Dr Samara Banno

Professional biography

Samara's research journey began with a contributions to educational psychology, where she developed intelligent tutoring systems capable of predicting student performance accurately and effectively. This work contributes to human behaviour and cognition.

Then she was awarded a Daphne Jackson Trust Fellowship in partnership with the Medical Research Council. Her work focuses on projects aimed at predicting the early signs of Dementia condition before the onset of mild symptoms. Leveraging her expertise in intelligent modelling, which includes machine learning, deep learning, and other Artificial  Intelligent (AI) techniques, Samara analysed extensive datasets characterised by complex dimensions.

Her research encompassed a wide range of data, including those with multiple time scales, cognitive observation, spatial navigation skills extracted from mobile games, and data specific to individuals with Down syndrome.

Furthermore, she worked  on a Horizon project in collaboration with the Open University and Faculity  of Arts and Social  Science, focusing on the analysis of individual psychology and the prediction of future violent behaviour using intelligent modelling and AI. Her aims to decipher the unseen dimensions of human behaviour, offering insights that have the potential to inform proactive interventions and shape policies aimed at promoting community safety and well-being.

In addition to her academic research, Samara has made significant contributions to the ethical and responsible use of AI. She has actively engaged in activities aimed at promoting transparency and accountability in AI systems. Notably, Samara is a prominent member of the steering group of the Women Leading in AI network, an influential platform dedicated to detecting and fighting negative bias and discriminatory automated decisions. She also contributed to UNESCO reports and British Computer Society (BCS) activities.

Samara also has an extensive teaching /lecturing activities. She designs and teaches moules related to deep learning and AI, application of machine learning, Data analyses, also programming languages with R and Python for both postgraduate and undergraduate cohort. She is a fellow of the Advanced Higher Education Academy fellowship . She contributes and a various range of M.Sc. and B.Sc. dissertations projects with the school of computing and mathematical science and Psychological science students.