Students jump-start their professional careers at the CfAA

Under the supervision of research associates and academics, University of York MEng Computer Science alumni Joel Beedle, gap-year student Elly Cairns, and A-Level student Damon Holmes all undertook placements at the Centre over the course of 2024.

Joel worked on both the Autonomous Systems for Forest Protection (ASPEN) and the Diagnostic AI System for Robot-Assisted A&E Triage (DAISY) projects during his internship while finishing his master’s degree. As part of the ASPEN project, Joel worked on a drone swarm simulator he initially developed for his master’s project. He went on to publish the paper ‘SALSA: Swarm Algorithm Simulator’ related to the  swarm of drones tasked with surveying a forest simulation produced as part of ASPEN. The paper was also successfully accepted and presented at the IEEE International Conference on Autonomic Computing and Self-Organizing Systems conference in September 2024.

He is now working as a Software Engineer at Bendi in Birmingham where he uses many of the skills he applied during his internship to deploy AI to help detect environmental, social and governance risks in global supply chains.

He said: “My time at the CfAA showed me how thoughtful application of AI can support positive change, and I’ve carried that mindset into my current role. Before my internship, I didn't truly appreciate how important it was for me to be working on a project that makes a real positive impact, and I'm really happy to carry that forward in my current role.

“What really appealed to me about working at the Centre was the combination of academic rigor and practical application. It felt like a place where I could contribute to meaningful, real-world problems through the DAISY and ASPEN projects, and see tangible results from my work.”

During her placement from September to December 2024, Elly interned on the Assuring Responsibility for Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (AR-TAS) project. Working with colleagues, Elly looked into current definitions of AI safety, as well as comparing notions of harm from a conventional safety science perspective. As part of the team coordinating the ‘Safe use of AI in healthcare’ event held in December 2024 she created three academic posters based on peer-reviewed papers published by the team.

As a gap year placement, this experience was a major professional learning curve for Elly as she prepares to start a bachelors degree in Politics and International Relations. She added: “Seeing the research posters displayed at the event as tangible manifestations of my input into the Centre was incredibly rewarding; the day was exhausting but incredibly good fun too.

“The opportunity to meet so many practitioners and researchers was a privilege and gave me insight into what my own future career might look like. 

“Additionally, the appeal of the CfAA is its multi-disciplinary community and the strong emphasis that is placed on interdisciplinary collaboration and interaction. I was able to attend seminars by speakers from research groups I otherwise would never have interacted with, all of whom gave fascinating talks and provoked many discussions.”

Student Damon joined the CfAA during his half term break from college after learning about our work. Damon said: “I was very interested in the opportunity as I had already done some previous work experience with computers and technology really fascinates me. I had never heard of the Centre previously but I was quite invested when I learned of it.”

With support from members of the CfAA research team, Damon was given the opportunity to learn how to use software that labels objects in an image or video so that an AI model could be trained to recognise them. About the work he participated in, Damon said: 

“I didn't really know what to expect going into a university for the first time but I hoped that I would get a better idea of what working in the technology industry would be like. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Centre. The work was sometimes frustrating and way over my level of knowledge, but it was actually very interesting and I got to learn how to use so many new bits of software. I also got to attend a seminar on self driving cars which was very enlightening.” 

Whilst he’s still deciding on his future post-A levels, his time at the Centre has opened up the possibility of a degree in computer science or an apprenticeship in the area. 

The CfAA’s Director of Strategic Programmes, Dr Ana MacIntosh, added: “Welcoming students at different stages of their education journey to participate in and learn about the advanced work we’re doing here on assuring the safety of AI and autonomous systems is a core part of the CfAA’s mission, and a real pleasure to boot. Students can learn vital skills around collaboration, research and university life in addition to gaining a deeper understanding of a subject which is already affecting multiple parts of their lives - AI. For us, their work makes a real difference, and they remind us that our research affects everyone.”