The IDEMS Podcast

In this nuanced discussion, David and Santiago discuss wealth as a privilege, examining their own privileges in various contexts. Should we view aspiration differently in low resource environments compared to high resource ones? Is it always wrong to use the privilege of wealth to gain advantages for oneself and one’s family?

David and Lucie explore the role of academic publications for researchers and inequalities in the international research publication systems. Are there alternative models and possibilities for institutions which don’t have the resources to compete on the international academic playing field?

David and Lucie discuss the role of evidence in research and in our wider society. What is good evidence? How should evidence be used? The last decade has seen the erosion of public trust in facts – so what can and should we be doing differently?

David Stern and Dr Lily Clements dig deeper into the Dutch Childcare AI scandal, its causes and consequences. They analyse how this could have been avoided or mitigated and highlight the need for more work on the responsible use of AI, and particularly the importance of the human element in integrating AI to help in societal issues.

IDEMS supports researchers at a number of research institutions in low resource environments, and in this episode David and Lucie discuss some challenges that these researchers are up against. In challenging contexts such as these, unique opportunities can arise.

In this second part of the discussion of nepotism, Santiago questions David further on whether the win-win scenarios presented in the first part do not mean a loss for someone else and consider this in a local and global context. They delve deeper into other types of opportunities, how they arise, and consider how organisations need to balance the creation of opportunities with the seizing of opportunities.

Santiago Borio interviews David Stern on the issue of nepotism. They analyse a common definition of the term, look into examples where it’s harmful and examples where it may even be necessary. They consider how IDEMS is a nepotic organisation and what that means in a wider context. This is the first part of a two part episode on a complex issue that can sometimes have deep social consequences.

As society embraces AI, interpreting its results can be a matter of life and death. Lily and David consider how we can be misled by data in general, including the results of AI models. They discuss how misinterpreting the output of data often comes down to misunderstanding the limits of what data can tell you. References: Simpson’s Paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson%27s_paradox How to lie with Statistics by Daryl Huff

David and Lily consider regulation around the development of AI technologies. They discuss Amazon’s gender-biased AI recruitment debacle, and why many big companies are embracing regulation. Can regulation be designed to protect society at large from the dangers of irresponsible AI, whilst ensuring that the right companies benefit and the right companies are disadvantaged?

In this festive episode, Lucie and David reflect on the idea of New Year’s resolutions through the lenses of IDEMS’ three mechanisms for monitoring and evaluations: guiding principles, pathways of change and value creation stories.

In the spirit of celebrating failures as learning opportunities, and in accordance with a burgeoning festive tradition, David and Santiago discuss various self-defined “blunders” that members of IDEMS staff have made over the last 12 months. There can be only one winner of the IDEMS Blunder of the Year 2023!

Can how you spend the festive season influence the future of entertainment? Following the release of Alan Warburton’s film highlighting the potential effects of AI on the entertainment industry, Lily and David discuss what role AI could play in our consumption of films and videos in the future, and the potential implications for society. Watch Alan Warburton’s film, The Wizard of AI, here: https://vimeo.com/884929644

Santiago Borio interviews David Stern on the concept of being “fundamentally profitable” and how and why IDEMS prioritises this over maximising profit. They explain how this idea evolved through the years in its implementations and present some challenges IDEMS faced recently to remain fundamentally profitable.

The IDEMS team enjoyed listening to how Danny and David were reluctant entrepreneurs and hearing about how social impact became an important goal for IDEMS in Episode 010, but they had some concerns. In this podcast, in accordance with IDEMS’ principle of being “critically assessed”, David responds to the team’s critiques.

A discussion between David and Danny, IDEMS directors, on how they became co-founders – despite originally considering themselves to be “reluctant entrepreneurs”.

As part of their series of conversations on Responsible AI, Dr Lily Clements and David Stern discuss “artificial intelligence” in general, breaking it down into three fundamental components: source data, algorithms, and learning cycles. Topics touched on include: the Turing Test; AI’s usage in the postal service; and using AI to identify birds through their songs, and the potential dangers of doing so.

David Stern, co-founder of IDEMS, is interviewed by Santiago Borio on the business model IDEMS has developed. The discussion presents a qualitative analysis of a three part model based around the creation of public goods, and the offer of human and digital services. It draws on successful examples and case studies combining two of the three areas.

Dr Lucie Hazelgrove Planel interviews David Stern, co-founder of IDEMS, on IDEMS’ views on agriculture. They delve into why IDEMS supports a diverse range of projects related to agriculture based on innovations that lead to sustainable development, and what this development might look like: is the future urban or rural?

In the first episode of a series on Responsible AI, Dr Lily Clements and David Stern discuss the “AI Safety Summit” that took place at Bletchley Park in November 2023. Are we listening to the right experts on AI? Should we be worried about killer robots? And will regulation stifle innovation? Further information about some of the topics covered: Official introduction of the summit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-introduction Dutch childcare benefit scandal: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/10/xenophobic-machines-dutch-child-benefit-scandal/ Amazon’s AI hiring scandal: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45809919

In this episode, we delve deeper into the legal structures behind IDEMS as a social enterprise. Santiago Borio interviews David Stern, a co-founder of IDEMS, and questions him on the technicalities behind IDEMS the business, the somewhat challenging decisions made when setting it up, and the potential to demonstrate an alternative way to make sound business decisions while maintaining a thoughtfully ethical mindset.

Zach Mbasu, Director of INNODEMS, introduced some of his work and his shared passion for education with David in the first IDEMS Interviews Podcast episode. This follow up explores who Zach is, how and why he created INNODEMS, and how IDEMS actually exists thanks to Zach!

The first in the IDEMS interviews series. David interviews Zach Mbasu, a long term collaborator and the founding director of INNODEMS, an exciting Kenyan social enterprise. Zach tells his story from high school teacher to social entrepreneur, through his search to support Kenyan youth to gain access to the education they deserve. Zach’s story also explains why, founded in the challenges of African education and development, IDEMS is committed to enabling future generations to write their own stories through African-led enterprise rather than ‘international aid.’

In this episode, we break down and discuss the acronym “IDEMS”, which stands for “Innovations in Development, Education and the Mathematical Sciences”. Santiago Borio interviews David Stern, a co-founder of IDEMS, to delve deeper into the organisation’s overarching objectives, some of the motivations for its establishment, and its positive but challenging future outlook.

The first episode of The IDEMS Podcasts. Its title, “Maths Minds: Thinking hard about supporting a collaborative society”, represents some of what IDEMS does and how we intend to tell our stories. Dr Lily Clements interviews David Stern, a co-founder of IDEMS, to delve deep into elements of why IDEMS exists.