IEEE BMSB 2025

Noel E. O’Connor

Insight Research Centre for Data Analytics

Title of Keynote

How Ireland is responding to the Opportunities and Challenges of AI

Summary of Keynote

AI is transforming the world, presenting huge opportunities but also significant challenges. It is revolutionising industries by enhancing efficiency, automating routine tasks, and providing deep insights through data analysis. In the future, it has the potential to accelerate diagnosis and treatment planning in healthcare, to improve fraud detection and market predictions in finance, provide personalised education for citizens, ensure more sustainable energy management and advanced climate modelling, whilst underpinning breakthroughs in scientific research. However, for all the anticipated benefits, it presents significant challenges that need to be addressed. Indeed, we are already late in addressing some of these challenges. We face the challenge of bias in algorithms, that could lead to unfair or discriminatory outcomes. The rapid pace of development raises ethical questions about privacy, surveillance, and the potential misuse of AI, as well as the ability of academia to continue to keep pace with industrial research. There are concerns among the public regarding job displacement. We face challenges related to the safe secure, ethical and trusted adoption of AI, ensuring that no one is left behind, in particular our most vulnerable citizens. We face challenges related to information integrity, disinformation, transparency and democratic governance. And of course, we face the existential challenge of climate change and the challenge of using AI to help without contributing to the problem. In this short presentation, I will explain how Ireland is reacting to both the promise and challenge of AI by establishing a trans-disciplinary research community that can be leveraged as a national resource.

Biography

Prof. Noel E. O’Connor is a Full Professor in the School of Electronic Engineering at Dublin City University (DCU) Ireland. He is CEO of the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics, Ireland’s largest SFI-funded Research Centre, mobilising 450+ researchers across 8 academic institutions. He was previously Academic Director of DCU’s Research and Enterprise Hub on Information Technology and the Digital Society, with the responsibility of coordinating multi-disciplinary ICT-related research across the university. The focus of Noel’s research is in multi-modal content analysis for applications in security/safety, autonomous vehicles, medical imaging, ambient assisted living, multimedia content-based retrieval, and environmental monitoring. Since 1999 he has published over 400 peer-reviewed publications, made 11 standards submissions, and filed 6 patents. His commercial experience includes a successful spin-out company and mentorship of two others. He is an Area Editor for both Signal Processing: Image Communication (Elsevier) and ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications and has acted as General Chair and Programme Chair for a number of high ranking conferences. Noel collaborates widely with international researchers in Uni. of California, Irvine, Arizona State University, Uni. of Oldenburg, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Uni. of New England (Australia), among others.

Mario Montagud Climent

i2CAT Foundation & University of Valencia

Title of Keynote

Toward cost-efficient, high-quality and scalable holographic communications in eXtended Reality (XR) scenarios: technology and use cases

Summary of Keynote

Immersive technologies span beyond entertainment and rich media consumption, having become a powerful social interaction, collaboration and communication medium. In this context, Social Virtual / eXtended Reality (XR / VR) has emerged as a promising social interaction, communication, and collaboration medium, attracting the attention of both the research community and industry alike.

The potential of Social VR / XR is remarkably magnified when integrating volumetric video technologies to represent real-time 3D captures of the remote users and the shared environment in which they are jointly teleported, and even further when strategically connecting the real and virtual worlds in symmetric or asymmetric settings.

Despite the undoubtful positive impact, key challenges still need to be addressed to enable a widespread deployment and adoption of such disruptive technologies. On the one hand, this talk will provide an overview of latest technological advances - and remaining challenges - in the fields of media processing, delivery and networking aspects to enable next-generation ubiquitous, scalable, interoperable, and cost-efficient holographic communication services. On the other hand, the talk will share visual evidence of diverse applicability use cases, and anticipate futuristic scenarios to evoke identification of new research challenges, opportunities and potential collaborations.

Biography

Mario Montagud Climent was born in Montitxelvo (Spain). He received a BsC in Telecommunications Engineering in 2011, an MsC degree in “Telecommunication Technologies, Systems and Networks” in 2012 and a PhD degree in Telecommunications (Cum Laude Distinction) in 2015, all of them at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV, Spain). He has experience as a postdoc researcher at UPV, CWI (The National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science in the Netherlands), i2CAT Foundation (Barcelona, Spain) and at University of Valencia (UV, Spain). He is currently a Consolidated Research Scientist at UV and i2CAT Foundation.

His topics of interest include Computer Networks, Interactive and Immersive Media, Media Synchronization and QoE (Quality of Experience). Dr. Montagud is (co-)author of over 100 scientific and teaching publications, has contributed to standardization, and to technology transfer to industry. He has been and is currently member of the Organization and Technical Committee of many international conferences, and of the Editorial Board of internationally recognized journals. He has been and is currently involved in diverse regional, national and European projects (e.g., 6G-XR, PRESENCE, HEAT), with leading roles in many of them.

Ioana Ghergulescu

Adaptemy

Title of Keynote

Bridging AI, Networking and Education

Summary of Keynote

The convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Networking, and Education is driven by the vision of enabling personalized, adaptive, and optimized learning anytime, anywhere. By integrating AI-driven networking technologies with intelligent education systems, the goal is to create highly efficient and effective learning experiences tailored to individual needs.

At the core of this transformation are user profiles and adaptive learning models, which power AI engines to recommend personalized content and optimize learning pathways for each student. These AI-driven systems ensure that learning experiences are dynamic, engaging, and continuously refined based on real-time data.

Building a hyper-connected, intelligent, and student-centric ecosystem presents both challenges and opportunities at the intersection of AI, networking, and education. The talk will cover challenges and research opportunities, as well as the operational implementation of AI in products, focusing on key aspects such as system accuracy, scalability for large user bases, low-latency AI recommendations, and real-time monitoring of learning effectiveness. The talk will also delve into cutting-edge use cases, including digital twin classrooms for AI simulation and optimisation, generative AI in Education for content creation and virtual tutors, AI-powered Virtual Labs and holograms in modern education, for enabling immersive, interactive learning experiences.

Biography

Dr. Ioana Ghergulescu is a leading researcher in technology-enhanced learning, specializing in AI-based adaptive learning systems. Her work focuses on developing personalized learning experiences using AI to optimize educational outcomes and also extends into Generative AI in Education, exploring how these models can enhance adaptive learning. She holds a PhD in computer science from the National College of Ireland and is currently Head of Research and Adaptive Learning at Adaptemy, where she leads a team responsible for the key analytics and algorithms powering their technology and manages research collaborations with universities, driving AI innovation in personalized education.

Dr. Ioana Ghergulescu has contributed to large-scale projects such as Horizon 2020 NEWTON, as well as the ongoing HECOF and HEAT projects. She has authored numerous papers on game-based learning, quality of experience, student engagement, adaptive learning and AI-driven educational improvements.

Samina Husain, SMIEEE

Secretary General, Ecma International

Title of Keynote

Perspectives

Abstract

The broadcast industry continues to be a dynamic and rewarding field, one that is increasingly global, digitally driven, and rich in opportunity. Now is an exciting time to help shape the future of media. This keynote will reflect on the insights, innovations, and evolving trends that have shaped our discussions. And offers a forward-looking perspective on opportunities ahead for the broadcast industry.

Biography

Samina Husain serves as Secretary General of Ecma International and holds multiple key leadership positions, including President of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) and Co-Chair of both the Future Technology Forum and the WF-PST Conference Committee. She is also a member of the IEEE TAB Strategic Planning Committee (TAB-SPC) and IEEE-HKN.

Huan X. Nguyen

Middlesex University London

Title of Keynote

Digital Twin for 6G Networks: Enabling Open RAN and Smart IIoT Applications

Summary of Keynote

As beyond 5G and 6G networks evolve to support next-generation applications, the integration of Digital Twin (DT) technology is set to revolutionise network automation, intelligence, and efficiency. This talk first reviews the fundamental aspects of DTs and explores how DTs potentially enable Open Radio Access Networks (O-RAN) by providing a virtual replica of network components, facilitating real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, and autonomous optimisation.

We will then discuss various related use cases, including smart industrial IoT (IIoT) applications such as smart factories, precision agriculture, and structural health monitoring, where DTs enhance operational efficiency, resilience, and sustainability. Additionally, we will examine how Artificial Intelligent can support the development of DTs in these use cases. Through real-world examples and research insights, this talk highlights the transformative role of DTs in enabling 6G networks and bringing intelligent connectivity to the wider society.

Biography

Huan X. Nguyen received the Ph.D. degree from the University of New South Wales, Australia, in 2007. He is currently a Professor of Digital Communication Engineering at Middlesex University London (U.K.), where he is also the Director of the London Digital Twin Research Centre (https://dt.mdx.ac.uk) and Head of the 5G/6G & IoT Research Group.

He leads research activities in digital twin modelling, 5G/6G systems, machine-type communication, digital transformation and machine learning within his university with focus on industry 4.0 and critical applications (crisis and resilience, disasters, intelligent transportation, structural heath monitoring and healthcare).

He has secured and been leading 20 major funded projects (worth more than £6million), publishing 150+ peer-reviewed research papers, and serving as chairs for international conferences. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Senior Fellow of the HEA.