AI for Sustainable Management of Marine Ecosystems

Purpose and goal:

The goal of the exchange project was to establish contacts between SLU and Mila (Montreal) regarding the use of Artificiell Intelligens for research and management on marine ecosystems. During the project, a complementary collaboration emerged: between SLU and McGill University (also in Montreal). In connection with this exchange project now formally coming to an end, the collaboration between SLU and McGill is being deepened through planned fieldwork with an autonomous sailing drone in Arctic Canada starting in June 2024 and a joint doctoral student starting in September 2024.

Expected results and effects:

The expected results of the project were to establish contacts and initiate new research projects. Mila in Montreal has participated actively above all in the role of advisor to SLU regarding AI algorithms with relevance for ecosystem monitoring and ecosystem research. The development work itself has taken place at SLU.

The collaboration with McGill will lead to new knowledge and method development that we did not foresee when the project was planned. The new AI-supported data collection in the Arctic can lead to completely new scientific insights. Approach and implementation:

All project contain a measure of surprise, especially when it comes to project at the forefront of science and technology. By being in the right place at the right time, and meeting the right people, unexpected new project can arise. This has been the case with this project, where visits to Montreal contributed in a very concrete way to new ideas as well as practical planning of new studies and technical applications in a very important area: how AI can contribute to sustainable development in the Arctic.