics startup, which was recognised as one of Australia's most innovative young tech companies in 2014. Professor Herath has also chaired several international workshops on Robots and Art and is the lead editor of the seminal book "Robots and Art: Exploring an Unlikely Symbiosis," a significant contribution to the field featuring leading roboticists and artists.

10 November: Doreen Boyd (University of Nottingham)

More information coming soon.