Data Science and AI Institute @ Lancaster

We aim to set the global standard for a truly interdisciplinary approach to contemporary data-driven research challenges. The Data Science and AI Institute @ Lancaster (DSAIL) has over 350 members and has raised £56 million in research grants.

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Data Science and AI @ Lancaster (DSAIL)

The Data Science Institute is preparing for an important next step. From January 2026, we will be updating our name to Data Science and AI @ Lancaster (DSAIL), reflecting more clearly the Institute’s growing role as a focal point for artificial intelligence research, education and engagement across the University and beyond. You will see this new identity rolling out across our communications, events and online presence in the new year, but the core mission remains the same: to support and connect Lancaster’s data science and AI community.

Data Science and AI at Lancaster builds on the University’s longstanding strengths in computational and data-driven research. This environment is enriched by a broad interdisciplinary community of researchers working across fields including environmental science, health and medicine, sociology and the creative arts. Through the Data Science and AI Institute @ Lancaster (DSAIL), Lancaster is creating a world-class institute that sets the global standard for a genuinely interdisciplinary approach to contemporary data-driven research challenges. The Institute focuses on the foundations of data science and artificial intelligence, alongside a number of cross-cutting thematic areas.

DSAIL@Lancaster aims to be internationally recognised for its distinctive end-to-end interdisciplinary research capability — spanning infrastructure and fundamentals, globally relevant application domains, and the social, legal and ethical questions raised by data science and AI. By connecting expertise across disciplines, the Institute provides a focal point for research, education and engagement in data science and artificial intelligence across the University and beyond.

We are working to create a world-class Data Science and AI @ Lancaster Institute (DSAIL) that sets the global standard for a truly interdisciplinary approach to contemporary data-driven research challenges. DSAIL aims to have an internationally recognised and distinctive strength in being able to provide an end-to-end interdisciplinary research capability - from infrastructure and fundamentals through to globally relevant problem domains and the social, legal and ethical issues raised by the use of Data Science.

The Institute is initially focusing on the fundamentals of Data Science and AI including security and privacy together with cross-cutting theme areas consisting of environment, resilience and sustainability; health and ageing, data and society and creating a world-leading institute with over 350 affiliated academics, researchers, and students.

Our data science, AI, health data science and business analytics programmes have launched the careers of hundreds of data professionals over the last 10 years. Students from our programmes have progressed to data science roles at Amazon, PWC, Ernst & Young, Hawaiian Airlines, eBay, Zurich Insurance, the Co-operative Group, N Brown, the NHS and many others - please look at our Education pages for further details of the courses on offer.

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Data Dialogues - 2026

Data Dialogues is an informal, discussion-driven event where members of the DSAIL and the broader university community share insights into their work, spark interdisciplinary conversations and explore potential collaborations. The focus is on interactive engagement rather than formal presentations—so no slides (or just a few, if needed)! Instead, the idea is to introduce your work in an accessible way, followed by an open discussion and Q&A with attendees.

Get fresh perspectives and think about new ways of approaching your own research, meet new people and explore potential research collaborations. Come be part of the DSAIL community!

6th May - George Brown (Forensic Linguistics) - The Uses and Abuses of Synthetic Voice Data

20th May - Dr Nithin Sivadas - NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre and Catholic University of America - Regression to the Mean: A Fundamental Property of the Relation between Truth and Measurement

3rd June - Ellie Ball (PhD Student - Psychology) - QR Code Security: Ignorance is Bliss

17th June - Lena Podoletz (Security Protection Science) - tbc

Let us have your suggestions for speakers for the summer term :) - dsail@lancaster.ac.uk

Events

GenAI and Agentic AI: The Future of Work - 13th May at 12.00

Jon Lester, the Vice President of HR Technology, Data and AI at IBM will deliver a public lecture to staff and students - all welcome to attend.

GenAI and Agentic AI: The Future of Work

Wednesday 13th May in the Management School LT2 – 12.00 – 14.00

Please see the advert image with a QR code to register for the talk.

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Welcome to the annual FACTOR Summer School, running 0930-1445 on both Thu 11th and Fri 12th June 2026.

Language, Speech, and AI: An Online Forensics Summer School

So, you know how you've been thinking over and over, "God I wish I could just spend two days immersed in nothing but language, crime, and artificial intelligence”…? Lucky for you, we have exactly what you've been looking for: tickets for our 2026 Forensic Linguistics and Speech Science Summer School have just gone on sale. What are the odds??

Better yet, this year we're going global by running it all online. And as if that wasn't enough, you will be pleased to know that we won't be trying to wedge eighteen hours of content into eight hour days.

We assume no prior knowledge, start and finish at commitment-friendly hours, work at a gentle pace, and provide lots of opportunities for interaction, Q&A, coffee breaks, and checking your phone. But what will we actually do?

This year’s particular theme will be protection, privacy, and proactive synthesis.

In different words, we’re looking at questions like: is it possible to protect our voices from malicious actors who might want to clone us whilst still being recognisable to people around us? And further along the scale, can AI keep our identities fully withheld in sensitive contexts such as when we’re giving anonymous tip-offs, providing evidence in risky criminal proceedings, or even working undercover? And how much of our linguistic output do we need to think about when attempting this? We’ll start the summer school with interactive experiments and bring you back the results by the end. What will those experiments be? Well, you’ll have to attend to find out more.

Note that if you attended the in-person event in 2025, to keep it inclusive and accessible, we recap some of the same basic concepts, but then we move into new territory.

More information:

Book your place:

Note that last year, tickets sold out a few weeks before the event. (We knew it was going to be big but even we were surprised at how fast they disappeared.) All that to say, if you’ve been waiting for some sort of cosmic Bat Signal, here it is.

Research Themes

Data Science at Lancaster was founded in 2015 on Lancaster’s historic research strengths in Computer Science, Statistics and Operational Research. The environment is further enriched by a broad community of data-driven researchers in a variety of other disciplines including the environmental sciences, health and medicine, sociology and the creative arts.

  • Creativity

    The Creativity theme researches how generative AI is transforming creative processes and reshaping notions of authorship and ownership, while also working to enable transdisciplinary inquiry through the use of creative methods to push the boundaries of data science and AI research.

  • Environment

    The Environment theme aims to develop new understanding and innovative solutions to the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, which are inextricably linked. This time-critical mission requires close cross-disciplinary collaboration between ecologists, environmental scientists, computer sciences, statisticians, social scientists, and many others.

  • Foundations

    The Foundations theme covers the three main areas of data science, operational research, computer science and statistics. It blends the skills of researchers in these areas, to address challenges arising from industry and research.

  • Health

    The Health theme covers several areas of health, data science and AI from across the university, including biomedical, digital health technologies, health economics, medical imaging and health-related security, among many other areas.

  • Integrity

    The Integrity theme explores how societies can build trust, transparency, justice, fairness, accountability, and resilience in an era where AI and data-driven technologies evolve faster than the ethical processes, governance structures, and safeguarding interventions meant to oversee them.

Upcoming Events

24th Apr

Mathematics colloquium: Eduard Campillo-Funollet

Friday 24 April 2026, 12:00pm to 1:00pm
30th Apr

Q-Day: Quantum security apocalypse or crypto meltdown that won't happen?

Thursday 30 April 2026, 11:00am to 12:20pm
6th May

Data Dialogues: George Brown (Forensic Linguistics) - The Uses and Abuses of Synthetic Voice Data

Wednesday 6 May 2026, 12:00pm to 1:00pm
20th May

Data Dialogues: Dr Nithin Sivadas - NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre and Catholic University of America

Wednesday 20 May 2026, 12:00pm to 1:00pm
3rd Jun

Data Dialogues: - Ellie Ball (PhD Student - Psychology) - QR Code Security: Ignorance is Bliss

Wednesday 3 June 2026, 12:00pm to 1:00pm

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