Students enjoy tour of Number 10 Downing Street after working with civil servants in a successful AI Hackathon last summer.
By Katie Hoggan (Communications Officer (Corporate)), Published
Students from City, University of London who took part in the Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Hackathon with civil servants last year were rewarded with a tour of Downing Street.
Evidence House, an upskilling initiative led by the 10 Downing Street Data Science Team (10DS), aims to radically upskill civil servants in data science, development and AI while delivering fresh insights and innovative solutions to government problems.
When it chose City as its host for a three-day Generative AI Hackathon last summer, students from the School of Science & Technology were given the opportunity to generate fresh insights and prototypes to show how AI can be utilised to modernise core functions of the Civil Service. It has already amassed a community of over 500 engineers, developers and analysts from across government.
Daniela Stern Gabsi, a PhD in Artificial Intelligence student, worked with a team that looked to improve the recruitment process in the civil service. Daniela and her team were commended for their impressive work at the Hackathon which utilised the tools of AI to improve recruitment processes.
On her experience in the Hackathon, Daniela said she gained valuable understanding of applying AI tools.
“It was a great experience,” she said.
“In terms of putting things into practice, this experience showed how to use these AI tools to bring great value and solutions to different processes.”
The trip to Downing Street offered students the opportunity to provide feedback on the Hackathon to organisers and reflect on their experiences. Due to the success of City’s involvement in the Hackathon, Evidence House has looked for ways to partner with academic institutions for future events. City students have been invited to the next Hackathon which will take place at Imperial College London.
Dr Sionade Robinson, Vice-President (Enterprise, Engagement & Employability), said the Hackathon gave students a great chance to showcase their skills in a practical environment.
“The Hackathon morphed from offering our facilities to then also making our talent available and being able to encourage students to get involved.
Describing the impact of the Generative AI Hackathon at the time, Eoin Mulgrew, Innovation and Systems Lead at 10 Downing Street praised the students’ input and facilities at City that made the Hackathon possible.
“We could not be more grateful to City for making this event possible,” he said.
“It is no exaggeration to say this has been one of the most exciting, rewarding and potentially impactful government events in recent years. This would not be the case were it not for the world class facilities at City and willingness of the students and staff to lean in and deliver something big, complex, and novel – with pace and perfection.
“Evidence House is about bringing skilled, passionate people together and giving them what they need to experiment, learn, swap ideas, and ultimately create great things. Seeing the incredible work that our teams of Civil Servants, City students and private sector partners have developed in such a short space of time just underscores the value of mass collaboration.”
City’s School of Science & Technology offers a series of doctoral studentships in cutting edge research areas, including topics related with AI, Machine Learning, Renewable Energy, Human Wearable Devices and many others. Students will have the opportunity to be guided by world leading scientists in an exciting international environment in the heart of the City of London.
Read more about PhD programmes in the School of Science & Technology.
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