DkIT Postgraduate Summer School 2026 Day 1 - Theme: AI Fundamentals

Jump into the world of AI with us! This in-person session is packed with cool insights and hands-on fun to get you up to speed on all things artificial intelligence. Whether you're new or just curious, it's the perfect start to your summer school journey. Don’t miss out on connecting with fellow enthusiasts and diving deep into AI basics!

Info: Welcome to the 2026 DkIT Postgraduate Summer School and our keynote address by the Head of the Unit for AI in Science and Critical Technologies of the European Commission Directorate General for Research and Innovation.

Info: Starting with a brief history of Artificial Intelligence (AI), this presentation will provide a non technical overview of what a Large Language Model (LLM) is and how it is trained. It will examine how LLMs are being transformed from chatbots into advanced tools and Agentic systems that can interact with the world, with the applications and opportunities this creates. It will share some thoughts on what may be coming next and finally some of the inherent risks we absolutely need to know about.

Info: Contemporary AI solutions have dramatically increased in capability in recent years, leading to many opportunities for this technology to be leveraged in work, research, and study. Despite the impressive growth of AI technologies, there are still risks of hallucination, reliability, and trustworthiness when using these models. This workshop will explore these issues and present practical approaches for tailoring our usage to avoid them. In the session we will cover:
The paradigm of human trust and AI.
What are hallucinations and why do they occur?
Why hallucinations are sometimes hard to detect.
Prompting strategies to identify and reduce hallucinations.

The workshop will be a jargon-free guide targeted at anyone wishing to make better and safer use of AI in their own work.

Info: Artificial Intelligence (AI) may sound like a futuristic invention, but its roots are deeply human. In this session, we’ll explore how AI is inspired by the way our brain learns, interprets language, recognises patterns, makes decisions, and controls our actions. Without equations or heavy jargon, we’ll connect everyday brain functions like perception, memory, and attention to the core ideas behind modern AI. Whether you come from engineering, humanities, or health sciences, this talk will help you see AI not as a “machine thing,” but as a mirror of our own natural intelligence. By the end, you’ll understand AI as a story that begins inside your own mind.

Info: This hands-on workshop, which is designed for researchers and postgraduate students, will examine the impact of generative AI on academic research. Participants will examine a range of generative AI tools and platforms that can support the various stages of the research process. The session will also cover the importance of developing human-specific research skills that can be augmented rather than replaced by generative artificial intelligence.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dublin Road, Dundalk, Ireland

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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