April has been an incredibly busy but exciting month for the APRIL AI Hub! As the Outreach and Impact Officer for APRIL, I was especially excited and proud to see our team in action at the Edinburgh Science Festival 2026, where we delivered three fantastic events. From recording podcasts on AI ethics to staging a play in a single day to working with older adults to help them engage with AI, it was great to see the creativity and energy from both participants and the staff that made it all happen!
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Molly Smith, Outreach and Impact Officer, with a flock of PhD students
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Responsible AI Highly Commended Community Building Award!
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The APRIL and Royal Academy of Engineering team
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The APRIL AI Hub has received a highly commended award for community building from Responsible Ai UK! This community was built through collective effort, a testament to our team’s energy and vision to making APRIL such a vibrant space.
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APRIL collecting the highly commended Community Building award!
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A huge congratulations to everyone in the APRIL team who made this happen and to all the winners!
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Edinburgh Science Festival 2026
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Our first event welcomed participants aged 12–15 to create and record their very own podcasts. It was amazing to hear such a wide range of perspectives on AI from this age group exploring topics like AI in sport, impacts on cognitive development, banning AI for under 16's and much more!
Together, we produced three brilliant podcasts: AI on Trial, Offside Intelligence, and Inside Artificial Intelligence! These podcasts will be coming soon to our Spotify, stay tuned!
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Our second event was “(AI) Life Begins at 50” which brought together 30 AI-curious participants aged 50+ for a series of fun, hands-on activities designed to build confidence and skills in AI.
The energy in the room was fantastic - full of questions, creativity, and a real willingness to explore something new.
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PhD student Semih teaching image generation
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Our final event of the Edinburgh Science Festival 2026 was: One Day. One Play. One Prompt. We welcomed participants aged 11–15 who took on the incredible challenge of creating an entire play in just one day with the help of AI. From music and dance to storytelling, narration, and even costumes. It was a busy day, but an inspiring one!
Their story followed Dolly the Sheep (resident of the National Museum of Scotland) on a mission to stop people from eating haggis...a wonderfully imaginative and uniquely Scottish twist that brought plenty of humour and creativity to the stage.
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Snapshots of our play: Dolly vs Haggis
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A huge well done to the APRIL team, who supported the events throughout the festival. It was fantastic to see such energy and collaboration from everyone involved.
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Testing and Semiconductors Futures Conference 2026
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APRIL's very own Dr Ramesh Krishnamurthy will be a speaker at Verification & Semiconductors Futures Conference UK 2026!
🎟️ Book your ticket now:
📅 Date: Tuesday, 23 June 2026
📍 Venue: University of Reading, UK
🌐 Format: In‑Person & Online (via MS Teams)
🔗Agenda & event details here!
Talk Highlight: Evaluating AI-Generated Formal Verification Harnesses for RTL Using an Open-Source, Non-Vacuity-Aware Flow
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Sustainability Workshop with Dr. Loïc Lannelongue
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On 14th April we were delighted to host Dr. Loïc Lannelongue on King’s Buildings Campus for his talk on Green Algorithms, Green DiSC and GREENER Principles: Making Computational Science More Environmentally Sustainable. Loïc shared fascinating facts and insights about impact of computational science on the environment, and how research projects can measure and track their carbon footprint using the Green Algorithms calculator. He highlighted the importance of culture changes in regard to sustainability, and moving “from efficiency to sufficiency”.
You can watch the recording on YouTube here!
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The APRIL AI Hub is hosting the Design Verification Club on Wednesday, 3 June 2026 in the Elm Lecture Theatre, The Nucleus, The King's Buildings. Read more here.
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Join us at DV Club to explore current developments in AI-driven verification methodologies. The event brings together experts from industry and academia to share practical insights, real-world applications, and current trends. This is an opportunity to learn how AI is being applied in practice, understand its limitations, and explore how verification teams can adopt these technologies effectively.
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Season 2 of APRIL Conversations
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Catch up with the newest episodes of our APRIL Conversations podcast here!
Our most recent episode is called “Let It Be Part of Your Life” - Tommy Taylor, Dorothy Hall and Eva Hita Sogorb
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It was inspiring to hear Tommy and Dorothy share their personal journeys into using technology and stepping into the world of AI. Their stories highlight how learning and curiosity can span generations, and the discussion offered valuable intergenerational perspectives along with some truly thoughtful advice. A big thank you to all our guests for such an engaging and insightful conversation.
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