Research Seminars

April 25. 

B313 

1:00 - 2:30 pm

Philipp Koch, Researcher, EcoAustria - Institute for Economic Research, Vienna, Austria

Title:   From better understanding economic history through machine learning to shedding light on emissions and value-added in global value chains

Abstract: Quadrupling historical GDP per capita estimates through machine learning. Can we use data on the biographies of hundreds of thousands of historical figures to estimate the GDP per capita of countries and regions? Here we introduce a machine learning method to estimate the GDP per capita of dozens of countries and hundreds of regions in Europe and North America for the past 700 years starting from data on the places of birth, death, and occupations of hundreds of thousands of historical figures. We build an elastic net regression model to perform feature selection and generate out-of-sample estimates that explain 85% of the variance in known historical GDPs per capita. We use this model to generate GDP per capita estimates for countries, regions, and time periods for which this data is not available and validate them by comparing them with three proxies of economic output: body height in the 18th century, wellbeing in 1850, and church building activity in the 14th and 15th century. Additionally, we show our estimates reproduce the well-known reversal of fortune between southwestern and northwestern Europe between 1300 and 1800. These findings validate the use of fine-grained biographical data as a method to produce historical GDP per capita estimates. We publish our estimates with appropriate confidence intervals together with all collected source data in a comprehensive dataset.

 

March 20 

B311 

1:00 - 2:30 pm

István Herbály, CEO, Contrall Ltd.

Title:   Artificial Intelligence: basics of the technology and current issues

Issues: 
Artificial or "prothetic" intelligence?
Text or content generation?
What makes deep learning?
Will it become self-aware?
Will it take everyone's job?
How will it make money?
Repetition or independent creation?
Revolutionary solution or balloon?
 

These are just some of the questions about Artificial Intelligence that many of us ask ourselves when we read or hear something about this technology almost every day. The aim of the workshop is to build a common knowledge base, followed by a joint discussion of questions like the above.

February 22 

B323/1 

1:00 - 2:30 pm

Rita Fekete, research-support librarian, University of Pécs, Library and Knowledge Centre

Title:    Responses to the challenges of a research career: focus on researcher visibility

Abstract:
With the pressure on academics to publish, a perhaps less familiar competitive situation has emerged in academia. In the pursuit of results, it is easy to find ourselves in a maze, where it becomes increasingly difficult to navigate the administrative obligations that pile up. In my presentation, I focused on the reasons for scientific visibility: why is international visibility important, why has it come to the fore and what benefits can we expect from it? My aim is to present the databases and tools available to us to achieve the highest visibility.
Issues: Why has scientific visibility become a priority?
What are the benefits for the publishing researcher?
What is the difference between bibliographic databases and community science platforms?
When and why should they be used?
How can I manage my author profiles?
Introduction and possibilities of Scopus and Web of Science.
Introduction and possibilities of Researchgate and Academia.edu
A good practice from Utrecht University: Research Visibility Check
What can the library help you with: what services do we have, who can you contact and for what?