LCN Keynote Presentations
From Networks to Discovery: AI Across Industry, Models, and Science
Dr. Diego Perino
Director of the AI Institute at the Barcelona Supercomputing CentreSpain
ABSTRACT
Computational science is facing scaling limits that brute-force CPU compute alone can no longer easily overcome. Resolving complex, multi-scale phenomena requires a fundamental shift toward AI-enabled scientific computing. This keynote addresses how the convergence of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence offers a transformative paradigm to overcome these bottlenecks.
Attendees will gain insights into the practical engineering challenges and architectural opportunities of this AI-HPC convergence. Drawing on real-world systems building, the presentation explores the translation of complex data streams into predictive models — ranging from highly specialized network analytics to massive, parallelized generative AI architectures. Crucially, the talk details parallelization strategies and alignment frameworks utilized in training academic and industrial Generative OSS models.
This talk presents the Barcelona Supercomputing Center's ecosystem as a dynamic enabler of this new scientific paradigm across multiple disciplines. The presentation outlines various AI applications across scientific domains and industries and culminates in a vision for the future deployment of "Autonomous Agents for Science." By integrating foundation models with scientific tools, these specialized agents are capable of autonomously navigating, reasoning, and optimizing complex workflows — offering a groundbreaking toolkit to dramatically accelerate the scientific process.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
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Diego Perino, Director of the AI Institute at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, is a technology leader at the intersection of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. He leads strategic initiatives that connect frontier AI research with innovation, technology transfer, and large-scale scientific impact, focusing on advancing computing, data-driven science, and AI applications that address real-world challenges across academia, industry, and the public sector. With an international career spanning research and leadership roles at organizations including Meta, Telefónica, Bell Labs, Orange Labs, Diego has developed a profile that combines deep technical expertise with strategic vision. At BSC-CNS, he works to strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration and foster partnerships that expand Europe’s capabilities in trustworthy, responsible, and high-impact AI. |
Responsible Computing: From Policy to Practice
Dr. Geraldine Fitzpatrick
Speaker, facilitator, consultant, trainer and coachVienna, Austria
Brisbane, Australia
ABSTRACT
What interesting times we live in. As computer scientists, we are at the centre of addressing some of modern society’s biggest challenges. Technological advances are fundamentally changing all aspects of our society. Computer science work is now much more than just code and algorithms and proofs (if it ever was) and we can acknowledge the critical importance of initiatives such as responsible research and innovation, human-centred AI, ethics in AI, digital humanism and so on. But to what extent are we outsourcing our own responsibility to these initiatives? Responsibility matters at all levels, from policies and guidelines, right down to the practical matters of what we do, who we work with, and how we work together. In this talk I propose three challenges (at conceptual, relational and personal levels) as examples of what these practical matters might entail and how we might equip ourselves to do better at putting responsible computing into practice.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
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Geraldine was Professor of Technology Design and Assessment and led the Human Computer Interaction Group in the Informatics Faculty at TU Wien until October 2023. She is an awarded researcher, teacher and leader, with international experience in academia, industry and healthcare, building on a PhD in CS&EE (Uni of Queensland), having also worked as a UX practitioner and as a nurse/midwife. Her research focussed on socio-technical and people-centred perspectives of computing. Recognitions include ACM Distinguished Scientist, IFIP Fellow, SIGCHI Lifetime Service Award, IFIP TC-13 Pioneer Award, TU Best Teacher Award, and ACM Distinguished Speaker. She also holds an MSc in Applied Positive/Coaching Psychology (UEL), and her current work is focussed on developing future leaders and crafting more collegial sustainable research cultures. She also hosts the Changing Academic Life podcast series. |