Upcoming seminars
Department of General Practice and Primary Care runs a weekly seminar series, Research Matters, every Wednesday, 1.00-2.00pm. Seminars will be held in-person and also available via Zoom. Take a look at a some of our upcoming special seminars below.
The rise and rise of (generative) AI — implications for general practice education and research
Speakers: Professor Eduard Hovy and Dr Anneliese Willems
Date: Wednesday 4 October (1-2pm) - Zoom link here (password: 382071)
Abstract: After over 70 years of development and practice, recent generative AI in the form of large language models like ChatGPT has spread across the world more rapidly than any other invention of humankind. Both admired and feared, there is a general lack of understanding about how LLMs work and what their strengths and weaknesses are. This talk describes them in a simple and accessible way and explores some of the uses in Education and Research.
Bio: Eduard Hovy is the Executive Director of Melbourne Connect, a professor at the University of Melbourne’s School of Computing and Information Systems, and a research professor at the Language Technologies Institute in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2020–21 he served as Program Manager in DARPA’s Information Innovation Office (I2O), where he managed programs in Natural Language Technology and Data Analytics. Dr. Hovy completed a Ph.D. in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) at Yale University in 1987 and was awarded honorary doctorates from the National Distance Education University (UNED) in Madrid in 2013 and the University of Antwerp in 2015. He is one of the initial 17 Fellows of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) and is also a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). Dr. Hovy’s research focuses on computational semantics of language and addresses various areas in Natural Language Processing and Data Analytics.
Creative arts: an antidote to existential despair
Speaker: Emeritus Professor Christopher Dowrick (University of Liverpool UK)
Date: Wednesday 1 November (1-2pm) - Zoom link here (password: 382071)
Abstract: In this presentation I will explore how creative arts (specifically literature, poetry and music) may ameliorate our personal and vicarious experiences of existential despair. I will consider how creative arts enable us to acknowledge the deeply inconsolable, to ‘think’ reality when ordinary human thought falls short, to allow for the possibility of imagining the ‘shabby, confused, agonised crisis which is the common reality of suicide’ and to develop empathy towards individuals who seek it. I will explain how creative arts can broaden our approach to mental health promotion and suicide prevention.
Bio: Christopher Dowrick is Emeritus Professor in the University of Liverpool UK, general practitioner in Aintree Park Group Practice, and Professorial Research Fellow in the University of Melbourne. He is past Chair of the World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA) working party for mental health. He provides expert advice to WHO including its mhGAP programme.
His most recent book is Reading to Stay Alive: Tolstoy, Hopkins and the Dilemma of Existence. (Anthem Press, 2022).
Discover more upcoming seminars we have scheduled by visiting our webpage below.