Dalhousie University
AIME 2022 will take place at Dalhousie University located in Halifax, Nova Scotia which is ranked one of the friendliest cities in the world. Founded in 1818, Dalhousie is one of Canada’s oldest universities, attracting more than 20,000 students from around the world. Dalhousie university makes a lasting impact by blending transformative academic programs with pioneering research on Canada’s East Coast. Dalhousie has received a five-star rating overall, and specifically in Teaching, Employability, Learning Environment and Innovation, from QS Stars, one of the top global university ratings systems. Dalhousie is a member of Canada’s U15 research-intensive universities.
Dalhousie University includes a Faculty of Medicine which is associated with the province’s largest healthcare facilities—i.e., Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Halifax Infirmary, and IWK Children’s hospital—that serve as the teaching hospitals. Faculty of Medicine members are medical practitioners at these healthcare facilities. In addition, The Faculty of Health at Dalhousie University features programs in Nursing, Health Administration and Health Sciences. Hence, Dalhousie University has a strong tradition in medical/health teaching and research.
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Dalhousie University has three campuses in Halifax — all within walking distance to the downtown core where one will find art galleries, museums, theatres, festivals, sport events, lively pubs, quaint cafés and, of course, friendly Haligonians. Shops, restaurants, and historic buildings next to the world’s longest harbourfront boardwalk.
With a population of over 400,000 people, Halifax is the capital city of Nova Scotia and the educational, cultural, and economic hub of Atlantic Canada. Often referred to as Canada’s “best-kept secret,” Halifax has everything one would expect from a big city within a safe and connected community. One of Canada’s fastest growing cities, Halifax is home to innovative tech and entrepreneurial hubs, as well as thriving financial and ocean sectors. Halifax’s urban charm is complemented by its natural beauty. Discover rugged shorelines, colourful gardens, hiking trails and scenic parks. The ocean is part of our life here — Dalhousie is just 300 metres from the Atlantic—so water sports are enjoyed through spring, summer, and fall, with surfing being popular year-round.
Faculty of Computer Science
AIME 2022 is being organized and supported by the Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University. Founded in 1997, Dalhousie University's Faculty of Computer Science is the largest education and research centre for Information Technology in Atlantic Canada. The Faculty’s mission is to develop in our students the deep technical, problem-solving and leadership skills needed to create - or leverage - new computing technologies to empower people, organizations and society. The Faculty’s professors work in four major areas of research, cutting across many industries and encompassing nearly all human endeavors. The Faculty of Computer Science is also home to two high-profile research initiatives, the Institute for Big Data Analytics and DeepSense. As well as its own technology innovation sandbox, ShiftKey Labs. The Faculty of Computer Science is committed to promoting excellence in teaching at every stage of academics. It offers flexible and multi-disciplinary computer science undergraduate and graduate program options that allow students to combine their studies in unique ways that meet their academic and personal interests, as well as future career goals.
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Faculty of Computer Science, Goldberg building |
Foyer of Goldberg building |
The Faculty of Computer Science promotes interdisciplinary teaching and research programs. The highly acclaimed Master of Health Informatics program has morphed into a larger Master of Digital Innovation program which features a series of interdisciplinary specialized certification programs, including the certificate in health informatics. Students of the health informatics certificate, study and conduct research in AI driven healthcare applications amongst other health informatics topics.
Students of the health informatics certificate will be actively involved in the organization of AIME 2022.
Conference Venue
The conference will be held in the Marion McCain Arts and Social Sciences Building which features two large auditoriums, multiple lecture rooms, spacious lobby and an outdoor terrace. The McCain building is within a 5 minute walking distance to the Faculty of Computer Science and Student Union Building, which has a variety of food outlets, and the student accommodations.
The main conference track and the doctoral symposium will be held in the Scotia Bank auditorium which has a capacity of 250 people and is equipped with built-in audiovisual equipment. The satellite events—i.e., the workshops and tutorials—will be held in lecture rooms (seating 30-40 people) with their own audiovisual equipment—if the need arises larger capacity rooms can be readily arranged. The coffee breaks, lunch, and the poster sessions will be held in the lobby which is quite spacious and has casual seating arrangements for networking and socializing. Below are pictures of the conference venue.
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Marion McCain building |
Scotia bank auditorium for the main conference track |
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Lobby area for the conference breaks and poster sessions |
Lobby for conference breaks |
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Lecture room for the satellite events |
Outdoor terrace |
The Conference
AIME 2022 will be the first hosting of the prestigious AIME conference series in Canada. It follows in the footsteps of the successful AIME 2020, the first AIME conference series held in North America. The Canadian research landscape features an active research community working in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and more specially AI in health/medicine. The Canadian federal and provincial research funding agencies (such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research) support research programs targeting AI for health research. Canadian universities, healthcare institutions and medical practitioners are actively involved in AI research to improve care processes and outcomes. In this backdrop, AIME 2022 provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate cutting-edge AI in medicine research and show the art-of-the-possible to medical practitioners, decision makers, and government.
AIME 2022 aims to extend the outreach of AIME to the Canadian healthcare research community by inviting and bringing Canadian and North American researchers to showcase their research covering diverse areas of AI in medicine/health. AIME 2022 intends to connect the Canadian healthcare research community working with AI methods to the already well-established healthcare community in Europe that has been contributing innovative AI research to past AIME conferences. A key feature of AIME 2022 will be the engagement of medical practitioners who are interested and active in AI-driven healthcare research to be part of the organizing committee to help shape the conference’s agenda towards practical and pragmatic AI in medicine/health research that can be applied at the point-of-care to benefit patients.
As Dalhousie University promotes interdisciplinary research, there are strong collaborative relationships between faculty members from computer science, medicine (in the areas of cardiology, endocrinology, nephrology, laboratory medicine, community health, emergency medicine, neurology, psychiatry) and health (in the areas of nursing, health administration, public health, nutrition).
The past two years of conference attendance during a pandemic have reshaped expectations for conferences moving forward. While in-person social interactions and networking are the key values of an AIME conference, virtual components can be used to enhance the conference experience and make it accessible to a broader audience. While the focus for AIME 2022 will be on an in-person meeting that captures the intimacy and excitement of past AIME conferences, we will explore incorporating some virtual aspects successfully used at AIME 2020 and 2021 to improve attendee engagement. This hybrid conference model will be designed and developed as we gather additional information from discussions with past AIME conference organizers and in consultation with the AIME board.
AIME 2022 will follow the organization model of past AIME conferences. As such, we will organize the conference over four days. The first day will be dedicated to tutorials and the doctoral consortium, the second and third days to the main track of the conference, the conference reception, and conference dinner, and the fourth day to the workshops. Details for each are described below.
