All-provider course timetable

PLEASE NOTE The Bioinformatics Team are presently teaching as many courses live online, with tutors available to help you work through the course material on a personal copy of the course environment. We aim to simulate the classroom experience as closely as possible, with opportunities for one-to-one discussion with tutors and a focus on interactivity throughout.

Machine learning gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. It encompasses a broad range of approaches to data analysis with applicability across the biological sciences. Lectures will introduce commonly used algorithms and provide insight into their theoretical underpinnings. In the practicals students will apply these algorithms to real biological data-sets using the R language and environment.

Please be aware that the course syllabus is currently being updated following feedback from the last event; therefore the agenda below will be subject to changes.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book or register your interest by linking here.

Application forms should be returned to CDH Learning (learning@cdh.cam.ac.uk) by Thursday 7 January 2021. We will review applications on a rolling basis and applicants will be notified at the latest by the end of Monday 11 January.

This CDH Guided Project aims to provide humanities, arts and social science researchers with an overview of current theory and practice in the design of human-computer interaction in the age of AI and equip the participants with analytical tools necessary for a critical investigation of contemporary design with AI/ML. Looking closely at interactions between humans and emerging AI systems, the workshop will also explore the potential for interaction between humanities scholars and computer scientists in the process of development and assessment of new solutions.

Lectures and practical research design sessions in Interaction with Machine Learning taught by Professor Alan Blackwell and Advait Sarkar (Microsoft Research) as part of an optional course for Part III and MPhil Computer Science students will form the anchoring element of the Project. These will allow researchers without a Computer Science background to explore how key challenges in AI design are being addressed within the field of interaction design, as well as identify areas in which humanities methodologies and approaches could be adopted to improve the production process, by making it more fair, critical, and socially-aware.

Participants will also take part in three workshops specifically tailored to humanities and social science researchers and will be supported in developing a mini research project investigating how humans interact with systems based on computational models. The projects may include:

• probing an already existing dataset, system, or user interface from a critical perspective
• developing an idea for new interaction design based on critical applications of ML/AI.

Please note: no prior practical experience or knowledge of programming is required to take part in the Project, however some awareness of how AI systems work will be beneficial.

Minimum time commitment:

• 8 weekly online lectures led by Professor Alan Blackwell (Computer Science and Technology) and Advait Sarkar (Microsoft Research). Weekly from 26 January, 2-4pm (with the last hour as an optional session for Guided Project participants).
• 3 x 1.5 hour specialist workshops for humanities and social science participants led by Tomasz Hollanek and Anne Alexander (CDH)
• 1.5 hour project showcase and final discussion

Participants are encouraged to set aside additional time to work on their projects between sessions. A Moodle email forum and drop-in ‘clinic’ style support sessions will be available during the Guided Project.

Lecture topics and dates

• Current research themes in intelligent user interfaces (26 January, 2pm)
• Program synthesis (2 February, 2pm)
• Mixed initiative interaction (9 February, 2pm)
• Interpretability / explainable AI (16 February, 2pm)
• Labelling as a fundamental problem (23 February, 2pm)
• Machine learning risks and bias (2 March, 2pm)
• Visualisation and visual analytics (9 March, 2pm)
• Research presentations by Computer Science Students (16 March, 2pm)

Workshop themes

• AI critique, humanities methodologies and user interface design (1 February, 10-11.30am)
• Recommender systems (1 March 10-11.30am)
• Machine vision (8 March 10-11.30am)
• Project presentations and discussion (15 March 10-11.30am)

Objectives By the end of the course participants should:

• be familiar with current state of the art in intelligent interactive systems
• understand the human factors that are most critical in the design of such systems
• be able to evaluate evidence for and against the utility of novel systems
• be able to apply critical methodologies to current interaction design practices
• understand the interplay between ML/AI research and humanities approaches

The Programme offers general language tuition with a focus on communicative competence.

At a basic level, the focus is on every day and real-time, oral/aural communication. Each course features a functional-notional syllabus and grammar points are analysed in context.

For more detailed information about the course please visit our website.

PLEASE NOTE: This course is PRIMARILY FOR CLASSICISTS.

This weekly class is intended to help research students in the Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences to develop their skills in reading German documents they need to deal with in their research. Each session will be divided into two parts:

The first part will consist of grammar, tasks to develop insight into the reading process, help with dealing with complex sentence structures, academic conventions, abbreviations, etc.

The second part will be devoted to the translation of original German texts from different periods and covering a range of topics. Each week you will be asked to attempt a translation into English of a German passage. Students will be encouraged to bring along German texts from their own research to translate.

For more detailed information about the course please visit our website.

The Programme offers general language tuition with a focus on communicative competence.

At intermediate 2 level, the focus shifts slightly towards reading and writing whilst still offering plenty an opportunity for oral communication. The syllabus is more topical and the contents feature many a cultural, historical, political and current affairs theme. While the grammar is analysed within a context, explicit grammar instruction becomes an integral part of the course.

More detailed information is available on our website.

Using close reading and translation of academic texts from their particular discipline, this weekly class is intended to help research students in the Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences to develop their skills in reading Russian documents that they have come across or may meet in their research.

Students are encouraged to bring along their own texts and work in pairs to enhance the learning experience.

For more detailed information about the course please visit our website.

The Programme offers general language tuition with a focus on communicative competence.

At intermediate 1 level, the focus is on every day and real-time, oral/aural communication. Each course features a functional-notional syllabus and grammar points are analysed in context.

More detailed information is available on our website.

Applications for this workshop have now closed.

Corpus linguistic approach to language is based on collections of electronic texts. It uses software to search and quantify various linguistic phenomena that make up patterns, which it then compares within and across texts based on their frequency. Corpus stylistics applies tools and methods from corpus linguistics to stylistic research. Corpus stylistics mainly focuses on literary texts, individual or corpora. Corpora are here, usually, principled collections of texts, for example a collection of texts by one author, or texts from a specific period. It focuses both on more general patterns and meanings that are observable across corpora and patterns and meanings in one individual text. In terms of quantitative approaches that corpus stylistics employs, it is in many ways similar to work that is referred to as ‘distant reading’ and also ‘cultural analytics’. These approaches emphasise the gains that we get from looking at texts from “distance”, i.e., in large quantities. For corpus stylistics, it is the relationship between quantitative and qualitative that is central. Therefore, research in corpus stylistics often deals with much smaller “cleaner” data sets, so that the qualitative step in the analysis is more manageable.

This workshop aims to introduce the basic corpus linguistic techniques and methods for working with literary and other texts. It aims:

• To provide an introduction to corpus linguistics in relation to digital humanities approaches;
• To develop critical understanding of how data representativeness used in quantitative research may influence results;
• To critically examine the relationship between quantitative and qualitative textual analyses;
• To provide a practical toolkit for computational textual analysis.

Are you looking for a quiet study space during lock-down or somewhere to carry out independent language learning?

The Language Centre is currently offering bookable hourly time slots in the John Trim Centre. These will be available for a maximum of 2 students per hourly session, with strict COVID-19 measures in place.

Fresh air will be circulated continuously during the study sessions and we therefore advise you to wrap up warmly as windows and doors will remain open.

If you would like to borrow a resource from the John Trim Centre, please consult the guidelines on the Language Centre website.

The Programme offers general language tuition with a focus on communicative competence. At a basic level, the focus is on every day and real-time, oral/aural communication. Each course features a functional-notional syllabus and grammar points are analysed in context.

More detailed information is available from on our website.

The Programme offers general language tuition with a focus on communicative competence.

At a basic level, the focus is on every day and real-time, oral/aural communication. Each course features a functional-notional syllabus and grammar points are analysed in context.

More detailed information is available on our website.

Are you looking for a quiet study space during lock-down or somewhere to carry out independent language learning?

The Language Centre is currently offering bookable hourly time slots in the John Trim Centre. These will be available for a maximum of 2 students per hourly session, with strict COVID-19 measures in place.

Fresh air will be circulated continuously during the study sessions and we therefore advise you to wrap up warmly as windows and doors will remain open.

If you would like to borrow a resource from the John Trim Centre, please consult the guidelines on the Language Centre website.

Dr Nicola Rollock and Professor Stephen J Toope in conversation

Dr Nicola Rollock and Professor Stephen J Toope discuss race, gender and identity at the University of Cambridge as part of International Women’s Day celebrations.

Dr Rollock is a leading academic, consultant and public speaker whose scholarship addresses racial justice in education and the workplace. She holds a number of advisory appointments including with the Wellcome Trust and the British Science Association. She is Distinguished Fellow at the Faculty of Education and was appointed Senior Adviser on Race to the Vice-Chancellor in October 2020.

Professor Stephen J Toope has a distinguished career as an academic leader and as a renowned scholar of Human Rights Law. He is the first non-Briton to serve as Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cambridge. Since taking up the post in 2018 he has been a strong advocate for equality at the University.

Are you looking for a quiet study space during lock-down or somewhere to carry out independent language learning?

The Language Centre is currently offering bookable hourly time slots in the John Trim Centre. These will be available for a maximum of 2 students per hourly session, with strict COVID-19 measures in place.

Fresh air will be circulated continuously during the study sessions and we therefore advise you to wrap up warmly as windows and doors will remain open.

If you would like to borrow a resource from the John Trim Centre, please consult the guidelines on the Language Centre website.

The Programme offers general language tuition with a focus on communicative competence.

At an advanced level, the focus shifts slightly towards reading and writing whilst still offering plenty an opportunity for oral communication. The syllabus is more topical and the contents feature many a cultural, historical, political and current affairs theme. While the grammar is analysed within a context, explicit grammar instruction becomes an integral part of the course.

One of the aims of the advanced level courses is also presentation skills as the courses aim to cater for the academic needs (i.e. research, conferences) of the students.

For more detailed information about the course please visit our website.

NB: Advanced courses are official, award-bearing University qualifications.

Please also note that the certificates and transcripts are usually issued in July.

The Programme offers general language tuition with a focus on communicative competence. At intermediate 1 level, the focus is on every day and real-time, oral/aural communication. Each course features a functional-notional syllabus and grammar points are analysed in context.

More detailed information is available from the Language Centre website.

The Programme offers general language tuition with a focus on communicative competence.

At intermediate 2 level, the focus shifts slightly towards reading and writing whilst still offering plenty an opportunity for oral communication. The syllabus is more topical and the contents feature many a cultural, historical, political and current affairs theme. While the grammar is analysed within a context, explicit grammar instruction becomes an integral part of the course.

For more detailed information about the course please visit our website.

The Programme offers general language tuition with a focus on communicative competence.

At intermediate 1 level, the focus is on every day and real-time, oral/aural communication. Each course features a functional-notional syllabus and grammar points are analysed in context.

For more detailed information about the course please visit our website.