Allison Littlejohn

‘An AlphaFold 4’ — scientists marvel at DeepMind drug spin-off’s exclusive new AI Isomorphic Lab’s proprietary drug-discovery model is a major advance, but scientists developing open-source tools are left guessing how to achieve similar results.

An AlphaFold 4’ — scientists marvel at DeepMind new tool. From Nature www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The first ‘AI societies’ are taking shape: how human-like are they? Scientists are studying forms of ‘social’ interactions between artificial-intelligence agents. Will they find a fresh form of sociology, or merely a sophisticated mime act?

Studying human behaviour by training artificial-intelligence #AI agents to mimic the behaviours of people. From Nature www.nature.com/articles/d41...

How fast does a protein fold? Real-time technique captures the moment Proteins assume complex 3D shapes even faster than does DNA, which is a simpler molecule.

Protein folding measured in real time! From Nature www.nature.com/articles/d41...

At the Network Plus Spring Conference in Bristol where we’ll be talking about how our research is helping build the roadmap for the UK National Federated Compute Service. Federated compute is vital for innovation and for empowering people with data

Walked the Loch Venechar circular walk this weekend in the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, #Scotland. Wet weather but this 20km walk was wonderful.

Sunny #parkrun #HampsteadHeath #London with coffee afterwards

Don't miss tomorrow's #CALRG talk by @allisonl.bsky.social
UCL's Pro-Vice Provost for the Data Empowered Societies Grand Challenge. She'll be exploring whether future learning for work be data driven or human driven?

Thursday 5th Feb, 11.00 am, online
Email calrg@open.ac.uk for the link

Thanks for your question to the panel this evening, Sam.

The Open University

Fostering deliberation and action in context: ana analysis of implementation research among healthcare professionals in LMICs from a post digital perspective.

Our latest article in British Journal of Educational Technology led by Koula Charitonos. oro.open.ac.uk/106411/

Could 2026 be the year we start using quantum computers for chemistry? Understanding the chemical properties of a molecule is an inherently quantum problem, making quantum computers a good tool for the job – and we may start seeing this take off in 2026

Understanding the chemical properties of a molecule is an inherently quantum problem, making quantum computers a good tool for the job – and we may start seeing this take off in 2026

#Northamptonshire #England 12km circular walk

In 2026 keep an eye on quantum

Last #HampsteadHeath #Parkrun of 2026

#Parkrun #HampsteadHeath #London Huge thanks to all the @Parkrun marshalls who work hard (like Santa’s elves) to make the run happen each week!

The future of Government Statistics Service - and the evidence it provides- should be in the hands of humans, not AI. My thought piece on human agency, vulnerability and why m #AI in work needs to be a negotiated journey.

@GrandChallenges

analysisfunction.civilservice.gov.uk/blog/the-futur…

Leckhampstead 12km loop walk, #Northamptonshire

#Parkrun #MiltonKeynes

On Wednesday Dec 10 11.00GMT Francisco Durán del Fierro and I will present our research on Inclusive Futures of Federated Data. Working with Eileen Kennedy, Edinburgh Futures Institute Hartree and funded by EPSRC. Join the event: research.jiscinvolve.org/wp/events/

English National Opera’s dazzling performance this evening at the wonderful London Coliseum #enopinafore

Great to participate in the UCL Grand Challenges Winter Reception at the Grant Zoology Museum where James Hetherington and I gave an update on the first year of the UCL Grand Challenge of Data Empowered Societies. Thanks to the DES Team and to Geraint Rees for amazing leadership.

Well said James!

Delighted to join today’s UCL Policy Lab Roundtable on AI, the future of Work and the Role of the University. There was a broad panel of participants with distinctive & fascinating perspectives. HE mist be relevant to student needs, but what is ‘relevant’ increasingly is difficult to predict

Delighted to be on this panel at the university of Oslo debating the education/work interface in an era of AI. With Regina Mulder, Francisvo Duran del Fierro, Koula Charitonos, Monika Nerland

We have funded 10 ambitious Challenge-led Awards through the @UCL Grand Challenge Data Empowered Societies, University College London www.ucl.ac.uk/grand-challe...

At Lords Cricket Ground today with colleagues ftom Honda R&D to talk about UCL Grand Challenges Data Empowered Societies the future of Ed Tech and Health Tech

Wonderful ethereal sounds this evening at the Kingsplace London in a concert by the Terje Isungset Quartet who used instruments crafted from Norwegian glaciers.

#Parkrun #HampsteadHeath #London

What AI doesn’t know: we could be creating a global ‘knowledge collapse’ | Deepak Varuvel Dennison The long read: As GenAI becomes the primary way to find information, local and traditional wisdom is being lost. And we are only beginning to realise what we’re missing

‘By amplifying [knowledge] hierarchies, GenAI risks contributing to the erasure of systems of understanding that have evolved over centuries, disconnecting future generations from vast bodies of insight and wisdom. ‘ via The Guardian www.theguardian.com/news/2025/no...

‘Godfather of AI’ becomes first person to hit one million citations The milestone makes machine-learning trailblazer Yoshua Bengio the most cited researcher on Google Scholar.

Wise words from
Yoshua Bengio -
first person to reach 1m citations. “It should not become an objective for researchers to have more citations, because it leads into trying to optimize this rather than do good science and go after the truth.” www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Pleased to meet with a delegation of university leaders from Ukraine to progress our MOU on the UCL-Ukraine knowledge exchange to support sustainable transition in areas of education, health & infrastructure renewal. Via UCL Data Empowered Societies Grand Challenge.