Tuesday, 23 June 2026
9:45-10:30 Registration & Coffee
George Moore Building
Café
10:30-11:30 Opening Session
Govan Mbeki Building
Deeprose Lecture Theatre (A005)
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Dr Jim Paterson, Glasgow Caledonian University
Live LLM: An Introduction to Using Comedy in Public Speaking
Susan Morrison is a stand-up comedian with more than 25 years experience on the stages of comedy clubs from Aberdeen to Berlin, with a wealth of knowledge and experience in writing and performing live comedy. As an MC for The Provocateurs (formerly The Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas) and a trainer/MC for The Bright Club in Scotland, she has worked closely with academics to help them ‘find the funny’ in their work or research methods.
11:45-12:45 Parallel Workshops
TBC
Sustainable Computing Beyond Emissions: What Are We Really Sustaining?
with Satwik Ghanta, University of Glasgow
When sustainability in computing is discussed, attention often turns to energy use, carbon emissions, and electronic waste. But could a system be environmentally efficient and still be unsustainable? In this interactive workshop, you’ll work with fellow PhD researchers in a role-playing exercise, acting as sustainability advocates or investigative reporters tasked with scrutinising competing concerns. Together, you’ll explore realistic computing scenarios through multiple sustainability lenses, uncover hidden trade-offs, and examine how technology shapes people, organisations, and futures. No prior sustainability expertise is required, just curiosity and a willingness to question assumptions. Whether your research is in AI, cybersecurity, data science, software engineering, HCI, or beyond, you’ll leave with a fresh perspective, practical framework and new questions that can help strengthen the societal impact of your research.
TBC
Postdoc Career Planning
with Gail Ferrier, Glasgow Caledonian University
TBC
A Funny Way of Thinking (Part 1 of 2)
with Susan Morrison
Comedy and Academia are natural bedfellows. Comedy relies on the element of the unexpected, creating a setup to a surprising punchline. Academia depends on analysis of data to generate a new discovery or outcome.
This 2-part workshop is an introduction to using humour to improve the presentation of your research to both the public and fellow academics. We will explore the writing tools that stand-up comedians use to write their jokes to help you uncover surprising and engaging aspects of your work and we’ll take a look at stagecraft to help you present with confidence, and perhaps even ditch the Powerpoint habit.
There will be tips, games and pointers, and a lot of laughter.
*Participants should plan to attend the second part of the workshop after lunch.
TBC
The Storytelling Postgrad
with Kev Anderson, The Case Study Guy
Kev Anderson is a storytelling coach who helps people, teams and organisations find, shape and tell their own stories. His core belief is that in 2026, storytelling is the key professional skill that can help you stand out authentically in a noisy, AI-saturated world.
Whether you’re an established professional or someone just embarking on your career, developing your storytelling skills will help you communicate with purpose and intent. For PhD and postgrad students specifically, it’s about applying story to secure interviews – and to represent yourself in the best possible way when you do.
In this session, Kev will touch on the theme of Computer Science for the Common Good and share some practical tools to help you become a more confident storyteller.
TBC
Jailbreak the Bot: An Interactive AI Security CTF
with Victor Kobani, Glasgow Caledonian University
As AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) become deeply integrated into software engineering, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and data science, securing these systems is an urgent industry priority. This workshop proposes a gamified Capture the Flag (CTF) session where attendees learn about the security vulnerabilities of modern AI. By tasking participants with bypassing safety guardrails in a sandboxed environment, we can deliver a highly interactive session that appeals to PhD researchers across all computing disciplines, not just traditional cybersecurity specialists.
13:00-14:00 Lunch & Networking
George Moore Building
Restaurant
14:00-15:00 Black Mirror Challenge Part I
TBC
Session 1: Research for the Common Good
with Jim Paterson, Glasgow Caledonian University
Inspired by the TV series Black Mirror, this activity explores how technologies designed to improve society can also produce unexpected social, ethical, and political consequences once deployed in the real world. The term “black mirror” refers to the dark reflective surface of a screen, symbolising technology reflecting humanity — including its ambitions, biases, and unintended impacts — back at itself.
In this challenge, your group is a research team that has developed a breakthrough computing technology intended to benefit society.
You will present the technology twice, first at The Launch Pitch: The optimistic version presented at the time of release. Then in The Retrospective Story: A critical retrospective set 5 years later examining what actually happened after deployment.
The challenge is to explore the gap between intentions and outcomes, innovation and responsibility, and technical success and societal impact.
In Part 1 of the Challenge, groups will choose their technology or breakthrough and draft their Launch Pitch in the form of a University press release.
In Part 2 (on Wednesday) groups will create their Retrospective.
Particularly compelling submissions will be considered for prizes at the Conference Dinner.
TBC
A Funny Way of Thinking (Part 2 of 2)
with Susan Morrison
Workshop participants will reconvene after lunch.
*Participants must attend the first part of the workshop before lunch.
15:15-16:30 Coffee & Poster Session
George Moore Building
Restaurant
16:30-17:30 Social Activities
TBC
Wednesday, 24 June 2026
9:00-9:30 Registration & Coffee
George Moore Building
Café
9:30-11:00 Lightning Talks
Govan Mbeki Building
Deeprose Lecture Theatre (A005)
Welcome
Dr Jim Paterson, Glasgow Caledonian University
Lightning talks
11:15-12:30 Reverse Viva
TBC
Enhancing Android application security through source code vulnerability mitigation using artificial intelligence: a privacy-preserved, community-driven, federated-learning-based approach
with Dr Janaka Senanayake, Robert Gordon University
TBC
Enabling Distributed Collaborative Design Decision in Software Development Teams
with Dr Mahum Adil, University of Glasgow
TBC
Performance Analysis of Cellular and Ad-Hoc Sensor Networks: Theory and Applications
with Dr Heba Shoukry, Heriot-Watt University
TBC
Machine Learning Based User Quality of Experience Optimization in Emerging Cellular Networks
with Dr Sanaullah Manzoor, Glasgow Caledonian University
12:30-13:30 Lunch & Learning & Teaching Scholars Posters
George Moore Building
Restaurant
13:30-14:30 Black Mirror Challenge Part II
TBC
Session 2: Research for the Common Good
with Jim Paterson, Glasgow Caledonian University
Inspired by the TV series Black Mirror, this activity explores how technologies designed to improve society can also produce unexpected social, ethical, and political consequences once deployed in the real world. The term “black mirror” refers to the dark reflective surface of a screen, symbolising technology reflecting humanity — including its ambitions, biases, and unintended impacts — back at itself.
In this challenge, your group is a research team that has developed a breakthrough computing technology intended to benefit society.
You will present the technology twice, first at The Launch Pitch: The optimistic version presented at the time of release. Then in The Retrospective Story: A critical retrospective set 5 years later examining what actually happened after deployment.
The challenge is to explore the gap between intentions and outcomes, innovation and responsibility, and technical success and societal impact.
In Part 2 groups will create their Retrospective. The goal is not simply to create a dystopia but groups should aim to show realistic trade-offs,
mixed consequences, unintended effects, complexity and nuance.
Particularly compelling submissions will be considered for prizes at the Conference Dinner.
14:30-15:30 Computing for the Greater Good: Panel Discussion
Govan Mbeki Building
Deeprose Lecture Theatre (A005)
15:30-16:00 Coffee & Networking
TBC
16:00-17:00 Closing Session
Govan Mbeki Building
Deeprose Lecture Theatre (A005)
18:00-20:00 Conference Dinner & Awards
Annie Lennox Building
Main room (W011)
Celebrate with us
Join us for our Conference Dinner and Awards ceremony where we’ll celebrate our Supervisor of the Year, Best Dissertation, Outstanding poster presentations and more!