News

Recognition
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for
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the
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scientific
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dissemination
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of
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the
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directors
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of
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the
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Cuatroochenta
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Chair

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Óscar Belmonte and Antonio Caballer have received the first prize for scientific dissemination of the Universitat Jaume I for their research in machine learning for intelligent environments. Among their projects they have Serena, a conversational robot to identify people who are in a situation of unwanted loneliness. They also carry out important work to bring science to the public in a simple way.

"The dissemination serves to eliminate the cliché of the scientist as a gentleman and not as a lady, dressed in a white coat, of a certain age, with glasses and messy hair". With these words, one of the directors of the Cuatroochenta Chair of Artificial Intelligence, Óscar Belmonte, collected last April 6 the first prize for scientific dissemination of the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) of Castelló. The award recognizes the work of the research group in machine learning for intelligent environments (GIANT), coordinated by Belmonte together with the other director of the Chair, Antonio Caballer.

During the award ceremony, Óscar Belmonte stressed the importance of bringing scientific knowledge to the public and breaking gender stereotypes to attract more talent to the field of scientific research and thus increase the benefit to society. In an emotional speech, the professor of the Department of Computer Languages and Systems of the University of Castellón dedicated the award to José Martínez Sotoca, a colleague who passed away recently, and to Carl Sagan, for his excellent dissemination work.

"If we manage to transmit to society, in a clear and simple way, what our work as scientists consists of, we will ensure that our work is given the value it deserves and that society supports us so that, whatever the historical and, above all, economic circumstances, scientific research can continue under the best possible conditions". 

Óscar Belmonte, director of the Chair

GIANT

The GIANT research group is interdisciplinary and is formed by professionals from the field of Computer Science as well as by researchers from the field of Psychology. Among its main lines of research are Machine Learning as a basis for the creation of Intelligent Environments aimed at improving the quality of life of people, particularly the elderly. They also carry out an important work of dissemination, bringing scientific knowledge and its applicability to the public.

CUATROOCHENTA CHAIR

The Chair Cuatroochenta of Artificial Intelligence, Health and Welfare of the Universitat Jaume I aims to promote teaching, research, dissemination of knowledge and innovation in the technology sector to promote people's health. And all this, is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Chair, created in June 2021 and promoted by the company Cuatroochenta, seeks to put, once again, technology at the service of people and to build bridges in the transfer of knowledge between universities and companies. In this way, the company, whose headquarters are located in the Espaitec technology park of the University, returns to the UJI the value of training, quality of life and attraction of talent that it has provided in recent years.

SERENA

Serena is one of the most emblematic projects on which the Chair team is working. It consists of a conversational robot to assess unwanted loneliness in the elderly. This is a very relevant project at present because after the pandemic the psychological health of the elderly population has been greatly affected. In the future, the team is also considering the possibility of using Serena to detect other variables related to mental health such as psychological well-being, stress, depression or social isolation.

In addition to Serena, they are working on other lines of research such as the digitalization of the frailty assessment process in elderly people through 3D technology cameras and the Senior Monitoring project, whose objective is to develop an indoor localization system that serves to monitor significant changes in different aspects related to the health of elderly people so that early intervention can be taken. The general purpose is to bring these scientific advances to the public in an accessible, non-intrusive and humane way, always taking into account the individual, both in the design and implementation of its different proposals.

The Vice-Rector for Research and Transfer, Jesús Lancis, was in charge of presenting the award for scientific dissemination. This distinction is included in the promotion plan of the university to recognize the work done to bring the science generated at the University closer to society. At the same gala, the prize for Educational Innovation and the prize for young research staff were awarded, as well as for the second consecutive year the extraordinary distinctions of the UJI for the year 2022.

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