A Conversation About Ethical AI: Year #2 of being a Transforming Lives Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University

by Marjory Da Costa Abreu, Associate Professor in Ethical AI

During my second year as a Transforming Lives Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University, I continue to strive with my active contribution for the leadership of SHU as ethical artificial intelligence leader. We now have a new research center, Centre of Excellence for AI and Robotics (CEAIR) where I led the Responsible Ethical and Life-Centred AI theme.

Ethical and responsible AI

I have been working hard to make sure my approach is heard in as many places as possible. A few examples are, I have presented at the UK AI Research Symposium (UKAIRS) 2025 Festival of Ideas at Northumbria University, where researchers with active EPSRC-funded AI projects came together to share and discuss their work with the wider research community. I contributed to the dissemination of two publications: Pattern Recognition in SARS Cases: Insights from t-SNE and k-means Clustering Applied to COVID-19 Symptomatology and A Dialogue on AI-powered Drone Usage and the Dronotope Tool for Examining Cross-sectoral Drone Developments.

I supported the 2026 Digital Good Network Summit in Birmingham, where researchers shared work exploring what a good digital society should look like. I delivered a presentation on the ethical and unethical uses of artificial intelligence in cancer research at the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority Integrated Care Board Innovation Forum. I opened the discussion related to my perspectives on Ethical AI for Digital Good at the AI Safety North East event organised by the National Edge Artificial Intelligence Hub. My presentation, Profit-driven Generative Artificial Intelligence for Social Good: A Capitalist Lie and a Danger for our Social Fabric, examined the societal implications of profit-driven AI and generated important discussions for future work.

I also took our PGR work at SHU work on AI Critical Literacy to the UK Council for Graduate Education Annual Conference at the University of Liverpool, highlighting the importance of helping researchers understand the impact of profit-driven artificial intelligence on society, public health, and research innovation. I delivered a seminar for the UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe AI Systems (SAINTS) at the University of York. My presentation, Surveillance Capitalism, Big Data and AI: Are We Changing as Humans Because of Technology?, explored the relationship between emerging technologies and their influence on society.

Health100 project

If we look at my projects over this year, our team at AWRC has started an exciting collaboration with Jeju National University, Republic of Korea. We have an important shared interest in promoting wellness in our respective communities Together, we organised research presentations, a student learn-athon, participation in parkrun at Endcliffe Park, and discussions to strengthen future collaborations in digital health between our institutions. Our team attended the signing ceremony establishing the collaboration between the AWRC and the newly launched Co-Lab for Digital Health and Wellbeing at Jeju National University. During my visit to Jeju National University, I delivered teaching on Ethical AI to healthcare students, participated in collaboration workshops, and joined the university’s first parkrun on the Olle Trail.

On two occasions already and as part of the funded collaboration, we welcomed healthcare students from Jeju National University to Sheffield Hallam University. I delivered teaching on the fundamentals of AI and Ethical AI in the context of digital health and wearable technologies, guiding students through practical machine learning activities using the Weka machine learning tool and data collected during physical activities.

Social Media liability, Digital technologies and gender related hate

I had the huge privilege to be invited for a week strategic visit at University of St.Gallen (with Sandra Avila and Mariana Valente) to discuss actions and projects grant proposals related to #DigitalMediaBigTech responsibility/liability on the use of#deepfakes for #childexploitation. A collaboration with strong women on topics that can truly #TransformLives is the reason I wake up everyday and have energy to carry on with my lone voice to promote the #ethicalAI and not promote #bigtech uses.

I am now leading a new initiative with colleagues from Loughborough University focusing on women’s engagement in sport, digital technologies, profit-driven AI, and sports policy in preparation for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 in Brazil. Through this collaboration, we have identified opportunities relating to sports evaluation, community engagement, digital art for public engagement, and the ethical use of computing within major sporting events and will explore funding and impact during my Year3 of the fellowship.

DroneLife Future Leaders Fellowship/BRAID

We just had our Critical Drone Studies Conference looking at Drones in Society, Politics, and Culture where we gathered #dronenerds to discuss drones politics, regulation, public perceptions and aesthetics, humanitarianism, AI and many more. Being almost the only academic with a background in STEM here makes me even more determined to occupy the multidisciplinary spaces so we can really contribute to a better and fairer society. We launched an alternative for a timeline called #Dronetope where you can look at drone related literature via specific lenses. We are expanding our reach for the discussion related to the uses of #AI in the museum sector by organising a series of workshops which will happen n Year3 of my fellowship to present, and support teams across England, Ireland and Brasil on how to use our toolkit.

UKRI/EPSRC South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub

We had our 2026 South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub’s progress, where I was MC, highlighting our work supporting the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, our initiatives to address health inequalities, and the development of the Smart Health project, which aims to securely combine consented data from wearable biosensors, smartphones, and NHS records. We showcased the Smart Health and Connected South Yorkshire initiatives, demonstrating how secure and trusted research infrastructure can support innovation while protecting patient privacy.

Our team also secured new funding from EPSRC to deliver an Evidence Synthesis on understanding the current landscape of digital technologies that could help prevent acute care for patients living with cardiometabolic disease and dementia, with the aim of informing future digital health policy and investment. We are producing work and interventions that will have a real impact on #DigitalHealth, our initiatives include developing a public exhibition designed to engage communities in conversations about digital health and improve AI literacy. Working alongside colleagues and local communities connected to the Northern General Hospital, we explored innovative approaches to public engagement around digital health technologies.

For society

One of the jobs he Nuffield Council on Bioethics is to produce a horizon scanning to understand the future of #healthtechnology in the UK. I was privileged to have been invited to the latest group of specialists, community reps, healthcare professionals and companies to put our heads together and support that important work! Bringing my #EthicalAI methodologies to those spaces are so important!

I am one of the contributors of the AI.RDN+ project that will explore the use of AI in doctoral research. This is an essential work that aligns with my contributions in the UK and Brasil related to the training of students and how universities and schools should look at the impact of AI. Colleagues from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte and the University of São Paulo are part of the conversation!

As part of Black History Month at Sheffield Hallam University, I participated in a panel discussion celebrating the contributions of our Black staff community. Alongside colleagues, I shared my experiences and reflected on my personal and professional journey. I just love working in Higher Education. Being responsible to support students, being critical and challenging them so they can be better citizens and human beings is my biggest passion. I am one of the Senior EEDI Champion for Race Equity at the university and advocating for the global majority in the Higher Education space as well as making sure I can support the AI/Digital Literacy agenda with me is what makes my work worth it.

And to just wrap up this second year, I had the biggest pleasure of hearing that three of my academic children are now full time academics in education institutions! Having your former students shine is my real drive to continue with eagerness and motivation! 🙂