On the 3rd and 4th of September 2019 we held our annual INTROMAT Scientific Advisory Council (SAC) at Radisson Blue Royal Hotel in Bergen. The main objective of the INTROMAT Advisory council is to give feedback and advice to the project, especially the PhD candidates and post docs. This year’s scientific advisory board was : Dr Peter Lewis and Professor Lee Ritterband, and on the second day Professor Christian Moltu was also invited as an expert on innovation and exploitation of results.
Dr Peter Lewis was visiting from Aston University, Birmingham, UK, where he works as a lecturer. Peter has a background in computer science and is interested in how biologically, socially and economically inspired mechanisms can produce adaptation, learning and self-organisation in complex agent-based systems, amongst many other interests. Professor Lee Ritterband was visiting from The University of Virginia, where he and his team are developing and evaluating Internet interventions for mental and behavioural health. Lee is well-known for SHUTi/Shut-Eye (Sleep Healthy Using the Internet), a Internet-program for people struggling with insomnia. Professor Christian Moltu is chief advisor at Helse Førde, Professor II at Western Norway University of Applied Science, and one of the funders behind NORSE; a large scale international project within the ordinary clinical setting, aiming at facilitating for clinical feedback and improve treatment outcomes.
On the first day of SAC the main theme was machine learning within the mental health sector. More specifically machine learning in real time embedded systems, data analysis and modelling, and how patient centric data can become intelligent decision support, were presented and discussed.
On the second day the topic was exploitation of the INTROMAT results. Top 10 Intromat research results were presented.
At the end of day 2, a Top 10 sales pitch competition was arranged. Based on this the scientific advisory council gave feedback and advice for further exploitation of results. The topics of the presented ideas ranged from different types of Internet-based self-help programs, to VR and chatbot solutions, to how one can develop ICT architecture and how to use machine learning in a clinical setting.
This year’s SAC was a great success, and we are already looking forward to the next Scientific Advisory Council meeting.