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Prof. Lourdes Agapito

Sussex AI,ESRC Centre for Digital Futures at Work (Digit) and ESRC Business and Local Government Data Research Centre co-hosted Margaret Boden Annual Lecture in Interdisciplinary AI on 29th April 2026.

Prof. Margaret (Maggie) Boden was a pioneering figure in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, whose work bridged philosophy, psychology, and computer science. A long-standing member of theUniversity of Sussex, she played a central role in founding its influential Cognitive Studies programme and shaping interdisciplinary research in AI and creativity. At Sussex, Maggie’s visionary interdisciplinary thinking flourished, and she taught and inspired generations of students, remaining Research Professor of Cognitive Science at Sussex well into her later years. A pioneering woman in her field and in academia, she was a lifelong champion for, and inspiration to, her fellow female academics. She has passed away in July 2025, at the age of 88.

The audience had the opportunity to learn about Maggie’s work and life from Prof.Ron Chrisley, who was her colleague.

We were honoured to have Prof.Lourdes Agapitoas our plenary speaker with the lecture: “Learning to See the 3D World”. Lourdes holds the position of Professor of 3D Vision at the Department of Computer Science, University College London (UCL) where she heads the Vision and Imaging Science Group. Lourdes is also co-founder of London-based startup Synthesia, the world’s largest AI video generation platform for business, currently valued at $4B. Synthesia's text-to-video technology allows users to create professional videos directly on the browser, removing the physical constraints of conventional production.

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