With a quarter of people expected to experience a mental health issue within the next 12 months and one in seven experiencing a common mental health problem, like anxiety and depression at work, it’s clear there is a major issue around well-being. But what can be done to overcome this global challenge? Well, in recent years, technology has evolved at a rapid rate and AI is now at the forefront of innovation.

But with no end in sight of how powerful AI can really be, it’s imperative we use it for the right reasons – to help society change and grow in a positive direction. With the right guardrails, AI can be steered and designed to help with mental health challenges. In addition, technology tools like wearable devices can be augmented with apps and chat-bots that can also enhance mental well-being, not only in the workplace, but also at home.

Utilizing technology

In the past, watches, necklaces and glasses were all accessories that helped bring an outfit together. Fast forward a decade or two and they are now used to help improve our lives. Wearable devices have changed the way we monitor our health by giving us real time updates on things like our heart rate and sleeping patterns. These devices can be used to constantly monitor us throughout the day (and night) and can alert users to signs of stress, allowing technical interventions that can teach users how to limit the impact of life stressors.

Mobile phones, just like accessories, have also evolved drastically in recent years. Phones used to be devices that allowed us to contact others with a click of a button, no matter where we were in the world. Now, most mobile phones have apps in them that keep users entertained, help with daily tasks, and provide a wealth of information – simply, if there’s a problem in your life, there is most likely an app that can fix it. This also holds for mental health issues.  Mental health apps are an accessible way to help manage stress. Having a range of apps that focus on different issues can provide users with a personalize experience, allowing them to take control of their well-being. AI can be used to personalize mental health interventions even further and can provide assistance “just in time” when the help is needed.

Unlike the above devices discussed, AI hasn’t yet evolved to benefit users maximally. While AI has often been used to assist users, it’s only in recent years that it has become more powerful and can be used to do more. There are now tools on the market that can analyze user data and then provide insights into their mental health. These tools can detect patterns in a user’s mood, predicting issues before they arise in order to provide just in time interventions.

Limiting office burnout

Today, workers are constantly receiving communication from multiple channels, which has been heightened since Covid. With more people now working remotely, employees no longer rely on conventional ways to communicate via in-person meetings, emails and phone calls. Instead, multiple, new channels of communication have been introduced, such as instant messaging services, team communication channels, etc. As a result, this leads to interruptions throughout the day. Persistent multitasking can lead to a decrease in productivity and increase the risk of burnout. To prevent this, organizations can introduce technology tools to their employees that identify signs of stress so that they are more aware of their well-being at work. Once these tools “learn” the health and well-being patterns of an individual worker, it can then make personalize suggestions, such as taking short breaks. These interventions are for the employee’s personal use and the data of course needs to be kept confidential and private.

Looking beyond technology, it’s imperative that employers also create a supportive working environment, which often combats burnout. Organizations must ensure they have directors, managers, and other employees that appreciate workers’ achievements and contributions. This can be realized in the form of a reward scheme to celebrate workers’ accomplishments to a simple monthly appraisal meeting.

It should be noted that not all office environments are the same and some jobs can lead to more stress than others. Let’s look at red teamers for example – a security professional whose job it is to simulate cyberattacks in order to safeguard AI systems. A red teamer’s job can be regarded as intense because the worker often has to think like a criminal, which can have a psychological toll. The help of AI can change this and make the process easier for the red teamer by automating some or parts of the tasks. In turn, this should reduce the psychological burden so that these professionals can focus on other aspects of their job, which can take less of a toll on their mental health.

Away from the office

While the office is just one environment where mental health issues can occur, many also suffer at home. At the office, individuals can be limited to what solutions they are able to access, this can be because of funding or comfort. When at home, workers can personalize their mental health solutions even further, meaning they might be able to cater to their own needs even better.

For example, using the internet for therapy allows a person to connect with a therapist anywhere in the country, and even the world, from the comfort of their own home – they can get the support they need on a more regular basis. Understandably, not everyone feels comfortable talking to a human and for those people, AI-powered chatbots can also provide needed support.

Embracing technological advancements

It’s clear that mental health cases are growing but we now have the right tools to improve and monitor well-being. From wearable technology and mobile apps to AI-driven platforms, these tools provide support that couldn’t be accessed decades ago, helping individuals manage stress both at the office and at home. By embracing these advancements, we can create healthier, more supportive environments that promote mental well-being for all.

If you would like to learn more about this topic or any of the research discussed, please visit the Microsoft Research Human Understanding and Empathy website for more information: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/group/human-understanding-and-empathy/

Mary will also be keynote speaker at EAI‘s 18th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare at Heraklion, Greece, which will focus on technologies and human factors related to the use of ubiquitous computing in healthcare and for well-being.

Mary Czerwinski

Research manager at Microsoft

Mary Czerwinskis a Research Manager of the Human Understanding and Empathy group. Mary’s research focuses primarily on information worker task management, health and wellness for individuals and groups. Her background is in visual attention and multitasking. She holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Indiana University in Bloomington.

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Hosting scientific conferences in low-and-middle-income-countries

Scientific conferences are an important tool in fostering an environment for people to share knowledge and further the progression of valuable new research. In order to truly be successful in leveling the playing field and inviting collaboration, these conferences should reach each corner of the globe and take place in both developed and developing regions.

Regions where researchers are afforded less opportunity to progress their careers require further work to ensure they are able to gain greater visibility. In doing so, communities will be able to realize the transformative potential of research.

Access to publishing services

In the spirit of inclusivity, researchers and academics in developing countries must be supported in reaching audiences in the same way that their colleagues in other parts of the world can. This means access to the same publishing services as those in other parts of the world would have.
Therefore, to promote transparency, objectivity, equality, and openness, colleagues should actively invite scholars and professionals from all corners of the world to share their knowledge and help shape a brighter and more enlightened future for humanity.

Funding support
Organizations, researchers and other members of the academic community should take steps to support developing countries both financially and through subsidized or free access to their core services, ensuring they reach greater audiences.

For example, an important first step is allowing members in these regions to publish their articles for free and facilitate networking between these countries and the rest of the world. Those in low- and middle-income countries and regions are core to greater progress and it’s vital that research from these regions is promoted to a wider audience.

Realizing the potential of all
At EAI, inclusivity is championed via a commitment to free membership and a drive to host and support conferences in all parts of the world. This means access to EAI services to market, promote, host and arrange conferences, as well as access to the wider community and the facilitation of networking.

For more on hosting conferences with EAI, go to: https://eai.eu/eai-sponsorship/

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EAI works on the belief that community and open access are powerful enablers of innovation and progress. This is why access to our resources is open to all members at the point of publishing, all via the European Union Digital Library (EUDL).

What is the EUDL?

The EUDL is the central repository for all content published by EAI reaching more than 1.2 million people every month. The EUDL platform also publishes open access journals and conference proceedings across several areas of computer science, engineering, biochemistry, energy, medicine, social sciences, humanities and more.

Unlike other communities and publishers, research is available instantly and can reach the wider community immediately. The benefit of which is that you reach more people with your research than has been traditionally possible.

Inside the EUDL

As well as publishing its own research, the EUDL indexes content published by different publishing partners (Springer, ACM, IEEE) in collaboration with EAI. This means that in total EAI’s publication platform contains more than 7000 peer-reviewed manuscripts, which are distributed in more than 20 journals and four book series, two of them in collaboration with Springer.

The library includes resources such as those that make up the EAI Community Research Series (CORE) – EAI’s ICT-focused books and proceedings series. It also includes research from the EAI Computing and Communication in Emerging Regions (CCER) – EAI’s multidisciplinary proceedings series and it includes EAI Endorsed Transactions, a list of peer-reviewed, open access research journals.

Going further, the EUDL includes abstracts of EAI/Springer Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering (LNICST) and a complete index of proceedings from conferences held by EAI and ICST.

The impact

The impact of EAI’s core belief in collaboration and open access to research has maximised visibility and impact when it comes to new research. Our research model, coupled with our free membership and range of tools and conferences levels the playing field by inviting academics from all over the world to share their knowledge. 

The EUDL guarantees wider visibility and also allows academics to explore and engage directly with authors of related research papers from within the library. 

Join EAI and publish via the EUDL here: EUDL – European Union Digital Library.

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Agustín Riscos-Núñez	University of Seville, Spain
Anders Kalsgaard Møller	Aalborg University, Denmark
Angelina Iakovets	Technical University of Košice, Slovakia
Artemis Moroni	CTI Renato Archer, Brazil
Berit Helgheim	Molde University College, Norway
Bruno Azevedo	Universidade do Minho, Portugal
Christos Douligeris	University of Piraeus, Greece
Chun-Cheng Lin	National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU), Taiwan
Debnath Bhattacharyya	K L E F Deemed to be University, India
Elena Partesotti	Unversity of Unicamp, Brazil
Eleni Christopolou	Ionian University, Greece
Emma Edstrand	Halmstad University, Sweden
Haridimos Kondylakis	University of Crete, Greece
Igor Litvinchev	UANL, Mexico
Jerry Foss	Birmingham City University, UK
José-Luis Guisado-Lizar	University of Seville, Spain
Junyi Wang	Guilin University of Electronic Technology, China
Jyh-Cheng Chen	National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
Leandros Maglaras	Edinburgh Napier University, UK
Mekuanint Agegnehu Bitew	Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia
Mourad Dbabi	Concordia University, CA
Muluken Zegeye	Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia
Nikolaos Voros	University of Peloponnese, Greece
Pandian Vasant	Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia
Paulo Roberto Nunez de Souza	The Federal Universit of Espírito Santo, Brazil
Pieter Van Gorp	Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
Solomon Workneh Fanta	Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia
Svein Bråthen	Molde University College, Norway
Thomas Bjørner	Aalborg University, Denmark
Wentao Zhang	Guilin University of Electronic Technology, China

 

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The summit builds on a tradition of its own in connecting the best minds and most influential stakeholders to create a multidisciplinary setting where ideas on innovation and improvement come together. Its re-emergence from online mode, after three years, is accompanied by the enrichment of its scope to include not only smart cities, but also the use of AI and technology in healthcare, cyber security, and mobility. All of these aspects express the EAI values of innovating research through openness and equal recognition of all.

Opportunities

The entrance for researchers is through one of the technology tracks (referred to as conferences) of the summit, each with a well-grounded tradition of its own. In total, the tracks will create 50 unique sessions encompassing a range of topics going all the way from AI in healthcare to cloud computing. Successfully evaluated papers open the door to an important journey which involves high-quality publication in LNCIST indexed series and SCOPUS, EI Compendex, and Web of Science databases. The very best ones will be highly honoured with a fellowship that will open the doors to many future research opportunities. 

As of now, papers will be presented by academics from four continents. We believe that further participation will only upgrade and diversify the experience. The summit is unique in that it offers participants the chance to attend more than one conference as five will take place simultaneously in two blocks in the same venue literally right next to each other. Should the researchers have the necessary knowledge and material suitable for more than one topic, they are more than welcome to submit their papers to different technology tracks.

Highlights of the Summit

In addition to conferences, participants can expect intriguing keynote speeches and panel discussions. EAI is honoured to host the former commissioner of the U.S. House Committee on Commerce Harold Furchtgott-Roth who will share his expertise on economy and communications. Likewise, Peter Van Gorp from the Eindhoven University of Technology will share his findings and research on digital health platforms. The topic on cyber security will be covered by Sanjay Goel from the University of Albany – State University of New York School of Business Information Security and Digital Forensics. In addition, the American computer scientist Ian Goodfellow, who stands behind the development of generative adversarial networks (GAN) in the world’s largest innovative institutions including Google, Apple, Open AI, and DeepMind, will attend. There will also be notable Slovak representation embodied by the expert on economic transition Ivan Mikloš or Zuzana Mikulášová from the expert platform Brand Slovakia 30.

Bright Young Minds

This year is special as it introduces talented young academics to the summit who can qualify via the essay competition ‘Bright Young Minds’. The winners will be offered the chance to attend some of the most high-level EAI tracks with full costs reimbursed. In addition, they will have the opportunity to grow professionally under the mentorship of professor Imrich Chlamtac, a Slovak-born academic and president of EAI, as well other fellows and members of the honorary board.

Community Values of EAI

EAI is back in Bratislava after eight years offering new opportunities for a gathering of worldwide expertise. Among the key added values of the summit are the familiarisation of current topics and trends at home and abroad, networking or the creation of new project consortiums, thinks the general chair of the summit professor Dagmar Cagáňová. This entails mutual sharing of know-how between local and foreign researchers, leaders from the industry, as well as the wider community by means of presentations, workshops, and round tables. I consider it important that researchers view themselves in the context of current affairs of the academic fields, added Cagáňová. Further added values are socialisation and the opportunity to grow professionally through publications in high-quality impact journals, the professor concluded.

Professor Predrag K. Nikolic PhD, MBA, who will be one of the keynote speakers, considers the network he developed throughout the years and the opportunities to present recent development in his research as the most visible added value of the EAI summits. He is looking forward to interacting with other scholars and universities toward future academic collaboration this year.

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EAI is proud to announce EAI Senior Members Class of 2022.

Congratulations to the following EAI Members awarded the Senior title in 2022!
(In alphabetical order)

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EAI is proud to announce EAI Distinguished Members Class of 2022.

A recognition awarded to the top 0.5% of its members. This year the honor goes to 487 professionals earning an objective and transparent nomination for extraordinary accomplishments in their technical areas as evaluated by members of the EAI Community around the world.

Congratulations to the following EAI members awarded the Distinguished Member title in 2022!
(In alphabetical order)

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