Based in the Department of Informatics,the Centre will bring together world-leading experts from King’s and Imperial College to train anew generation of researchers.The CDT will train scientists and engineers in model-based AI approaches and their use in developing safe and trusted AI systems.Such systems are safe,meaning that some assurance can be provided about system behaviour,and they are trusted,meaning that people can have confidence in the decisions they make and the reasons for making them.CDT researchers will also be trained in the implications of AI for wider society including,for example,the relevance of safe and trusted AI to legislation and regulation,and to different industry sectors and application domains.Model-based AI techniques provide an explicit language for representing,analysing and reasoning about systems and their behaviours.Models can be verified and solutions based on them can be guaranteed as safe and correct;and models can provide human-understandable explanations and support user collaboration and interaction with AI–key for developing trust in asystem.King’s and Imperial are renowned for their expertise in model-based AI and host some of the world’s leaders in the area.Core research areas include:Verification&Testing,to provide guarantees about system behaviour;Logic in Artificial Intelligence,for efficient and expressive knowledge representation and reasoning;Planning,which allows the synthesis of solutions to achieving complex tasks that are correct by construction;Argumentation&Dialogue,which supports explanation and transparent reasoning,and can allow joint decision-making between humans and AI systems;Norms&Provenance,to guide behaviour in the context of organisational structures,and track and explain data,allowing identification and mitigation of anomalies;Human-oriented AI,which aims to support collaboration and communication between machines and humans.This depth and breadth of expertise in model-based AI is complemented with related expertise in related technical areas such as cyber security and data science,and with expertise related to the implications and applications of AI in areas such as security studies&defence,business,law,ethics&philosophy,social sciences&digital humanities,natural sciences&medicine. 查看详细>>

The research will focus on immunology,cancer,neuroscience and bone with the aim of translating early research into human studies and further understanding of the disease to develop treatments for patients.The co-location of researchers from UCB will allow significant research to take place at King’s,while also exposing staff and students to commercially relevant research which can better prepare them for future employment.UCB will have direct access to expertise at King’s,facilitating new and innovative solutions to long-standing technical challenges.The team from UCB will be based at the Guy’s Campus,where King’s is developing aBiotech Hub to enable on-site partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry and direct access to world-leading research. 查看详细>>

The largest ever research grant to improve palliative and end of life care for people with dementia and their carers in the UK(£4.7m)has been awarded to researchers at the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department,UCL,and the Cicely Saunders Institute of Palliative Care,Policy&Rehabilitation,King’s College London.The programme grant called Empowering Better End of Life Dementia Care Programme(EMBED-Care)will create new ways of supporting patients with advanced dementia,where they live and receive care.The research will build understanding on the current and future needs for dementia palliative care,how people with dementia move through the health and social care system and develop new ways to deliver these vital services.The research is one of four collaborative projects being funded by the ESRC-NIHR Dementia Research Initiative 2018,which aims to improve the lives of people living with dementia across the UK.Further research is essential in informing better quality of care and ensuring that people living with dementia receive the support and guidance they need to plan for their future care while they still have the capacity,and to have important discussions with those closest to them.The researchers say the£4.7m investment is ahuge step in the right direction to prioritising palliative and end of life care for people living with dementia,now and in the future.With dementia the most common cause of death in the UK,it is vital that healthcare professionals can support people’s individual care needs as well as support families and carers.Palliative and end of life care aims to reduce pain and manage symptoms,so people with dementia can maintain the best possible quality of life as death approaches–whether that is at home,in hospital or in acare home.However,research shows care for people living with dementia is not always underpinned by apalliative approach.Determining aperson’s palliative care needs,then initiating and delivering this care for patients with dementia is one of the research gaps identified by the Palliative and end of life care Priority Setting Partnership with the James Lind Alliance. 查看详细>>

The results of the research have prompted senior author and Director of King‘s Environmental Research Group,Professor Frank Kelly,to argue that improving air quality in cities should be apublic health priority.The full research findings are published in BMJ Open.Although air pollution is now an established risk factor for heart disease/stroke and respiratory disease,its potential role in neurodegenerative diseases,such as dementia,hasn’t been clear.Researchers used carefully calculated estimates of air and noise pollution levels across Greater London to assess potential links with new dementia diagnoses.To do this,they drew on anonymised patient health records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink(CPRD).This has been collecting data from participating general practices across the UK since 1987.The researchers focused on just under 131,000 patients aged 50 to 79 in 2004,who had not been diagnosed with dementia,and who were registered at 75 general practices located within the London orbital M25 motorway.Based on the residential postcodes of these patients,the researchers estimated their annual exposure to air pollutants–specifically nitrogen dioxide(NO2),fine particulate matter(PM2.5),and ozone(O3)–as well as proximity to heavy traffic and road noise.The health of these patients was then tracked for an average of seven years,until adiagnosis of dementia,death,or deregistration from the practice,whichever came first.During the monitoring period,2181 patients(1.7%)were diagnosed with dementia,including Alzheimer’s disease.These diagnoses were associated with ambient levels of NO2 and PM2.5,estimated at the patients’homes at the start of the monitoring period in 2004.Those living in areas in the top fifth of NO2 levels had a40 per cent heightened risk of being diagnosed with dementia compared to those living in the bottom fifth.A similar increase in risk was observed for higher PM2.5 levels.These associations were consistent and unexplained by known influential factors,such as smoking and diabetes,although when restricted to specific types of dementia,they remained only for patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. 查看详细>>