Essex professor is keynote speaker at global AI summit

Head of the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, Professor Reinhold Scherer will be a keynote speaker at the AI for Good Global Summit in Switzerland.

AI for Good is the United Nations’ leading platform on Artificial Intelligence to solve global challenges and the aim of the Global Summit is to identify innovative AI applications, build skills and standards, and advance partnerships to solve global challenges.

The four-day event in Geneva is organized by ITU in partnership with over 40 UN Sister Agencies and is co-convened with the Government of Switzerland.

Professor Scherer’s keynote speech on the Frontier Stage is titled ‘Mind over machine: When AI listens to your thoughts’ and will look at how AI and brain-computer science are transforming lives and their potential for the future.

Professor Scherer said: “Sending a message, speaking aloud, playing a game, or moving a prosthetic just by thinking. What once sounded like science fiction is now becoming reality, thanks to brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). These groundbreaking systems decode brain activity and, with the help of artificial intelligence, translate intentions into real-time actions. This creates a seamless connection between mind and machine.

“In this talk, we’ll explore how BCIs are transforming lives. From empowering people with disabilities to regain control, to enhancing how we learn, communicate, and even experience emotions, BCIs are reshaping what it means to interact with technology. BCIs are about connections as much as they are about control. Some systems can send signals back directly to the brain, opening new doors to boost cognition, regulate emotion, and reshape perception.

“We will dive into the fascinating world of neurotechnology, where the boundaries between intention and action, and between human and machine, are rapidly disappearing. The future is being written by our minds.”

Professor Scherer is an expert in Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) and Neural Engineering (NE) in the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering at Essex and co-director of the Essex BCI-NE laboratory.

His primary research interests are in the areas of online brain-machine co-adaptation, statistical and adaptive signal processing, mobile brain and body imaging, and rehabilitation. Active research topics focus on gaining deeper insights into brain dynamics and mechanisms underlying motor and cognitive learning, with the goal of improving the interpretability of brain rhythms and thereby optimizing the performance of spontaneous EEG-based BCI interaction and rehabilitation protocols.

The University of Essex is recognised as an established pioneer in AI and BCI and is one of the leading universities for computer science research, ranked 6th in the UK by Times Higher Education for research power. The Research Excellence Framework 2021 rated 100% of Essex's research impact in computer science as world-leading or internationally excellent with the 9th highest rating in the UK for research impact.