Participant profile

Doctoral students of the UPV/EHU

Calendar

May 2024

Duration

13 hours (four three-and-a-quarter hour clases run over four weeks)

Timetable

Time: 10:00 to 13:15

Requirements

Students will be expected to attend 100% of the clases together with submission of all four practical work assignments.

Language

English

Modality

A real-classroom

Location and dates

Speaker, Trainer and Profile

Tim Smithers: I am a designer and researcher.  I have mostly worked in AI in Design research and intelligent robotics, but also, with others, on research topics in the Arts, Engineerings, Humanities, and Sciences.  All this has involved working with many different people from different disciplines, in different collaborations, large and small, and, in different research groups and Labs in some different parts of the world, but mostly Europe.  I have also long been interested in the practices that make up good research, and in how to help PhDers make a good start on learning these needed practices.  Since 2010 I have worked as a freelance Research Practitioner, developing and teaching courses on the Foundations of Research Practices for mixed discipline groups of PhDers, helping research groups design their research programmes and strengthen their research practices, and occasionally I work for the Research Executive Agency (REA) of the EU Commission.  I also continue to design things and to do some research.  I currently work in a small collaboration on an empirical investigation of a topic in Number Theory; a project to investigate on an old, but still little understood, question in Behaviour selection in robots (and animals); and, a project to investigate the effective support of a particular kind of discovery that happens in all kinds of design exploration, using sound design by drawing as the designing, and (Good Old) symbol processing knowledge representation and inference techniques in AI.

You can find more about my work experience on my LinkedIn profile page, and here, find most of my publications on Academia.

Group size

There is a maximum of 18 students in Donostia-San Sebastián and in Leioa, and 15 in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Registration

Objectives

Models, of one kind or another, are needed in the construction of reliable and robust new knowledge and understanding across all research disciplines.

We make and use models in research when direct observations and measurements aren’t possible, or are too difficult to do well enough, or are not allowed for ethical reasons.

The particular knowledge and skills needed to build and properly use the different kinds of models is found in the different research disciplines that employ them, and you will need to learn the practices and skills particular to your own kind of research.

There are, however, a set of concepts and issues common to all model building and model using in research. A sound and critical understanding of these common issues, and how they show up in the model building and using in different research disciplines, forms a valuable foundation for successful model building and model using in any kind of research.

Format

The course is composed of four three-hour classes run over four weeks, with practical work set each week to be completed and presented for the following week. There will be a 15 minute break about mid-way through each class. And the practical work will need between three and four hours each week.

All classes will work as seminars, and include both presented material and open discussion. So, researchers should come prepared to make their own notes, and actively engage in, and contribute to, each class.

All clases will be conducted in English and it will be expected to use and work in English during the classes. A good level of confidence of working in English is therefore recommended. But the English does not need to be perfect, just good enough!

Content

The four classes of this course cover the following basic aspects:

• Models and modelling in research — what is a model?, and seeing some of the differences and similarities in models used in different kinds of research;
• Introduction to the Modelling Relation — which must be satisfied for something to be a model; and
• Building and using models for research — the practical matters of verification, validation, calibration, testing, accuracy,and precision.

See more

Foundations of Research Practices

FRP Words of Recommendation : "What PhDers say ..."

This course is offered in collaboration with Euskampus Fundazioa.