Explorathon 2018 is set to ignite a passion for research in families and friends across Glasgow for the fifth year running. On the 28th and 29th of September, Glaswegians will have the chance to engage with researchers and their cutting-edge research, in renowned venues all across the city.
Explorathon Extravaganza takes place on Friday the 28th of September from 6pm to 10pm at the Riverside Museum. Free, and fun for all the family, Explorathon Extravaganza promises to be bigger and better than ever before. Explore the multi-award winning Riverside Museum in a new light, taking part in scientific activities with some of Glasgow’s brightest minds!
Researchers from local Universities including Strathclyde, Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian and Glasgow School of Art, will be there on the day to help you test out, engage with and even be part of their world-leading research. Stalls will include work from David Robertson, Lecturer of Psychology, and Sylvain Daronnat, a PhD student in computer and information sciences.
David Robertson’s workshop “Are You a Super Recogniser?” will give you the opportunity to find out if you never forget a face or voice. Some people are Super Recognisers, and the Metropolitan Police use officers with this extraordinary ability to identify criminals from CCTV images or voice recordings. During David’s workshop, you will be able to take part in real psychology studies by completing quick computer recognition tasks. You can even find out if you too are a Super Recogniser by comparing your scores to the officers in the Metropolitan Police! You can also take on the role of a Boarder Control Officer and try matching faces to passport photos, try his “Before They Were Famous” face test, and see how you will age with David’s iPad app demonstration.
Sylvian’s research focuses on how humans use technology, to create better, more intelligent computers. At Explorathon Extravaganza, Sylvian will be presenting a simple video game inspired by an arcade classic from the 80’s, but with a modern-day twist. You will play alongside an artificial intelligent agent, who is sometimes really great at helping you win… and sometimes not. With this game, Sylvian is studying how people trust artificial intelligent agents, and how this trust can be assessed in real-time. Once he knows how, why and when someone trust or lose trust in an agent, we will be able to design better systems by taking into account user’s feedback. Sylvian’s ultimate goal would be to design artificial intelligent systems capable of collaborating with humans on specific tasks as if they were our colleagues, or teammates.
These are just two examples of the incredible research on display at Explorathon Extravaganza 2018, as David and Sylvian will be joined by many more researchers who are experts in their field. There really is something for everyone, why not come down and see for yourself?
Book your FREE tickets now for Explorathon Extravaganza takes place at the Riverside Museum.
*EXPLORATHON (European Researchers’ Night Scotland) is funded by the European Commission under the Marie Sklowdowska-Curie Actions programme (Grant agreement No. 818500).