Podcast: The IDEMS Podcast

In this nuanced discussion, David and Santiago discuss wealth as a privilege, examining their own privileges in various contexts. Should we view aspiration differently in low resource environments compared to high resource ones? Is it always wrong to use the privilege of wealth to gain advantages for oneself and one’s family?

David and Lucie explore the role of academic publications for researchers and inequalities in the international research publication systems. Are there alternative models and possibilities for institutions which don’t have the resources to compete on the international academic playing field?

David and Lucie discuss the role of evidence in research and in our wider society. What is good evidence? How should evidence be used? The last decade has seen the erosion of public trust in facts – so what can and should we be doing differently?

David Stern and Dr Lily Clements dig deeper into the Dutch Childcare AI scandal, its causes and consequences. They analyse how this could have been avoided or mitigated and highlight the need for more work on the responsible use of AI, and particularly the importance of the human element in integrating AI to help in societal issues.

IDEMS supports researchers at a number of research institutions in low resource environments, and in this episode David and Lucie discuss some challenges that these researchers are up against. In challenging contexts such as these, unique opportunities can arise.

In this second part of the discussion of nepotism, Santiago questions David further on whether the win-win scenarios presented in the first part do not mean a loss for someone else and consider this in a local and global context. They delve deeper into other types of opportunities, how they arise, and consider how organisations need to balance the creation of opportunities with the seizing of opportunities.

Santiago Borio interviews David Stern on the issue of nepotism. They analyse a common definition of the term, look into examples where it’s harmful and examples where it may even be necessary. They consider how IDEMS is a nepotic organisation and what that means in a wider context. This is the first part of a two part episode on a complex issue that can sometimes have deep social consequences.

As society embraces AI, interpreting its results can be a matter of life and death. Lily and David consider how we can be misled by data in general, including the results of AI models. They discuss how misinterpreting the output of data often comes down to misunderstanding the limits of what data can tell you.

References:
Simpson’s Paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson%27s_paradox
How to lie with Statistics by Daryl Huff

David and Lily consider regulation around the development of AI technologies. They discuss Amazon’s gender-biased AI recruitment debacle, and why many big companies are embracing regulation. Can regulation be designed to protect society at large from the dangers of irresponsible AI, whilst ensuring that the right companies benefit and the right companies are disadvantaged?

In this festive episode, Lucie and David reflect on the idea of New Year’s resolutions through the lenses of IDEMS’ three mechanisms for monitoring and evaluations: guiding principles, pathways of change and value creation stories.