IMFD addresses future challenges in data science with interdisciplinary focus

July, 2023. With an eye on the future of the interdisciplinary research being conducted at the Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data (IMFD), the 2023 Winter Workshop of this research center was held at the Manuel Montt campus of the Universidad Mayor.

Throughout the event, nearly 100 participants from the various disciplines that converge in the IMFD gathered to share their research and work, generating a very enriching dynamic. "In December 2022 our institute was renewed for a new five-year period and with a very good evaluation. The idea of this workshop is to analyze our work, together with reflecting and defining what we expect in terms of research in the future five years and projecting these challenges also further ahead", highlights Juan Reutter, alternate director of the Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data, academic of the Department of Computing (DCC UC) and the Institute of Mathematical and Computational Engineering (IMC UC), both at the Catholic University of Chile.

In several segments, researchers and students presented, in scientific poster format, the research projects of the different scientific lines of the IMFD. The 15 research projects generated wide debate among the attendees, and ranged from the more theoretical aspects of data science to interdisciplinary studies between, for example, political science, communications and computing: parliamentary discourse or the study of criminality are two examples of these works. 

In addition, presentations and workshops were held to address the challenges and emerging problems that will be addressed by the different lines of research: new issues in privacy and data ethics, natural language processing techniques applied to social problems, data science as an ally to address problems in archeology and anthropology are some of the topics developed throughout this workshop.

"These meetings are a vital element for the scientific work of the IMFD, they are spaces in which all the actors of the institute can learn about the research being carried out and join the various collaborative efforts. Interdisciplinary work is one of our main drivers, because we have seen in practice that this approach allows us to move the frontiers of what we know and produce new knowledge", explains Camila Diaz, executive director of the IMFD.