Accelerate Programme for Scientific Discovery course timetable
Friday 2 May
09:30 |
With the increase in AI-generated imagery using models such as Dall-E, Midjourney and Sora and research applications such as AlphaFold, there has been a surge in workflows incorporating models like Stable Diffusion. These models have potential in research applications including drug discovery, weather forecasting, synthetic speech and medical imaging. The aim of the session will be to equip you with knowledge of how generative AI and diffusion models work and to share an overview of research applications. The workshop will include short talks from researchers already deploying diffusion models in their research. Much of the workshop content is conceptual and high-level, and by the end of the day participants will have a firm grasp on how diffusion models work. We won’t be coding during the session, but will share code with you for you to work with after the session. |
13:30 |
With the increase in AI-generated imagery using models such as Dall-E, Midjourney and Sora and research applications such as AlphaFold, there has been a surge in workflows incorporating models like Stable Diffusion. These models have potential in research applications including drug discovery, weather forecasting, synthetic speech and medical imaging. The aim of the session will be to equip you with knowledge of how generative AI and diffusion models work and to share an overview of research applications. The workshop will include short talks from researchers already deploying diffusion models in their research. Much of the workshop content is conceptual and high-level, and by the end of the day participants will have a firm grasp on how diffusion models work. We won’t be coding during the session, but will share code with you for you to work with after the session. |
Wednesday 7 May
09:30 |
A one day workshop to equip researchers with knowledge of workflows and tools they can use to package and publish their code. Releasing software outputs from your research is an important step for open science and enables other researchers to utilise your code and for your work to have further impact. Participants will have the opportunity for hands on experience packaging and publishing a project. Participants will require some background knowledge for this course. Experience using python for programming or scientific data analysis is required. You must also have a GitHub account. In addition, experience with building classes, using the command line (either Linux or MacOS), and some understanding of Git would be beneficial, but it is not required. |
13:30 |
A one day workshop to equip researchers with knowledge of workflows and tools they can use to package and publish their code. Releasing software outputs from your research is an important step for open science and enables other researchers to utilise your code and for your work to have further impact. Participants will have the opportunity for hands on experience packaging and publishing a project. Participants will require some background knowledge for this course. Experience using python for programming or scientific data analysis is required. You must also have a GitHub account. In addition, experience with building classes, using the command line (either Linux or MacOS), and some understanding of Git would be beneficial, but it is not required. |
Friday 9 May
09:30 |
This is a 1-day workshop to equip you with knowledge of large language models (LLMs) for use in scientific research. The course will introduce LLMs and how they work. Next, we’ll discuss approaches to prompting and RAG, along with the methods that are used to finetune LLMs. The day concludes by covering responsible use and the landscape of models that are available to researchers with some of their pros and cons. After taking this workshop, you will be more confident to take the first steps in using LLMs in your own research. Participants will require some background knowledge for this course. We will be looking at Python code and neural networks so familiarity with Python and some knowledge of machine learning and neural networks is required. We won’t be coding during the session, but will share code with you for you to work with after the session. |
13:30 |
This is a 1-day workshop to equip you with knowledge of large language models (LLMs) for use in scientific research. The course will introduce LLMs and how they work. Next, we’ll discuss approaches to prompting and RAG, along with the methods that are used to finetune LLMs. The day concludes by covering responsible use and the landscape of models that are available to researchers with some of their pros and cons. After taking this workshop, you will be more confident to take the first steps in using LLMs in your own research. Participants will require some background knowledge for this course. We will be looking at Python code and neural networks so familiarity with Python and some knowledge of machine learning and neural networks is required. We won’t be coding during the session, but will share code with you for you to work with after the session. |
Tuesday 3 June
09:30 |
This is a 1-day workshop to equip you with knowledge of large language models (LLMs) for use in scientific research. The course will introduce LLMs and how they work. Next, we’ll discuss approaches to prompting and RAG, along with the methods that are used to finetune LLMs. The day concludes by covering responsible use and the landscape of models that are available to researchers with some of their pros and cons. After taking this workshop, you will be more confident to take the first steps in using LLMs in your own research. Participants will require some background knowledge for this course. We will be looking at Python code and neural networks so familiarity with Python and some knowledge of machine learning and neural networks is required. We won’t be coding during the session, but will share code with you for you to work with after the session. |
13:30 |
This is a 1-day workshop to equip you with knowledge of large language models (LLMs) for use in scientific research. The course will introduce LLMs and how they work. Next, we’ll discuss approaches to prompting and RAG, along with the methods that are used to finetune LLMs. The day concludes by covering responsible use and the landscape of models that are available to researchers with some of their pros and cons. After taking this workshop, you will be more confident to take the first steps in using LLMs in your own research. Participants will require some background knowledge for this course. We will be looking at Python code and neural networks so familiarity with Python and some knowledge of machine learning and neural networks is required. We won’t be coding during the session, but will share code with you for you to work with after the session. |
Tuesday 10 June
09:30 |
LLM Hands on Workshop
![]() We know that when you’re learning AI & ML, a mix of classroom theory and hands-on practice is the best way to learn. So, we’re running a 1-day hands-on ML workshop to help you apply and develop further practical ML skills. This workshop will focus on Large Language Models (LLMs). During this workshop, you’ll work in teams on a real dataset of your choice, with support from Accelerate Science Machine Learning Engineers and researchers. You’ll need to work on building, tuning and evaluating LLMs for your chosen dataset - we have some dataset ideas to kick you off, or you can bring your own. This is an opportunity to work on real-life ML problems and data, and gain confidence in using tools that you can take back to your own domain and research project. This workshop is for people who are already confident with both ML fundamentals and Python programming. This isn’t a Python or ML introduction day - you’ll spend most of the day programming! We’ll use open-source libraries including HuggingFace and scikit-learn, so please come with a laptop and be prepared to get coding, before presenting your results to the group at the end of the day. |
13:30 |
LLM Hands on Workshop
![]() We know that when you’re learning AI & ML, a mix of classroom theory and hands-on practice is the best way to learn. So, we’re running a 1-day hands-on ML workshop to help you apply and develop further practical ML skills. This workshop will focus on Large Language Models (LLMs). During this workshop, you’ll work in teams on a real dataset of your choice, with support from Accelerate Science Machine Learning Engineers and researchers. You’ll need to work on building, tuning and evaluating LLMs for your chosen dataset - we have some dataset ideas to kick you off, or you can bring your own. This is an opportunity to work on real-life ML problems and data, and gain confidence in using tools that you can take back to your own domain and research project. This workshop is for people who are already confident with both ML fundamentals and Python programming. This isn’t a Python or ML introduction day - you’ll spend most of the day programming! We’ll use open-source libraries including HuggingFace and scikit-learn, so please come with a laptop and be prepared to get coding, before presenting your results to the group at the end of the day. |