A new professorship in artificial intelligence enabled by substantial donations to the natural sciences

Vice-Rector Kai Nordlund is exceptionally delighted that the College succeeded in boosting a whole of €2 million in donations.

All of the donations ended up directed to the field of natural sciences beneath the government’s matched-funding scheme. Now, the University has made the decision to build a new Swedish-language professorship in synthetic intelligence with the donated resources.

“It took nearly three many years to reach this point. All the things received its get started from our study of the wants and passions of colleges, as very well as discussions with the leaders of the educational and cultural administration in the Helsinki Metropolitan Location,” Nordlund states.

The most significant individual donation came from the Swedish Cultural Basis in Finland, but the donation of €400,000 by the Magnus Ehrnrooth Foundation was vital for a unique rationale.

“It was a person of the past and essential donations, which can make us specifically joyful,” Nordlund claims.

The Magnus Ehrnrooth Basis is concentrated on supporting the natural sciences, a individual curiosity of its founder Magnus Ehrnrooth, PhD.

“We found this function a particularly excellent match for the foundation’s profile. The University’s expenditure will meet future demands and challenges,” suggests Mikael Swanljung, chair of the foundation’s board.

Training in Swedish

The Magnus Ehrnrooth Foundation decides on the annual distribution of money on the foundation of the evaluation and proposal of the Finnish Culture of Sciences and Letters, established in 1838. The society’s mission is to advertise boundary-crossing scholarly discourse, for case in point, by funding substantial-good quality analysis.

“We took the initiative to assist the purely natural sciences at the University of Helsinki, and we are incredibly pleased that the Magnus Ehrnrooth Foundation took this kind of a optimistic see to the proposal. A Swedish-language professorship in synthetic intelligence is of great importance to the modern society,” states Professor Mats Gyllenberg, lasting secretary of the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters.

The Magnus Ehrnrooth Basis also supports teaching in the normal sciences in higher secondary simple education and learning. In fact, the professorship to be established will have a key part in teacher education and learning.

“That boosted our interest,” Mikael Swanljung claims.

In the limited phrase, the professorship will notably advantage the Swedish-language instructing supplied by the School of Science – at the moment, educating in the language is pretty much non-existent in information science.

“In the lengthier phrase, the total Swedish-speaking group and college sphere will benefit, specifically when artificial intelligence results in being element of trainer training. In the future, colleges will have better tools in guidance of instructing,” Vice-Rector Nordlund suggests.

Gains for modern society as a whole

Investment decision in artificial intelligence is critical, as it has become such an integral part of day-to-day daily life, significantly in social media and Google searches.

“It’s crucial to realize that you can obtain a distorted worldview by relying solely on particular forms of understanding. Algorithms affect how you see the world,” Nordlund states.

The new professorship will be set up at the School of Science on the University’s Kumpula Campus. The position focuses on synthetic intelligence in relation to modern society.

The occupation of the long term professor will be to train the basics of information science to college students of the University’s instructor education programmes. This will far better respond to the new college curriculum, which consists of the essentials of coding and other IT-linked training at a increased level.

The Magnus Ehrnrooth Foundation hopes that the University’s investment decision in the professorship will raise the profile of the College of Helsinki in knowledge science and mathematical AI.

“The professorship promotes the production and distribution of understanding to future lecturers. In the extended run, Finnish culture as a total will reward. We believe our founder would have been quite delighted about this,” Mikael Swanljung says.

Other donors to the professorship consist of the Swedish Cultural Foundation, the Stiftelsen Brita Maria Renlunds minne basis, the Ruth and Nils-Erik Stenbäck Foundation, the Tre Smeder basis and the Lisi Wahl basis.