‘Leiden could raise its profile as an AI expert’
‘In the field of AI, Leiden is still a relatively unseen university,’ says Thomas Dohmen. The brand-new Director AI Collaboration Center, would like to forge a Leiden AI collaboration network, with sustainable and impactful relationships between the university and civil society organisations. The question is: how?
Positioning Leiden more strongly as an AI expert and establishing more sustainable collaborations with external organisations: that isThomas Dohmen's mission. Since 1 October he’s been working at LIACS, the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science and at LURIS, the university centre that facilitates cooperation with external parties. Previously, he built up extensive experience at Utrecht University as a bridge builder between science and society, by setting up several successful AI labs among other things. When he came into contact with LIACS, he was impressed by the Leiden expertise and decided to make the switch.
You want to strengthen cooperation between Leiden University and external partners in the field of AI. How?
'That is what I am going to find out in the coming period by getting to know Leiden's AI activities better. I also want to develop working methods that suit long term cooperation. In scientific Netherlands, for example, it is common practice to apply for grants together with companies. There is nothing wrong with that, but in many cases it introduces unnecessary dependence. It often takes more than a year to apply for a subsidy, you are often rejected and, unfortunately, nothing further happens with the contact made. A shame, because you have already invested in a relationship. I therefore started to focus more on that relationship, thinking mainly from the needs of organisations. For instance, I explored with some colleagues what a university like Utrecht could do for the central government, where there are major obstacles around digitisation. They don't have enough talented people around. So we started a dual PhD programme, in which the National Police also stepped in. This led to the National Police AI Lab, the first AI Lab in Utrecht. For Leiden, I want to develop similar outside-in working methods.'
'Leiden has so far been less in a hurry to propagate its AI activities, but has been quietly building it all up. That might be the long game that is interesting for the type of partners that will also have longer-term challenges.'
How can Leiden distinguish itself ?
'In the field of AI, Leiden is still a relatively unseen university; I have not encountered many Leiden scientists in the national AI networks. Also, the external organisations I know are not naturally inclined to involve Leiden. A missed opportunity. Leiden, like Utrecht, is a very broad university that has much to offer on the multidisciplinary, and also has some very current areas of expertise. Think for instance of the legal, the ethical, the humane aspects of AI. I am also extremely impressed with the colleagues at LIACS. There are really top scientists there with deep technical knowledge, who understand AI or data science solutions and methods. If you manage to bring different disciplines together, you can give a full answer to social questions from the outside world.
Leiden has so far been less in a hurry to propagate its AI activities, but has been quietly building it all up. That might be the long game that is interesting for the type of partners that will also have longer-term challenges. Like the central government that wants to systematically build knowledge and recruit talent on an ongoing basis, or the security sector, which will benefit greatly from a reliable and committed party that provides lasting solutions.'
You start at a difficult time, given the looming cuts and curtailment of research…
'When I started in Utrecht, it was also a difficult time. Hardly any funding was going into computer science research. I experienced that if you organise yourself well and seriously build, maintain your relationships and set common goals, you can have a lot of impact together. That is exactly why I started working with the AI labs. I also think that a difficult period at universities precisely calls for thinking about how things can be done differently. If we make ourselves dependent on grant providers or government decisions, the necessary freedom is lost. We need to look outside the box, go off the beaten track, experiment with new ways of working. Daring to leave our comfort zone is the right choice at the moment, I think. For all universities.'