Conference Program
This program is subject to change but has been generally given to allow people to plan as much in advance as possible.
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Monday, 2nd December
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Workshops
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Empowering Animals Through Technology: Enhancing Animal Agency in the Sound Environment
09.00 - 13.00 GMT
Advanced Research Center, Room 237 A&B​
Description: This in-person workshop will explore how innovative technologies can be designed to give animals some control over their sound environments as enrichment and for research in different scenarios. Participants will discuss advancements in acoustic technologies, applications in different animal settings, species-specific interface design, and practical methods for implementing and evaluating these solutions. The outputs of this workshop will include designs for technological apparatus that allow animals to control their sound environments, as well as methods for evaluating these as enrichment devices.
Website: https://animalacousticenrichment.wordpress.com/
Contact person: Dominique Potvin dpotvin@usc.edu.au
More Than Human Digital Civics
14.00 - 17.30 GMT
Advanced Research Center, Room 237 A&B
Please register interest on the workshop website prior to attending with the recommendation of submitting a position paper by the 30th October
Description: We will explore through critical discussion the role of companion animals and their caregivers in their online representation, as well as how legislation impacts nonconsenting animals in this digital world. This will be followed by the design of interventions that aim to correct these potentially misleading representations. The aim of this is to expand digital civics research to further include the more than human aspect in this expanding field of research, creating the potential for new research collaborations.
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/more-than-human-digital-civics/
Workshop Email: more.than.human.digital.civics@gmail.com
Contact person: Sam Gowland sam.gowland@northumbria.ac.uk
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Tuesday, 3rd December
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Doctoral Consortium Tutorials
10:00 – 15.00 GMT
Advanced Research Center, Room 237 A&B
Building on the successful 2023 Doctoral Consortium program, 2024 will feature a full-day tutorial program open to all attendees registered for the ACI 2024 workshop program. While the tutorial program is designed to provide graduate students with hands-on experience designing, prototyping, and critiquing an ACI system, it is a fun day for all involved, regardless of their level of experience. Full details on the program are forthcoming, but senior community members will give short lectures and provide handout materials, as well as assign and participate in brainstorming, prototyping, and design reviews along with DC participants.
Whether you’re a student attending the ACI conference for the first time or a seasoned veteran, the DC tutorial program should be a fun, engaging, and thought-provoking community experience. With topics ranging from ethics to psychophysics to embedded systems programming, there’s room for all to both learn and contribute.
Contact person: DC Chair, David Roberts (dlrober4@ncsu.edu).
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Welcome Civic Reception
18.00 - 19.30 GMT
Glasgow City Chambers, 82 George Square, Glasgow G2 1DU
Conference opening drinks and welcome speech by Lord Provost or Bailie. Open to all registered for the workshop program.
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Wednesday, 4th December
Advanced Research Center, Room 237 A&B
Welcome Coffee Served from 09.00 GMT
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Welcome and Conference Opening by Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas and Local Team
09.45 – 10.00 GMT
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Opening Keynote Professor Amanda Seed
10.00 – 10.00 GMT
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Coffee Break
11.00 – 11.30 GMT
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Paper Talks: Animal Music and Vocalisation
11.30 – 12.30 GMT
Vocalizations of the Parus minor Bird: Taxonomy and Automatic Classification
Artem Abzaliev (University of Michigan), Katsumi Ibaraki (University of Michigan), Kohei Shibata (independent researcher) and Rada Mihalcea (University of Michigan)
[Full Paper]
We’re too busy singing: acoustic analysis with apes
Fiona French (London Metropolitan University), Stephen Good (London Metropolitan University), Karim Makaddem (London Metropolitan University), Naomi Frost (Twycross Zoo) and Katherine Finch (Twycross Zoo)
[Emerging Work Paper]
Play That Trunky Music: Development of an Auditory Enrichment Device for Elephants in Captivity
Arianna Mastali (Georgia Tech), Benjamin Mayo (Georgia Tech), Charles Ramey (Georgia Tech), Nathan Elgart (Zoo Atlanta), Kirby Miller (Zoo Atlanta) and Melody Jackson (Georgia Tech)
[Full Paper]
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Lunch
12.30 – 14.00 GMT
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Invited Talk: Blair Drummond Safari Park and Zoo: How to Research with Zoos
14.00 – 14.30 GMT
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Paper Talks: Animal Behaviour Recognition
14.30 – 15.30 GMT
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catAction: Deep learning for enhancing emotional cat–human interactions through the posture-based determination of the degrees of kittens’ defensive and offensive aggressions
Zhuoneng Sui (University of Tokyo), Haoran Hong (University of Tokyo) and Hill Hiroki Kobayashi (University of Tokyo)
[Full Paper]
Automated Depth Sensing-Based Computer Vision for Dog Tail Wagging Interpretation
Devon Martin (North Carolina State University), Jeremy Park (North Carolina State University, Megan Carson (North Carolina State University, Margaret Gruen (North Carolina State University, Alper Bozkurt (North Carolina State University) and David Roberts (North Carolina State University)
[Full Paper]
Wireless Tension Sensors for Characterizing Dog Frailty in Veterinary Settings
Colt Nichols (North Carolina State University), Yifan Wu (North Carolina State University), Alper Bozkurt, David Roberts (North Carolina State University) and Margaret Gruen (North Carolina State University)
[Full Paper]
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Coffee Break
15.30 – 16.00 GMT
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Paper Talks: Research Methods and Reporting
16.00 – 16.40 GMT
Surveying The Extent of Demographic Reporting of Animal Participants in ACI Research
Lena Ashooh (Harvard University), Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas (University of Glasgow) and Rebecca Kleinberger (Northeastern University)
[Full paper]
The Day After: Ethical Considerations for the End of Enriching Animal Research Projects
Jennifer Cunha (Indiana University) and Clara Mancini (The Open University)
[Emerging Work]
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Day Closing and Updates
16.40 – 17.00 GMT
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The Conference Dinner
18.00 - 00.00 GMT
The Drawing Room, 32 University Ave, Glasgow G12 8LX
Doors open at 18.00 with a sit-down dinner starting at 18.30 till 20.00, followed by a local Ceilidh two-piece band.
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Thursday, 5th December
Advanced Research Center, Room 237 A&B
Welcome Coffee Served from 09.00 GMT
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Second-Day Conference Opening
09:50 – 10.00 GMT
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Paper Talks: Supporting Working Dogs
10:00 – 11.00 GMT ​
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Towards Haptic Communication with Working Dogs in Distracting Environments
Elijah Hopper (Georgia Insitute of Technology), Vaishu Adimulam (Georgia Insitute of Technology)and Melody Jackson (Georgia Insitute of Technology)
[Emerging Work]
Towards Enactivist ACI - Sensor-Rich Olfactory Workstation and Suit for Detection Dogs
Aswin R (Dognosis), Sai Krishna Teja Sadhu (Dognosis), Itamar Bitan (Dognosis) and Akash Kulgod (Dognosis)
[Emerging Work]
Evaluating Animal-Robot Interactions: A Novel Methodology for Assessing Sheepdog Robot Performance
Beatriz Jové (Universidad de León), Alexis Gutiérrez (Universidad de León), Camino Fernández (Universidad de León) , Vicente Matellán Olivera (Universidad de León), Francisco J. Rodríguez (Universidad de León) and Lidia Sánchez (Universidad de León)
[Emerging Work]
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Coffee Break
11:00 – 11.30 GMT ​
Paper Talks: Animal Communication
11:30 – 12.30 GMT ​
Rosetta Bone - Bridging the Language Gap Between Dogs and Humans with a QR Code-Enabled Communication System
Chengkai Yao (Georgia Insitute of Technology), Bailey Shea Aiken (Georgia Insitute of Technology), Omkar Bhushan Gokhale (Georgia Insitute of Technology), Wuyuqing Yang (Georgia Insitute of Technology) and Melody Moore Jackson (Georgia Insitute of Technology)
[Emerging Work]
Communication Functions in Speech Board Use by a Goffin’s Cockatoo: Implications for Research and Design
Jennifer Cunha (Indiana University), Corinne Renguette (Perdue University), Lily Stella (Indiana University) and Clara Mancini (The Open University)
[Full Paper]
The Animal Whisperer Project
Oliver Bendel (FHNW School of Business) and Nick Zbinden (FHNW School of Business)
[Emerging Work]
Lunch
12:30 – 14.00 GMT ​
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Paper Talks: Welfare Through Monitoring and Enrichment
14:00 – 15.00 GMT ​
Prototyping an Immersive Screen Interfaces for Dogs' to Control Screens in Their Home
Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas (The University of Glasgow), Aurélien Nioche (The University of Glasgow) and Danielius Sukys (The University of Glasgow)
[Full Paper]
Shelling Out the Fun: Quantifying Otter Interactions with Instrumented Enrichment Objects
Charles Ramey (Georgia Insitute of Technology), Jason Jones (Georgia Aquarium), Kristen Hannigan (Georgia Aquarium), Elizabeth Sadtler (Georgia Aquarium), Jennifer Odell (Georgia Aquarium), Thad Starner (Georgia Insitute of Technology) and Melody Jackson (Georgia Insitute of Technology)
[Emerging Work]
A Design Proposal and Pilot Study for Addressing Welfare in Health Monitoring Practices in Commercial Fish Farms
Alex Raposo (North Carolina State University), Janet Brock (North Carolina State University), Allison Abel (North Carolina State University), Mike Frinsko (North Carolina State University) and David Roberts (North Carolina State University)
[Emerging Work]
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Coffee Break
15:00 – 15.30 GMT ​
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Closing Keynote: Marwa Mahmoud "Beyond Sight: Vision-AI for Animal Behaviour Understanding"
15.30 – 16.30 GMT ​
Marwa Mahmoud is a lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Socially Intelligent Technologies at the School of Computing Science, University of Glasgow. Dr Mahmoud’s research is at the intersection of computer vision, social signal processing, and multimodal perception, with a particular focus on affective computing, behaviour analytics, and human and animal behaviour understanding. As the Director of the Behavioural AI Lab, Dr. Mahmoud leads efforts to develop cutting-edge technologies aimed at 'AI for Social Good,' integrating computer vision and multimodal machine learning to enhance human well-being and animal welfare.
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Award Ceremony and Closing
16:30 – 17.00 GMT ​