Research

Machine learning in the space between signals and systems.

Language, speech, and clinical data become useful only when models are evaluated in the settings where people actually use them.

Themes

Four overlapping research directions

Human signals

Speech, language, and cognition

Speech and language as measurable, useful signals about cognition, health, access, and interaction.

Clinical systems

AI in health

Machine learning that respects deployment, workflow, evidence, safety, and the people who live with the outcomes.

Governance + evaluation

Responsible AI

Model behaviour, interpretability, fairness, privacy, standards, and public accountability.

Place + network

Atlantic capacity

Building useful AI capacity from Halifax outward: students, collaborators, public institutions, and industry.

Questions

Research questions worth making visible

What can speech and language reveal about cognition and health without reducing people to features?
How do we evaluate clinical AI systems under the conditions where they will actually be used?
What does responsible AI mean after deployment, when institutions and incentives take over?
How should researchers communicate uncertainty to publics, policymakers, patients, and students?

Selected support

Recent grants and active work

Representation Immunization on Trainium: Scalable Noising & Weight-Locking

Responsible AI Amazon Research Award (ARA) · $257,710 (USD)

A Unified Framework for the Safety, Interpretability, and Ethical Deployment of LLMs

NSERC Discovery · $345,000

Early identification of risk for major depressive disorder from parent and youth speech

CIHR Project · $1,009,800 · Co-applicant; Rudolf Uher: NPI

Research Grant

Center for AI Safety · $5750 (USD)

Partnership for Artificial Intelligence and Quality of Working Lives and Worker Well-Being (PAIQ)

SSHRC Partnership Grant - Stage 2 · $2,499,192 · Co-applicant; Arif Jetha: NPI

Building Resilience in Smart Agriculture: Cybersecure, Reliable, and Equitable (SECURE-AGRO)

NSERC CREATE · $1,650,000 · Co-Applicant; Ali Dehghantanha:NPI