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18 October, 2024 – Call for Papers: Large language models and Generative AI workshop

Call for Papers for the 2nd Budapest Methods Workshop on Large Language Models and Generative AI: Social Science Applications and Legal Aspects Workshop Dates: November 21-22, 2024Venue: Centre for Social Sciences, 4 Tóth Kálmán utca, Budapest, H-1097Organizers: poltextLAB (HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences, Budapest)Organizing Committee: Rebeka Kiss, Kitti Mezei, Orsolya Ring, Miklós Sebők, István Üveges On behalf of the poltextLAB research laboratory at the HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences, we cordially invite you to submit proposals for a two-day interdisciplinary workshop titled “Large Language Models and Generative AI: Social Science Applications and Legal Aspects.” This workshop will focus on applying open large language models (LLMs), such as BERT, and open generative AI solutions, such as Llama, to social research. While our primary interest lies in discussing results from open models, we also welcome submissions that evaluate the performance of open LLMs compared to proprietary models, such as GPT-4, across various research tasks. Building on the success of our previous event that examined data-driven approaches to policy frame analysis and the role of LLMs in comparative research, this workshop aims to explore how LLMs and generative AI can be leveraged to analyze and interpret social research data (with a focus on qualitative data sources). Furthermore, we will address the legal and ethical implications of deploying LLMs and generative AI in social science research. We are particularly interested in papers addressing the following issues: Optimal Utilization of Existing LLMs: Papers showcasing the effective use of current open LLMs in research, particularly in classification tasks. Discussions on the benefits, challenges, and limitations of these models in social science research are highly encouraged. Advancements in LLMs for Social Science: Submissions highlighting new technical developments in LLMs relevant to social science research, including innovative methods for synthetic data generation, model pre-training, fine-tuning, or evaluation. Comparing Open vs. Proprietary Models: Papers that compare the performance of open fine-tuned LLMs and proprietary models (such as GPT-4) in research, with particular emphasis on issues related to validation, replicability, and transparency. Original Language, Translated, and Multilingual Applications: Research exploring using LLMs for social science tasks across different languages—whether through original, translated, or multilingual data. LLMs and Policy Frame Analysis: Investigations into how LLMs can analyze and interpret policy frames, identifying and assessing policy narratives, biases, and frames within media, institutional (legislative and executive), and other political communications. Legal and Ethical Considerations of Applying Open Large Language Models and Generative AI: We invite non-technical papers on the legal and ethical dimensions of applying open LLMs and generative AI for policy analysis. Topics may include concerns regarding data privacy, algorithmic bias, transparency, accountability, and responsible AI usage in social research. Submission details: We welcome proposals for presentations and data/model presentations related to the above topics. Submissions should include: Title and Abstract: A brief description of the proposed presentation, including its relevance to the workshop themes (max 300 words). Presenter Information: Name, affiliation, and contact details of the main presenter and any co-authors. Submission deadline: October 31st, 2024 How to Apply: Please submit your proposal using the following submission form. If you have any questions or need additional information, contact us at workshop@poltextlab.com. Presentation details: Presentation Format: Each accepted proposal will be allocated a 12-minute presentation slot, followed by a Q&A session. Audience: The workshop targets all career levels. Travel funds: We have limited travel funds available, especially for early career researchers, legal and ethics experts in the field of LLMs, and scholars working with Central or Eastern European data.  Call for Papers PDF Sponsors

17 October 2024 – The Narratives of the War in Ukraine in Czech News Media

On October 17, 2024, Jakub Stauber, guest speaker of the VSHIFT Momentum project at poltextLAB, gave a lecture at the HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences Institute for Political Science titled The Narratives of the War in Ukraine in Czech News Media. Jakub Stauber is assistant professor at the Institute of Political Science of Charles University in Prague. The guest lecture focused on the application of supervised machine-learning methods to detect the presence of Russian and Western narratives about the war in Ukraine. Based on a unique corpus of Czech main news media outlets, the presented analysis  demonstrated the capabilities and possible limitations of the newly fine-tuned deBERTa model.

15 October, 2024 – GenAI course at HUN-REN by Miklós Sebők and Rebeka Kiss

On 15 October 2024, Miklós Sebők and Rebeka Kiss held a course on the use of generative AI in research to 50+ researchers at HUN-REN. The course focused on the increasing significance of generative AI tools in academic research.The full-day training was structured in three key parts. The first section introduced participants to the conceptual foundations of generative AI. The second section explored practical applications in research, such as prompt engineering, selecting appropriate AI models for different research tasks, and assessing the cost of different AI tools. In the third section, the course covered essential ethical and legal considerations, such as data management, how to properly cite the use of these tools, and how to comply with the requirements of academic journals.Participants were encouraged to submit their own research questions and data in advance, for which they received tailored solutions using generative AI during the course. The course syllabus is available here: https://poltextlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/GenAI_tematika.pdf. The event was supported by the European Union within the framework of the RRF-2.3.1-21-2022-00004 Artificial Intelligence National Laboratory Program and the HUN-REN Hungarian Research Network.

15 October, 2024 – poltextLAB Co-Hosted Beyond Compliance 2024 Forum on Digital Ethics in Research

On 14-15 October 2024, poltextLAB, in collaboration with ERCIM (European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics) co-hosted the Beyond Compliance 2024 Forum on Digital Ethics in Research. The event, held in Budapest gathered leading experts to discuss the ethical challenges that researchers face in the digital era, with a strong focus on research integrity beyond regulatory frameworks. This year’s program featured a diverse lineup of keynotes, interactive sessions, and panel discussions addressing a wide range of pressing topics. More details about the programme are available at: https://www.ercim.eu/beyond-compliance.

15 October, 2024 – Miklós Sebők among NRDI Science Patronage programme winners

Miklós Sebők has been among the award winners of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office’s Science Patronage Programme. The main objective of the Science Patronage call, funded by the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund, is to promote the internationalisation of the Hungarian scientific research community and to support the development of open science in Hungary. Sebők has received 6 223 000 HUF to organize an international conference in Hungary. Read more about the Science Patronage call (in Hungarian): https://nkfih.gov.hu/palyazoknak/nkfi-alap/tamogatott-projektek-mec24. 

8 October, 2024 – Introduction to prompt ENGINEERING course at the HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences

On 8 October 2024, Miklós Sebők and Rebeka Kiss held a course on the use of generative AI in research to 30+ researchers at the HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences. In the rapidly developing field of artificial intelligence, generative AI tools show enormous potential and have a fundamental impact on scientific work: they can be used to search for content, write or rewrite text, and even analyse simple data. During the 90-minute course entitled “Introduction to prompt engineering”, we presented the basics of prompt engineering in an interactive format, shared tips on how to write effective prompts and avoid common mistakes, focusing specifically on the needs of researchers.  The training was part of the HUN-REN AI 4 science education programme. More details about the programme are available at https://hun-ren.hu/ai-4-science-oktatas-es-inspiracio. 

7 October 2024 – Ákos Holányi delivers guest lecture on the changing perception of foreign powers in CE at Charles University in Prague

On 7 October 2024, Ákos Holányi was guest speaker at the Small (nation-)states research centre at the Institute of International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University in Prague. In his lecture, he introduced the Babel Machine and presented the results of the first year of poltextLAB’s flagship research endeavour, the Momentum V-SHIFT project. He showed how the saliency of and sentiment towards great powers and European powers have changed over thirty years in the Croatian, Czech, and Hungarian parliaments.

4 October 2024 – Ákos Holányi presents on the changing perception of great powers in CEE at the 28th Annual CEPSA Conference

On the second day of the 28th Annual Conference of Central European Political Science Association (CEPSA) in Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania, Ákos Holányi participated in the Parliamentarism and national bargaining in the EU panel with research from poltextLAB’s Momentum V-SHIFT project. In his presentation entitled “Drifting towards the East? Sentiment towards great powers in Central-Eastern European parliaments”, he discussed how the salience of and sentiment towards China, Russia, and the United States changed over thirty years in Croatian, Czech, and Hungarian parliaments. The program of the conference is available here: https://www.cepsanet.org/uploads/1/2/2/4/122417138/cepsa-program-2024.pdf

3 October 2024 – Ákos Holányi presents on the media depiction of the Russia-Ukraine War at the 28th Annual CEPSA Conference

On the first day of the 28th Annual Conference of Central European Political Science Association (CEPSA) in Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania, Ákos Holányi participated in the The Russian war in Ukraine panel with research from poltextLAB’s V4 Media Slant project. In his presentation entitled “The Depiction of the War in Ukraine” in Central European media, he showed preliminary results about how the topics and emotional content of Czech and Hungarian media coverage of the Russia-Ukraine War changed in the first two years of the invasion. The program of the conference is available here: https://www.cepsanet.org/uploads/1/2/2/4/122417138/cepsa-program-2024.pdf.