News with the tag UGR

IT'S OFFICIAL, WE'RE OFF AND RUNNING! On 1 February 2021 we officially launched POSTCOVID-AI, a project that aims to develop a novel intelligent platform for the real-time acquisition and analysis of social, behavioural and emotional data, thanks to which it will be possible to measure the impact of COVID-19 on the well-being of the Spanish population.  

The philosophy of the project is based on the combination of mobile data with artificial intelligence techniques to generate new knowledge about how the pandemic has changed our routines, social relations or emotions, and what has been, is and will be its effect on our well-being. More specifically, POSTCOVID-AI will register ubiquitous, continuous and anonymised data across each segment of the population, using smartphones. The information collected relates to demographic characteristics, COVID-19-related issues, as well as emotional, social, behavioural and wellbeing-related data. The data will be analysed using artificial intelligence to detect and predict relevant patterns.

POSTCOVID-AI is an eminently multidisciplinary project born from the collaboration of two research groups at the University of Granada. On the one hand, the technical and methodological knowledge, mainly focused on the design and development of monitoring applications, big data analysis, and the application of artificial intelligence techniques, all provided by the CITIC-UGR engineering group. On the other hand, the conceptual and theoretical basis on affect and well-being, among others, provided by the group of psychologists from CIMCYC-UGR. 

Particularly noteworthy and relevant is the collaboration proposed within this project with institutions and organisations directly and indirectly involved in the management of the pandemic and its consequences (stakeholders). POSTCOVID-AI has a social responsibility and duty, and as such, we consider pivotal the participation of stakeholders in the co-analysis of the new knowledge generated through the platform, its interpretation, and especially its use to improve the decision-making capacity and the effectiveness of the measures adopted at any given moment.

Finally, we would like to address the person reading this text. We would like to address you. You, the general public, are undoubtedly the core element of this project. We are aware that the last few months have not been easy, certainly not for anyone. We are aware of how it has changed your lives. We are aware that the new reality will probably be different from our previous way of life, but do we really know the real impact it has had, has and will have? POSTCOVID-AI aims to help respond this question, and only you have the answer. We are listening.  

JOIN US, LET'S GET STARTED!

The ideation of POSTCOVID-AI would not have been possible without the experience we gained in a previous citizen science project: CovidAffect. This project was launched during the initial phase of the lockdown in our country (March 2020). The main objective was to collect and make publicly available data on the evolution of the Spanish population's state of mind during the coronavirus health crisis. These data would allow the creation of a "map" of the mood of the population, marginalised across provinces, which could be used by administrations and institutions in the management of the pandemic.

The results of CovidAffect were published, academic wise, in the prestigious journal Scientific Data of the Nature Group. At the dissemination level, an article was also published in the online platform The Conversation, where we were able to synthesise the most salient elements resulting from this experience. 

For our team, CovidAffect has been a turning point in the way we do research. The project was carried out thanks to the selfless efforts of several scientists and especially to the invaluable contribution of hundreds of anonymous people from all over the country who contributed to the sampling of their mood over several months. All the lessons learnt in this project provide an excellent knowledge base to undertake POSTCOVID-AI, aiming for more ambitious and conclusive goals.