Here are some potential dissertation topics for UoN project students for:
A project in this category would develop an AI system with a practical application. This might cover any AI technique as well as any application, but it will have to take place in an environment where real users are able to interact with the development.
The unique angle of this project will be to pick an ethics by design methodology (for example this one, promoted by the EU) and use it to structure the design and development process. A key research question for this project will be whether such a methodology is applicable, where its limitations are and whether it affects the quality of the resulting system.
AI impact assessments, sometimes also called algorithmic impact assessments, are methods that aim to provide an early warning system that will allow the identification of ethical and social issues.
A project in this category would focus on the early phase of AI systems development and undertake and possibly compare more than one existing AI impact assessment methodologies. The research question will be around the usability and impact of the AI impact assessment, whether it allows for early detection of issues and how it impacts the tech development.
AI has been described as an ecosystem where specific ethical and social consequences arise not so much from individual technologies and applications but from the systems nature of the technology that forms part of broader socio-technical networks.
MSc projects in this category should identify a relevant AI ecosystem and undertake a maximally comprehensive description of these systems. The question to be researched is whether and in what way such ecosystems are or would be considered responsible, i.e. how the ecosystem as a whole could be considered capable of identifying and dealing with ethical and broader social concerns.
This topic looks at novel technologies and upcoming trends to explore how these can be developed and used in responsible manner. The MSc project would employ established future and foresight methods to explore possible consequences. It would make use of one or more methods from responsible innovation or related fields to develop an action plan to guide the technology in ways that are deemed desirable, acceptable and sustainable. The project would devise and implement an evaluation plan to assess its success in achieving these aims.
The term 'frugal innovation' stands for "low-cost new products, methods and designs that have been created for or come out of what is known as the bottom of the pyramid or the unserved lower end of the mass-market."
An MSc project under this heading would need to identify a relevant innovation from a low-cost market, for example in less developed economies, but also from non-commercial providers in the UK or Europe and adapt and develop it for the UK market. This should ideally involve further development of the technology, links to potential users and distributors and a business case development for the technology.