A group of students from the University of Birmingham Dubai Computer Science programme have been awarded the prestigious Expo Live 2020 University Innovation Program grant.
Students Lilly Schwarzenbach, Israel Ayokunnu, Ahmad Khouli and Surya Kosaraju, mentored by Computer Science Lecturer, Dr Eliseo Ferrante, were selected from more than 500 applications from the UAE.
The rigorous process has an acceptance rate of less that 6%, with only 28 applications being successful. The project proposed by the team under ‘Stress Free Learning’ consists of the development of an alternate diagnosis method for learning difficulties.
Instead of observations, non-intrusive sensors will measure the child’s stress level. Based on those measurements, the educator receives a diagnosis whether or not that child suffers from learning difficulties.
The aim of this Stress Free Learning is to increase the early detection rate of learning difficulties and thus to help children achieve their full academic potential.
“This is a great opportunity for our students, who will have the chance to translate their learning of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques into a real life solution of both local and global importance,” commented Dr Eliseo Ferrante, Computer Science Lecturer at the University of Birmingham Dubai.
“I am very grateful for the support of the University staff both here and in the UK, as well as the Expo Live team, which has helped us to achieve this success.”
This latest application is yet another step in the University of Birmingham Dubai’s efforts to support the UAE’s vision of developing a competitive economy, driven by knowledge and innovation, as well as Dubai’s goal of continuing to build an international education hub.
As the first global top 100 and UK Russell Group university to establish a campus in Dubai, the University is renowned for its research excellence and its researchers have received 11 Nobel Prizes.
From pioneering organ transplants, discovering gravitational waves and furthering understanding of Shakespeare, to developing cures for cancer, advances in robotics and revealing the structure of DNA, the University has been at the forefront of some of the most ground-breaking discoveries of the last 100 years.
