The get-together is an opportunity for alumni to network and discuss how the programme has influenced their careers.
By Mr John Stevenson (Senior Communications Officer), Published
Director of City, University of London’s MSc in Artificial Intelligence, Dr Esther Mondragon, organised the first alumni meeting of the programme on 2nd June 2023 in the Ada Lovelace Room.
The postgraduate degree programme was launched in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown and the alumni reunion was the first opportunity for the four cohorts of the course to meet together.
Dr Mondragon says it was “a fantastic event where students and staff met to socialise and exchange experiences”.
Sequence analysis and data classification
It was also an opportunity for alumni to network and discuss in an informal setting how the programme has influenced their careers in established companies and start-ups and on PhD programmes.
The plan is for the reunion to become an annual event.
Students in City’s Artificial Intelligence Research Centre (CitAI) reading for the MSc in Artificial Intelligence (AI) learn theoretical and mathematical principles of AI and advanced ground-breaking AI methods in a balanced programme that includes object/face/emotion recognition, data classification, sequence analysis, prediction and control, cognitive modelling, and AI creativity.
Tamila Skakova says one of the main reasons she applied for City’s MSc in AI was down to “the renowned quality of faculty staff and structure of the programme”.
“Led by Dr Esther Mondragon, a computational cognitive neuroscientist and a team of AI and computer science academics, I expected a programme that would deliver a robust and in-depth knowledge to immerse myself in the world of AI. Additionally, the programme is interlinked with CitAI, a research centre led by Professor Eduardo Alonso and possessed with the latest technologies. This was also an important factor when deciding to pursue the programme. It gave me confidence and a promise of a challenging and engaging year.”
Tamila adds that the City’s MSc AI was her first choice, “due to its range of AI-focused core and optional modules which provide a fully cohesive understanding, starting from linear algebra, combined with computational cognitive systems and then leading you to deep reinforcement learning.”
Invaluable experience
“A unique feature of the programme is that you are required to present your work to a panel of academics which grants you invaluable experience, and a skill that makes one stand out in the job market. After completing my second semester, I started a summer internship at UST’s Innovation Lab, focusing on Computer Vision. On completion of my MSc degree, I secured a graduate scheme at BT, in their Dynamic Infrastructure at BT Adastral Park.”
Other career paths pursued by recent graduates include AI risk advisor/partner at Deloitte in South Korea; Algorithm Engineer, Nowcoder, China; Senior Computer Vision Engineer, iProov, Italy; Machine Learning Engineer and Senior Strategist at Aviva Investors, London.