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ELLIS Amsterdam MSc Honours Programme: Unlocking AI Opportunities in Europe
The ELLIS unit Amsterdam works towards training and retaining the next generation of AI researchers through collaborations. These collaborations are also pivotal for scientific excellence and innovative research in the cutting-edge field of modern AI in Europe. With these in mind, the ELLIS unit Amsterdam’s MSc Honours programme was created in 2020. The programme facilitates joint supervisions of AI thesis projects by ELLIS researchers in different countries. On one hand, the programme enables MSc AI students at the University of Amsterdam to receive constructive feedbacks on their works, expand network within their area of interest, and gain exposure to different research environments. On the other hand, the programme contributes to the fast-paced advancement of AI research.
We interviewed five MSc Honours students and highlighted how the programme helped them reach their goals, their key takeaways from the programme, and what is next for them. These Honours students have recently completed the programme and successfully graduated cum laude.
We would like to congratulate all of the ELLIS unit Amsterdam’s MSc Honours students for their exceptional achievements!
Piyush Bagad
Thesis project title: It’s About Time: Time Awareness in Video Foundation Models
Supervisors:
– Prof. Cees Snoek (ELLIS Fellow, University of Amsterdam)
– Prof. Andrew Zisserman (ELLIS Member, University of Oxford)
– Dr. Makarand Tapaswi (International Institute of International Technology Hyderabad)
“The ELLIS MSc Honours Programme empowered me to do research with some of the best researchers in Computer Vision. It supported my visit to one of the top computer vision labs, the VGG lab at Oxford, and to work with Prof. Andrew Zisserman. After that, I also got an opportunity to start a PhD with Prof. Zisserman following my Master’s studies.
I visited Oxford in Feb-March 2023. I was lucky to discuss research with Prof. Zisserman during my visit. It was an enriching experience interacting with and learning from the PhD students and other members of the lab. I also explored the historic city of Oxford. The biggest takeaway for me was the energy and hard work that the PhD students in the lab put into their respective projects. That will inspire me for my own PhD journey.”
Lukas Knobel
Thesis project title: Semantic Counting from Self-Collages
Supervisors:
– Dr. Yuki Asano (ELLIS Member, University of Amsterdam)
– Dr. Tengda Han (ELLIS Member, University of Oxford)
“I wrote my Master’s thesis titled “Semantic Counting from Self-Collages” under the joint supervision of Yuki Asano (University of Amsterdam) and Tengda Han (University of Oxford). The aim was to train a model to count the number of objects in images in a completely self-supervised manner.
The ELLIS unit Amsterdam MSc Honours Programme allowed me to visit my supervisor at the Visual Geometry Group in Oxford and gain valuable experience. I particularly enjoyed the collaborative and supportive atmosphere in the group and the dedication with which everyone pursued their research.
As I complete my Masters in Artificial Intelligence, my goal is to bridge the gap between recent advances in academic research and real-world applications. To do this, I will be working in applied research to increase the impact of these innovations, where I am sure the experience and knowledge I have gained during this programme will prove invaluable. The support of the ELLIS unit Amsterdam made it possible for me to follow this journey.”
Frank Verhoef
Thesis project title: Improving Dialogue Generation in Longer Conversations by Explicitly Modeling Mentalizing and Joint Co-construction
Supervisors:
– Dr. Wilker Aziz (ELLIS Member, University of Amsterdam)
– Dr. Ivan Titov (ELLIS Member, University of Edinburgh)
“The MSc Honours Programme facilitated a research visit to the Edinburgh NLP group. I’ve visited the University of Edinburgh twice, which was very inspiring. Despite the fact that everybody is busy working on their own projects, I had a couple of interesting discussions with people from the group, could present and discuss my findings in a group meeting and received valuable feedback from Ivan.
Most important take away for me is even though people are working on quite specialized projects, you can still benefit from their insights and get ideas for you own work.
I’m continuing my works director of NewHealth Group (I did my MSc AI in parallel with my work). I hope to apply some of the new knowledge in my work, e.g. by developing a counseling agent that can function as assistant for people who want to improve their mental health. Next to that, I hope I can continue to be active in research and also hope to follow a course or two. I’ll have to find out how I can make a good combination of all these activities :)”
Paul Hilders
Thesis project title: Using Reinforcement Learning to find optimal ICU mechanical ventilator settings over time
Supervisors:
– Prof. Clarisa Sánchez (ELLIS Member, University of Amsterdam)
– Prof. Mihaela van der Schaar (ELLIS Fellow, University of Cambridge)
– Dr. Paul Elbers (Amsterdam UMC)
“The ELLIS Honours Programme allowed me to visit the partnering institute at the University of Cambridge, where I got the opportunity to meet several wonderful and inspiring people. As a result, my network has grown, especially in the research field I am particularly interested in: Medical AI.
Without the support of ELLIS, I would likely never have been able to make a research visit to one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. In addition, the Honours programme, and the people involved, have deepened my passion and interest for the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare. Therefore, I am considering staying in the field of medical artificial intelligence by pursuing a PhD after I graduate.”
Matteo Tafuro
Thesis project title: Temporally Consistent Segmentations from Sparsely Labeled Echocardiograms Using Image Registration for Pseudo-label Generation
Supervisors:
– Prof. Ivana Išgum (ELLIS Member, University of Amsterdam)
– Gino Jansen (University of Amsterdam)
– Prof. Alison Noble (ELLIS Fellow, University of Oxford)
“The ELLIS programme has been instrumental in shaping my academic and professional growth. It has provided me with the resources, mentorship, and exposure necessary to excel in my research and contribute meaningfully to my field. The dual perspectives and insights I have gained from my supervisors have significantly enhanced the quality and depth of my research and enabled me to approach challenges from various angles, ultimately leading to innovative solutions. The visit provided me with a unique opportunity to immerse myself in a different academic environment, collaborate with top-tier researcher in the field, and gain insights that I can apply to my future research and work. My thesis work has evolved into an article version that was accepted for publication at the ASMUS workshop of MICCAI, one of the most prestigious Medical Imaging conferences. I will present my findings on October 8 in Vancouver, Canada!
My research visit as part of the ELLIS unit Amsterdam MSc Honours Programme was a transformative experience. It exposed me to diverse research methodologies and perspectives, expanding my problem-solving toolkit. Most of all, I learned the value of interdisciplinary collaboration, networking across institutions and disciplines, and I learned to appreciate the importance of bridging gaps between different fields to address multifaceted problems. This lesson I intend to carry forward in my future research endeavors and collaborations, as it’s becoming increasingly evident that innovative solutions often emerge at the intersection of diverse expertise.
September held the promise of new beginnings as I embarked on a new chapter of my professional journey. I joined the Freightdog, an Amsterdam-based start-up, as a ML engineer. The anticipation of fresh challenges and growth opportunities is exhilarating, and I can’t wait to contribute my skills and knowledge to the team!”
See more information regarding the MSc Honours programme.