AI Research Resource: Second Call for Pioneer Projects

Second Call for Pioneer Projects

Building on the success of our first cohort of 44 pioneer projects, Research Computing Services, the Cambridge Centre for Data Driven Discovery (C2D3) and ai@cam are launching a second call for researchers to access Dawn, Cambridge’s new high-performance AI computing system. This round specifically targets projects focused on delivering public benefit in health and public services. We’re inviting applications from researchers working on clinical applications of AI, members of our AI-deas challenges, and public sector use cases.

Dawn, developed through a partnership between the University of Cambridge, the UK Government, UKRI, Dell, Intel, and StackHPC, represents a significant advancement in the UK’s AI computing capabilities. The system has already demonstrated its value in accelerating AI research across various scientific domains through our first cohort of HPC Pioneer Projects. We’re now looking to expand its impact by supporting projects that can directly benefit society through healthcare innovation, public service transformation, and applications of AI to real-world challenges.

Successful projects will receive access to Dawn at no cost and support using the new system, including dedicated support from our Research Software Engineering team and the Accelerate Science Machine Learning Engineering Clinic. In return, we ask for your input in helping develop the interfaces between Dawn and the AI community. Lessons from your experiences with Dawn will help design support services built around this new compute facility.

This second round of pioneer projects will focus on supporting innovations where there is clear potential for societal impact. It specifically welcomes applications from:

• Clinical researchers working on AI applications in healthcare.
• Members of the challenge teams convened via our AI-deas initiatives.
• Public sector practitioners and researchers applying AI to improve government services, policy development, and public administration.