Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) Group at University of Hull

Contact: D.Thakker@hull.ac.uk
 

Professor Thakker is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) at the University of Hull. He is the Director of Research (DoR) in the school of computer science. At Hull, he also leads groups on Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI-Hull) and the Internet of Things (IoT-Hull). Dhaval is the Turing Academic Lead at the University of Hull collaborating with the Alan Turing Institute. 

 

Dhaval has nearly twenty years of experience in researching and delivering innovative solutions through funded projects. List of funded projects in below. He is a research leader with a proven track record in establishing research groups, setting research agendas, securing significant grant funding, mentoring and supporting early and mid-career academics, and postgraduate research (PGR) students, and establishing extensive collaborations that lead to impactful research. 

 

His interdisciplinary research interests and expertise offer a balanced focus on advancing Artificial Intelligence (AI), with particular attention to Generative AI and the applications of Edge computing and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. He aims to enhance AI's contribution to societal benefits under the 'AI for Social Good' initiative, embodying a commitment to developing AI technologies that are not only responsible but also prioritize explainability, safety, and fairness. Through this approach, he seeks to ensure that AI systems are transparent, secure, and equitable, thereby maximizing their positive impact on society. He has secured extensive funding (£5M total; £1.3M as PI) and has a proven track record in applying AI for Social Good in areas such as Smart Cities, Digital Health, and the Circular Economy.Some of the notable funders have been the European Commission, EPSRC, UKRI, Innovate UK, HFCE, and GCRF focusing on projects addressing societal challenges surrounding themes such as Immigration and Planning Laws, Smart Cities, Energy Security, Circular Economy of E-devies, Air Quality Monitoring, Flood Monitoring,  Children's Health, Industry 4.0(Smart Factories), and Archeological & Drone-based surveys in Worn-torn areas. ​

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He regularly reviews for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). His research has been rewarded with multiple best paper awards (2019 at the 10th IEEE conference on IoT, Big Data and AI for a Smart and Safe Future; 2015 at 12th the European Semantic Web Conference). 

 

Prior to Hull, he was an Associate Professor with the University of Bradford. At Bradford, he was the Director of Postgraduate Research (DPGR) in the faculty and led the Internet of Things (IoT) Innovation Lab. At Bradford, he was also part of the University’s Research Practice Innovation Group led by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Transfer) to help shape the university’s research and innovation (R&I) strategy.  He was awarded Ph.D. in computer science by the Nottingham Trent University in 2008 for his work on 'An intelligent framework for dynamic web services composition in the semantic web'. He has completed his MSc in Data Communication Systems from Brunel University, London.  Prior to joining Bradford, he worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Leeds from 2011 to 2015 and was leading semantic web/AI related research in several EU projects. Before Leeds, he worked in the industry with UK's national news agency (Press Association, now PA media group) as a Research & Development Consultant to provide strategic and technical leadership in implementing Semantic Web/AI and Linked data related projects to improve access to their media repositories.

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Dhaval's publications are on Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kR4WUwEAAAAJ&hl=en).