Data Analytics & Privacy Lab

Partners:

  • University of Science, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNUHCM-US)

  • Dublin City University (DCU)

PIs: Assoc. Prof. Cathal Gurrin (DCU) and Assoc. Prof. Minh-Triet TRAN (VNUHCM-US)

Duration: January 2020 – January 2022

Total grant amount: 43 000 €

Objectives:

  1. To set-up a joint research lab to explore and develop state-of-the-art approaches to digital privacy for personal data based on applying AI and deep learning, accompanied by joint academic papers at high-quality international venues and open-source privacy-preserving tools.

  2. To build research capacity at both locations by supporting practical collaboration and enhancements to knowledge and expertise.

  3. Take a leadership role in the global data analytics for privacy field by defining the research challenges and hosting international benchmarking efforts and events.

  4. To formalise a PhD co-supervision arrangement between DCU and HCMUS

  5. To co-organise (Tran & Gurrin) one major (250+ attendees) international conference in Vietnam (MMM2022) at the end of the project.

  6. To organise for one new joint MSc or BSc programme between both institutions.

  7. Grow the collaboration to become sustainable after VIBE and to include new partners and researchers besides those mentioned in this proposal.

  8. To inform the public about digital privacy, via the project website.

Achievement of project outcomes

We can report that many of our objectives are being addressed and often met by the project notwithstanding the limited mobilities that we have taken place. The commitment of both parties to this VIBE award has meant that through remote and virtual means, much has been achieved.

  • The two research groups in DCU (Ireland) and HCMUS (Vietnam) collaborated efficiently in the last two years to establish a joint research environment to explore and develop state-of-the-art approaches to digital privacy for personal data based on applying AI and deep learning. 11 joint academic papers have been published at high-quality international conferences, such as ICMR, MMM, SoMeT, ImageCLEF. While we have not physically implemented a joint lab, this is planned for 2022 and beyond. This is related to Objective 1.

  • The two research groups in DCU (Ireland) and HCMUS (Vietnam) collaborated efficiently in the last two years to establish a joint research environment to explore and develop state-of-the-art approaches to digital privacy for personal data based on applying AI and deep learning. 11 joint academic papers have been published at high-quality international conferences, such as ICMR, MMM, SoMeT, ImageCLEF. While we have not physically implemented a joint lab, this is planned for 2022 and beyond. This is related to Objective 1.

  • Directly related to this VIBE award, we can point to two Ph.D. students at DCU (Tu-Khiem Le and Tu V. Ninh) supervised by professors from both DCU and HCMUS. The two students are active members in the research group led by Prof. Cathal Gurrin in DCU. They are also dedicated mentors to young promising undergraduate and graduate students in HCMUS to explore new knowledge and research problems. Additionally, we can point to three other PhD students at DCU (supervised by Gurrin and Prof Binh – HCUMS) who, although not directly funded by this award, would enhange in mobilities when they become possible again. This is related to objectives 2 & 4.

  • The two research teams in Ireland and Vietnam actively defined research challenges in the global data analytics for privacy field, and co-organized the following international benchmarking efforts and events:

    • Detection of Daily Living Activities Special Session at ACM ICMR 2020

    • Lifelog Search Challenge 2020 at ACM ICMR 2020

    • Lifelog Search Challenge 2021 at ACM ICMR 2021

    • Lifelog Search Challenge 2022 at ACM ICMR 2022

    • NTCIR-16 Lifelog-4 Challenge at NTCIR-16.

Between all these events, we can announce that over 100 participants have taken part in these activities over the past two years. This is real international impact from the collaboration. This is related to objective 3.

  • One of the most significant goals for this VIBE project is to organize the prestigious 28th International Conference on Multimedia Modeling - MMM 2022 (http://mmm2022.org/) in Vietnam. For the whole year 2021, the members of the two teams in DCU (Ireland) and HCMUS (Vietnam) have been working efficiently to prepare for this event. There are 212 papers submitted to MMM 2022 tracks, and 112 papers were accepted in 9 tracks. This means that 112 speakers will take part in this event. The conference will be organized in June 2022 in Phu Quoc, Vietnam and it is the first year that the MMM conference is ranked as a core-B conference (second highest rank for computer science conferences). It will be a physical event with also some hybrid participation to support some speakers (e.g. Chinese speakers) who will not be able to attend physically. This directly addresses objective 5.

  • Followed the successful pioneer collaboration between Prof. Cathal Gurrin (DCU) and Prof. Minh-Triet Tran (HCMUS), we are happy to see the growing collaboration between Dr. Binh Nguyen (HCMUS) and Prof. Cathal Gurrin, and the co-supervision for three more Ph.D. students who originated at HCMUS (Ly-Duyen Tran, Manh Duy Nguyen and Thao-Nhu Nguyen) at DCU. This directly addresses objective 4.

We do report that some objectives have not been met yet, due to the pandemic halting all mobility activities in March 2020. These objectives (6,7 & 8) will be addressed in future VIBE projects.

  • One of our key challenges is in informing the public about data privacy and we intend to formalise the collaborative data privacy lab once we can engage in mobilities again, producing the website and holding public information events in Vietnam.

  • With regard to sustainability, we have applied (DCU & HCMUS) to the Science Foundation Ireland SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) call in 2021, with the aim of developing new (privacy-aware) wearable sensors to produce a low-cost technological solution for the self-monitoring of Common Chronic Diseases (CCDs) in Vietnam, which is a noted public health challenge of growing importance in Vietnam. Unfortunately this was not funded, though it was highly ranked. We will continue to seek such funding in the coming years and address objective 7.

  • Finally, we have not yet managed to address objective 6 yet, which is the development of new joint programmes. During 2019, Gurrin has delivered a short course on Lifelogs/Personal Data Analytics to HCMUS students. We hope to return to the idea of a joint programme in 2022/2023 once mobilities are allowed and supported again.

Project impacts

  • The research outputs of both partner departments / universities have increased due to the collaboration. In all, we can point to over 20 joint publications in peer-reviewed venues since 2018.

  • Collaborative efforts have facilitated the hosting of many international workshops, special sessions, data challenges/competitions and the international MMM conference. To give just one example, DCU and HCUMS together have been able to release the largest ever lifelog data sets that have been created by DCU and anonymised by HCMUS software.

  • The collaboration has given five talented HCMUS graduates the opportunity to study with full PhD studentship at DCU and receive excellent research and professional training from the co-supervisory arrangements put in place. The total value of these studentships is over €600,000. We can also report another 4 Vietnamese PhDs at the School of Computing, DCU that have indirectly been identified and supported by the ongoing VIBE programme activities, which integrate different academics to the ones named in this report. These put the total value of the scholarships at over €1M.

  • The collaboration has this far grown from Nguyen and Gurrin to include other academics in HCMUS and DCU, who are actively engaged in remote collaborations leading to more research outputs in data analytics and fintech.

  • Students (undergraduate and graduate) at both HCMUS and DCU have benefited from guest lectures, seminars and short courses delivered by academics and researchers in HCMUS and DCU. An excellent example is Gurrin’s short course at HCMUS in 2019.

Had there been no pandemic, then our positive impacts would have been significantly enhanced. We would have been looking at a joint programme at MSc level being prepared for launch in 2022, which would positively impact 50+ students in Ireland and Vietnam.