Amsterdam Data Science
Amsterdam Data Science
Newsletter November 2017
Newsletter November 2017
RESEARCH: ADS Awards Five Visiting Researcher Grants

ADS is pleased to announce that they have awarded five exchanges as part of the ADS International Visiting Researchers Programme. The exchanges are:
- Dan Li (UvA) to Tsinghua to carry out research within Yiqun​ ​Liu's group
- Peter Bloem (VU) to Tsinghua to carry out research with Juanzi Li & Jie Tang
- Jing Zhang (Tsinghua) to VU to carry out research in Mark Hoogendoorn's group
- Fangfang Xu (Wuhan) to VU to carry out research within Lora Aroyo's group
- Sapna Negi (Insight) to UvA to carry out research within Maarten de Rijke's group

The deadline for the next round of applications for exchange visits with Insight, Tsinghua, and Wuhan will be January 2018.

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RESEARCH: Announcing our Latest New Collaboration, with Tsinghua University

ADS have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, China. Through this five-year agreement, the two parties will collaborate on research (e.g. joint project proposals), education and training (e.g. staff and student exchanges).

Joint collaboration areas will encompass, amongst others; Computational Science, Database Architectures, Information Retrieval, Knowledge Representation, Machine Learning, Machine Translation, Natural Language Processing, and Urban Analytics.

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RESEARCH: Cees de Laat et al Launch National Big Data Infrastructure Initiative

Cees de Laat (UvA), alongside TNO and SURFsara researchers, have set up a national Big Data infrastructure. The aim of the initiative is to establish an infrastructure that unlocks the value of distributed datasets for secure data sharing and high performance computing.

Partners are invited to join this initiative to create an environment where researchers, SMEs and large companies can collaborate on cross-partner and cross-domain challenges.

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RESEARCH: Machine Learning Book Publication for Mark Hoogendoorn

A new book by Mark Hoogendoorn (VU), & Burkhardt Funk (Leuphana University Lüneburg) titled: “Machine Learning for the Quantified Self – On the Art of Learning from Sensory Data”. Self-tracking has become part of modern life, and the amount of data generated is overwhelming.

The book explains the complete loop to effectively use self-tracking data for machine learning. While it focuses on self-tracking data, the techniques explained are also applicable to sensory data in general, making it useful for a wider audience.

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RESEARCH: Alexander Schoenhuth appointed Prof. of Genome Data Science

Alexander Schoenhuth (CWI) has been appointed Professor of Genome Data Science at the Faculty of Science, Utrecht University. The research field of Schoenhuth focusses on the development of algorithms that can process and manipulate large amounts of genome data with the aim of treating patients individually.

At Utrecht University, Schoenhuth works with researchers of the ‘Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics’ group, and also with several researchers of UMCU. He is closely involved in ‘ProjectMine’, with the aim of fighting ‘amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)’ – one of the largest genome projects worldwide.

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EDUCATION: HvA & Nederland ICT Collaboration

The Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) & 'Nederland ICT' will work together to provide ICT education to jobseekers, who have no previous ICT background. Both organisations signed an agreement to confirm their collaboration with the goal to scale-up the successful Make IT Work project. 

Geleyn Meijer: "Make IT Work is an example of education innovation needed to stay a lifetime in digital society." Pictured: A. Sikkema, B. Vetter, G. Meijer, L. de Bruijn, I. Poulissen, R. Kleijn.

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New ADS Partner: Faculty of Sports and Nutrition

We are pleased to announce that the Faculty of Sports and Nutrition of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences have expressed their intention to become an official ADS partner from January 2018 onwards. We are excited for this new collaboration and the opportunities that this partnership will bring.
ADS Researchers in the Media

- Amsterdam School of Data Science receives top public vote for ICT Educator of the Year at the Computable Awards
- Jos Baeten is elected as president of European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM)
- Hamideh Afsarmanesh appointed adjunct professor at Beijing Jiaotong University
- Herbert Bos on BNR on the urgent need for the Netherlands to invest in cyber security
Maarten de Rijke receives the prestigious Tony Kent Strix Award

Funding Calls

- Looking for an extra set of eyes for your upcoming VIDI, ITN or other project proposal? Email Eva Kenny: e.r.kenny@uva.nl to discuss how she could assist.

- NWO Launch Industrial Doctorates Programme to allow doctoral students to do their research at a knowledge institute and a participating company. Deadline for applications: 16 January 2018.
Events
ADS & Coursera Event - 10 NOV. 10AM

Digital Transformation, the Future of Work, and Lifelong Learning

The programme will feature keynotes from prominent experts, panel discussions, and follow-up Q&A sessions. Today’s leaders see two key barriers to digital transformation: slow-to-change business cultures and difficulty hiring employees with the right skills. This event will provide the enterprise learning community with insights on how organisations can prepare for digital transformation. 

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ADS Hosts Public Screening of the new AlphaGo Documentary - 28 Nov. 5:15PM

We will showcase one of the first public screenings of AlphaGo at Science Park.
AlphaGo chronicles a journey of an unproven AI program from the halls of Cambridge, through the backstreets of Bordeaux, past the coding terminals of DeepMind in London, and, ultimately, to a seven-day Challenge Match in Seoul. As the drama unfolds, more questions emerge: What can artificial intelligence reveal about a 3000-year-old game? What can it teach us about humanity? 
Space is limited so please sign-up in advance on our Meetup page. The film will be followed by drinks & snacks and a chance to chat about the film.

Register
ADS Festive Drinks & Data - 07 DEC. 3.30PM

Amsterdam Data Science are thrilled to invite you to our Festive Drinks & Data afternoon where we will celebrate our many 2017 highlights and share with you our big plans for 2018. The event will be followed by drinks & delicious bites.


Date: Thursday 07 December 2017
Time: 15:30-18:00
Location: Amsterdam Business School

Register
ADS Coffee & Data - Legal Tech - 19 JAN. 09:45

ADS Coffee & Data offers the opportunity for researchers & business to share knowledge and give insight on a central theme, specifically on 19 January this will be Data Science in Legal Tech. The event will be an opportunity to gain insight on the potential of data science in law and legal practice. 

Introduction & Chair: Marc Salomon (UvA)
Full programme to be added shortly
Location: Spui 25, Amsterdam

Register
BNAIC - 08 & 09 NOV. - Groningen

The Benelux Conference on Artificial Intelligence (BNAIC) will include invited speakers, research presentations, posters and demonstrations, plus a number of special sessions, e.g. research meets business.

Register
Sport & Data Science Session - 15 NOV. - 3PM

Gain insight on how data science can contribute to better sport performance, with: Peter Blangé (Performance Innovation Manager, KNVB), Youssef el Bouhassani (Data Scientist Urban Analytics, AUAS), Arthur Houweling (Teamleader Data Science, Qualogy), Joost Kok (Professor of Fundamental Computer Science, Leiden University), Arie-Willem de Leeuw (Data Scientist, Leiden University) and Niels de Vries (Sport Physiologist, Women's National Football Team, KNVB). Followed by networking, drinks & pizza.

Location: FLOOR-tribunes Kohnstammhuis, Wibautstraat 2-4, Amsterdam
Note: The event is in Dutch

Register
VU-IBM Masterclass: Foundations of Cognitive Computing - 16 & 17 NOV.

VU, in collaboration with IBM, will deliver a masterclass on “Foundations of Cognitive Computing”, to educate decision-makers on the technology. The programme will feature lectures from: Lora Aroyo, Guszti Eiben, and Frank van Harmelen (VU), Ken Barker (IBM Research, NY) and Vanessa Lopez (IBM Research, Dublin).

Topics: Past, Present & Future of AI; Introduction to Cognitive Computing & Watson; How do Cognitive Systems learn; Where is Watson now; AI for the Masses; When AI Goes Bad; Demos

Register
Search Engines Amsterdam - 17 NOV. - 4PM

There will be two talks (one from academia and one from industry) followed by drinks. The industry speaker will be Mounia Lalmas, Research Director at Spotify, her talk will focus on user engagement.

Register
CWI Lectures on Machine Learning - 23 NOV.

This year, the Lectures will be organised by CWI’s newly established Machine Learning group. Speakers:

– Suchi Saria (Johns Hopkins University)
– Neil Lawrence (Amazon Research Cambridge & Sheffield University)
– Max Welling (UvA)
– Csaba Szepesvári (University of Alberta & Alberta Innovates Center for Machine Learning)
CWI Lectures on Machine Learning - 23 NOV.
Dutch-Belgian Information Retrieval (DIR) - 24 NOV. - Hilversum

DIR2017 aims to serve as an international platform (with a special focus on the Netherlands and Belgium) for exchange and discussions on research & applications in the field of information retrieval as well as related fields.

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NWO Workshop ICT with Industry - 27 NOV. - 01 DEC.

NWO and computer science researchers together organise the annual workshop ICT with Industry. In this workshop, researchers and professionals from industry gather to work on challenging problems proposed by industry partners. The goal is to create a network platform for IT researchers and industrial partners.

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Big Data Alliance: Ethics in Data Science - 30 NOV. 15:00

Programme featuring: Alexander Rinnooy Kan, Bernd Stahl, Marc Salomon, Maurits Kaptein, and Jack van Wijk

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Data Science Summit 2017 - 04 DEC. - Eindhoven

The Annual Data Science Summit, organised by Data Science Center Eindhoven, will feature a number of inspiring talks and poster and demo sessions. Registration is free.

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Newsletter Content

The ADS newsletter summarises key research highlights to our broad Data Science community, helping you to identify further collaboration and dissemination opportunities for your research. We look forward to receiving your items: info@amsterdamdatascience.nl
If you would like to contact Amsterdam Data Science, please send an e-mail to info@amsterdamdatascience.nl.

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