Bridging Climate and AI: a joint workshop event
With a Climate & AI Workshop event on October 3rd, TU Delft AI Initiative and Climate Action Programme (CAP) joint forces to bring together (early career) researchers from all TU Delft faculties working at the intersection of climate and AI to explore relevant overlaps and related opportunities.
Why bridging climate and AI?
The potential of AI to address pressing climate challenges is enormous. We believe that shared knowledge and mutual support can lead to impactful and innovative outcomes. By bringing together experts from both fields through an event like this, we lay the foundation for new possibilities and interdisciplinary collaborations on both research and education.
The AI Initiative and the Climate Action Programme both offer early career academics across our university a stepping stone to tackle pressing societal challenges. Not only is there a societal need for scientists that address emerging challenges in the fields of AI and climate action, many important topics can be more fruitfully addressed by bringing together AI and climate research expertise. Joint exploration and deep dives at the intersection of these themes contribute to further innovation, so it is great to see these two communities joining forces and jointly exploring opportunities.
Tim van der Hagen, Rector Magnificus / President Executive Board
Key takeaways from the Climate and AI Workshop Event
After an introduction by Marjolein van Esch (TPM, CAP) and Geert-Jan Houben (Pro Vice Rector Magnificus AI, Data and Digitalisation), Sander van Cranenburgh (TPM, City AI Lab) and Sophie Broere (Innovation & Impact Centre) inspired the audience from their respective experiences and expertise. Sander has shared his most important lessons learnt with the CityAI Lab: to be patient and persistent, to make sure the Innovation & Impact Centre is aware of your ambitions – even if they’re not finalized yet – and that counterparts actively looking for solutions are an ideal match.
Great to see how the combination of the states of the art around AI and Climate Action already creates more and more collaborative impact and inspiration, let alone when in both topics we advance the field through joint innovations.
Prof. Geert-Jan Houben, Pro Vice Rector Magnificus AI, Data, Digitalisation
After the theme pitches, the attendees participated in the breakout session of their chosen theme. At the end of the session, the highlights and ideas from each breakout session were discussed.
Highlights from “Green AI & Sustainability”
Lead by Aaron Ding (TPM) & Przemysław Pawełczak (EEMCS)
In this breakout session, participants explored cross-theme research areas, such as representing different data structures to enable shared methods of analysis across disciplines (e.g., chemical analysis and civil engineering), analysing different research scales, and deciding which domains are suitable for AI investment. They also discussed how algorithmic techniques and reusing datasets can speed-up the process of training different datasets. Another interesting topic involved measuring AI's impact using methodologies like LCA and CSRD reporting, and exploring ways to make AI sustainable.
Highlights from “AI & Weather and Climate Risks”
Lead by Jing Sun (EEMCS) & Geet George (CEG)
The participants of this session were all involved in diverse, yet related topics. They identified joint ambitions and opportunities involving AI & weather and climate risks, including developing a position paper; supervising master students; and set up education collaborations to foster future talent. They discussed establishing a research and education seed fund and collaborating with practical organisations, such as governments or research institutes, to enhance impact.
Highlights from “AI & Water Infrastructure”
Lead by Elvin Isufi (EEMCS, AidroLab), Alexander Garzón Díaz (CEG, AidroLab) & Roberto Bentivoglio (CEG, AidroLab)
This breakout group explored the integration of traditional and data-driven models in water infrastructure, recognising the value of combining different types of expertise. The discussion highlighted the critical role of human operators in decision-making and emphasised the need to understand what decision-makers require. It became evident that many topics benefit from a multidisciplinary approach, and participants identified joint opportunities for tackling issues.
Get involved with Climate & AI
This joint event on climate and AI is aimed at bringing together (early career) faculty staff of all TU Delft faculties. We provide a safe environment for diverse perspectives to meet, and explore new possibilities and collaborations. To ensure these events resonate with researchers like you, we are actively seeking input to identify which topics are of most interest. Whether you are a PhD, postdoc, or faculty staff member and this peaked your interest, please feel free to join the discussion about climate- and AI-related themes next event! A second Climate-AI event will be planned for January 2025.
Did you join and want to follow-up on the discussion or couldn’t you join the event on October 3rd but want to stay updated about following events? Get in touch with the CAP+AI organisation team via Charlotte Boelens (community manager TU Delft AI Labs & Talent Programme).
AI and Climate / Climate and AI at TU Delft
In March 2024, the Climate Action Programme (CAP) dedicated their monthly lecture to ‘AI and Climate’ with a talk on “Machine-learning for understanding atmospheric physics” by Geet George (CEG) and Jing Sun (EEMCS) – recording and presentations available here. The CAP Academic Career Trackers of their 17 flagships recently also delved into AI with Angela Meyer (CEG) and AidroLab. A growing number of AI researchers also contribute to climate-related topics. A great example of this was the poster by Damla Akoluk (TPM), a PhD candidate from the HIPPO Lab, who presented her work on aggregation at the Climate Action Festival. Read more about how this inspiring day went here. The last TU Delft AI Lunch of 2023/2024 was themed “The unprecedented environmental impacts of AI: a transdisciplinary discussion” with panellists Benedetta Brevini (New York University), Olya Kudina (TPM), Fanny Hidvégi (Policy Director at the AI Collaborative) and moderator Roel Dobbe (TPM).
Are you interested in the intersection of AI & Climate and want to join or learn more about this growing climate/AI community at TU Delft? Join future workshops or reach out to Climate Action Programme (Climate-Action@tudelft.nl) or AI Initiative (AI-Initiative@tudelft.nl).