Speaker: Juho Leinonen, Academy Research Fellow, Aalto University.

Bio: Juho Leinonen is an Academy Research Fellow at Aalto University in Finland. He has previously worked at The University of Auckland and the University of Helsinki, where he completed his PhD in 2019. His research explores how to best support and engage diverse learner populations using educational technology and artificial intelligence. He approaches this challenge in three intertwined ways: 1) by utilizing educational technology, artificial intelligence, and generative AI to support both students and teachers; 2) by developing deeper insights into students’ learning through fine-grained learning analytics; and 3) by leveraging learnersourcing to create ample learning opportunities tailored to distinct student needs. His research has been recognized with multiple awards, including best paper awards at SIGCSE TS 2022 and ICER 2022. He currently serves as a program chair at Koli Calling, a working group chair at SIGCSE Virtual, and a submission chair at ICER.

Title of the talk: Generative AI in Computing Education: A Transformative Tool or a Troubling Trend?

Abstract:

It's been nearly two years since the release of ChatGPT and over two years since GitHub Copilot became freely available to students. Initially, the outlook was bleak – fears abounded that students would use these generative AI tools to cheat or become overly reliant on them, hindering their learning. Early research findings fueled these concerns, showing that these tools could easily solve most introductory programming exercises. Now, there are myriad such tools available. In this keynote, I will review the research conducted over the past two years on the impact of generative AI in computing education. What does teaching computer science look like in the era of generative AI? Can these tools be effectively integrated into educational practices? Should they be? And if so, how can we ensure they enhance rather than detract from the learning experience?

Speaker: Øystein Haugen, Professor, Østfold University College.

Bio: Øystein Haugen is Professor at Østfold University College where he has led the research group on cyber-physical systems. He has earlier done research at SINTEF, University of Oslo, Ericsson, ABB and Norwegian Computing Center. He has moved back and forth between academia and industry and has had “modeling” as his professional passion. He has worked with standardization of several modeling languages in the International Telecom Union (ITU) and the Object Management Group (OMG) for 35 years. In 2010 he was the General Chair of the MODELS conference when it was organized by SINTEF and Department of Informatics, UiO.

Title of the talk: Modeling – now more than ever?

Abstract: Having spent a long professional life advocating the use of modeling for all kinds of purposes, Professor Haugen wants to recapture the essence of modeling and discuss how modeling can play a role in the future of system development where artificial intelligence and digital twins are central concepts.

Speaker: Björn Þór Jónsson, Professor, Reykjavik University

Bio: Björn Þór Jónsson is a Full Professor with the Center for Research on Engineering Software Systems (CRESS) and Department of Computer Science at Reykjavík University, Iceland. Björn works in the broad field of multimedia analytics and retrieval, applying database concepts and techniques to large-scale multimedia collections, and has authored around one hundred journal, conference and workshop articles. Björn has recently served as general chair and technical program chair for several conferences, including MMM, ICMR and SISAP.

Title of the talk: On The Importance of Database Techniques for Multimedia Applications 

Abstract: In this day and age, it is rare to find multimedia applications that focus on small media collections, yet the research community largely continues to do research using yesterday’s small-scale benchmark collections. In this talk we argue the need for scalability and why this eventually boils down to database techniques. We present two successful scalability projects from the past, addressing large-scale copy detection and interactive learning of image preferences, respectively. Finally, we describe a current multimedia analytics project where we have made some advances but further techniques are needed.

Speaker: Per Thorsheim, Founder of PasswordsCon

Bio: Per Thorsheim is the founder and main organizer of PasswordsCon, the first and only conference dedicated to passwords, pins and anything related to digital authentication. Started in 2010, the conference has been organized 23 times in 5 countries, with proceedings at NTNU (2014) and University of Cambridge (2015). The next event is scheduled at UiO on December 2-4, 2024. More information available at linkedin.co/in/thorsheim.

Title of the talk: Why is academia so bad at selling their research, and why is private sector so afraid of cooperating with researchers? 

Abstract: With 30 years of working in information security and having passwords as an obsession for 25 years, Per and his conference has made major contributions to both academia and private/public sector worldwide. With an idea of mixing "hackers", security professionals and academic researchers at the same conference. Throughout my years of doing this conference I have learned a lot from both sides regarding collaboration, quality of research, fear of providing information for researchers and more. In my keynote I will address the challenge of improving collaboration, sprinkled with anecdotes from real life and some fun facts about passwords.