The DSI kicked off the new academic year with a seminar, jointly hosted by LSE as part of an ongoing DSI Squared partnership.

Students and staff from the Data Science Institutes at both Imperial and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) attended the fourth seminar as part of an ongoing series addressing Unsolved Problems in Data Science. 

During the seminar on 5th October 2023, LSE’s Dr Blake Miller presented his unsolved problems around the Social and Ethical Implications of Data Scarcity and Data Drift in Large Language Models.  

The Unsolved Problems in Data Science Seminar Series aims to bridge the gap between the social sciences, computer sciences and STEM subjects by presenting current research challenges and crowdsourcing solutions from experts across these fields. It forms part of a wider partnership between the Data Science Institute from Imperial and LSE known as DSI Squared.  

Dr Miller’s research investigates the effects of behavioural changes in data producers and providers due to the swift introduction and widespread adoption of powerful large language model tools.  

Through the discussion, he presented his current research challenges relating to how we can evaluate LLM outputs and how we can measure or stimulate the effect of data drift on bias, fairness and safety for example. 

Encouraging cross-disciplinary research - apply to the research grant scheme! 

As part of the DSI Squared partnership, the sister institutes have launched a small grant scheme to promote collaboration in data science research.  

The DSI Squared Research Grants Scheme will consider applications for grants to fund data science research and research-related activities (including dissemination of findings and public outreach). 

The new research grants scheme is open to any DSI Affiliate including DSI Members from both Imperial and LSE, alongside outside Research Fellows. 

In order to maximise the opportunity for collaboration, all applications must include members from both the London School of Economics AND Imperial College London. 

Applicants may submit multiple separate applications in each round and funding is considered up to a maximum of £5,000. 

More information on the scheme and how to apply can be found here.