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Students on university’s fastest growing course start their own AI society 

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Why nurses, physicists, industrial chemists and engineers are flocking to Bradford’s AI course

AI society members in the Bright Building

The University of Bradford’s fastest growing course - MSc in Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics programme - now has its own student-led AI society.

The Master’s course is attracting students from all quarters, including graduates in nursing, physics, engineering and industrial chemistry.

Stefania Amankwah-tia (pictured below, second from left), who holds a BSc in adult nursing and plans to become a healthcare data analyst, said: “I graduated from Bradford in nursing in 2018 and went straight into working as a staff nurse at Bradford Royal Infirmary at the height of the pandemic. I decided to return to education because I think AI has so much potential to transform how healthcare is delivered.

“This course has been life changing for me, as it has for others. There are students from all sorts of different backgrounds coming here to study AI. The AI society we are now a part of enables us to share articles and documents, and if we have any questions, to get answers to those quickly. AI is going to touch everything, and it has so many possibilities - that’s why I think this course is so important. To be part of that transformation is amazing.”

AI society members at a computer

Students Alex Umagba, a computer science graduate, Moshood Yahaya (BSc in petroleum engineering), and Sebastian Obeta (BSc in physics) formed the society earlier this year and it already has over 200 members.

President of the Applied Artificial Intelligence Society, Moshood, who already has a job lined up in machine learning for an African fin-tech company, said: “Our vision is to create a centre of excellence for data science capacity building and skills development, which will not only make the University of Bradford the number one institution of reference, for data science recruiters in the West Yorkshire region but also in the entire United Kingdom, in a couple of years.

“We founded the AI society to improve the standard of graduates from the analytics programs and further contribute towards the improvement of the already glowing rating of the School of Management and by extension, the University of Bradford, amongst other universities.”

The University of Bradford was awarded £1.4m by the Office for Students (OfS), Department for Culture, Media and Sport to run its new MSc in Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics programme. The funding provides for 60 scholarships, each worth £10,000, to attract graduates underrepresented in the sector.

The course is supported by content from leading industry players including Amazon Web Services (AWS) Academy, UKBlackTech and SAS UK.

Alex, who already works for NHS Digital, said: “The Applied Artificial Intelligence Society is the product of purposeful research; our aim is to to identify any skills gaps in AI and data science, and to champion student engagement.”

Sebastian, who has received an offer from Cambridge University to work as a data scientist plus analyst, said: “The first port of call was to create a community practice within the society that facilitates learning. We have members of the community who have designed an interactive dashboard and published it on power BI, had an end-to-end project and others who are currently researching blockchain with a data-driven approach.”

AI society members at a computer

Dorcas Osarugue Yakubu-John (BSc in banking and finance) said: “The MSc course has opened my mind to the real world of data and given me the ability to not only describe data-sets but prescribe solutions. I am on a three-month placement with the University of Bradford and this has helped me implement classroom knowledge.”.

Associate Professor and the Programme Leader for the MSc Applied AI and Data Analytics programme, Dr Kamran Mahroof said: “I am really proud of the students for setting up this society. We identified the need for creative and innovative ways to bridge the technical gap between students in the cohort, and our students took the initiative. It shows just how passionate and committed they are to the programme, their fellow students and to unleashing the potential of AI.”

The society’s objectives include:-

  • Hands-on practice with tools and frameworks being used in the industry to develop solutions in selected languages and tools such as SAS, SPSS, Tableau, Power BI, Google Analytics, and python
  • To enlighten students about data analytics applications through real-world examples and use cases from various sectors
  • To develop students' portfolios in preparation for post-graduate life
  • To promote competitive learning through private hackathons, workshops, challenges (e.g 100 days of data science)
  • To increase members' confidence in teaching and public speaking

The University of Bradford’s School of Management is Times Higher Education’s Business School of the Year 2021. It has a globally recognised Triple Crown Accreditation from the Association of MBAs ​(AMBA) , EQUIS (European Foundation for Management Development accreditation) and AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business). It offers the first (and currently only) MBA in Circular Economy.

AI society logo

Contact the AI Society

Communication and publicity amongst members of the society is primarily via email. However, to enable a more communal engagement, we operate a WhatsApp and Telegram for current members. Our marketing and public engagements are via LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/applied-artificial-intelligence-society-university-of-bradford and Twitter.