For two days, the Hungarian University of Sports Science (TF) will host a major international scientific symposium bringing together some of the world's most renowned researchers to discuss the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI), sport and ageing.
The international scientific symposium entitled "The 2nd Biomechanics in Sport and Ageing: Artificial Intelligence (AI)”, which is organized by the Hungarian University of Sports Science (TF) and the Department of Kinesiology will be held between 15 and 16 October in Budapest, Hungary. The event, which will take place as part of the 7th Sport and Innovation Conference, will be attended by renowned international experts and lecturers.
The aim of the symposium is to provide a scientific platform for a state-of-the-art update on the progress of AI, in sport biomechanics and ageing.A total of 14 experts from nine countries will present data-based examples of the use of AI in sport and ageing research.
It is encouraging that last year's symposium was only a half-day event, however, this year's will last for two entire days, so there seems to be plenty of interest in the topic.
"Last year's event was a kind of 'test run'," explained Prof. Tibor Hortobágyi, the academic head of the symposium. “The organisers, Dr András Hegyi and Dr. Annamária Péter, had to draw up the conference programme quickly because we could already feel the growing interest from the very beginning. Every event has an arc, and the biomechanics symposium is on an upward trajectory. The third symposium to be held in 2025, which will take place on the 100th anniversary of the university, will be organised taking into account the experience of this year's event. Both the importance and novelty of the topic have encouraged everyone to give a worthy representation of the growing body of knowledge available on artificial intelligence."
According to the organisers, the first symposium last year attracted enthusiastic interest from colleagues from home and abroad. The impact of the 2023 event, and of course the theme, has led to sponsors showing interest for the October event.
It turned out that the theme of the 2nd symposium will follow last year's theme, that is to say, sport and gerontology will again play an important role. Last year's symposium and this year's event are similar in that only invited experts will give presentations. Sport and gerontology may at first glance seem distant, but they complement each other perfectly: assessments and training methods used in sport are also used in gerontology. The rich programme means that October's event offers much more than last year's.
Tibor Hortobágyi also shared some interesting details about the lecturers and speakers.
"Some of the lecturers invited to the symposium have already published more than a hundred articles on artificial intelligence, although this line of research is still in its infancy. Once the scientific programme was set up, other researchers from the UK and Italy, among others, came forward to give presentations. This was a clear sign that we were on the right track. Although we receive invitations to symposia and conferences on a daily basis, smaller topic-specific scientific forums are becoming increasingly popular. This is explained by the fact that participants can communicate and build relationships more easily."
The first day (14 October) will be dominated by plenary keynote lectures, while the second day (15 October) will be structured around four major themes: 'Body structure and exercise prescription’, 'Motor-cognitive function and artificial intelligence in ageing', 'Injury and disease', 'Performance assessment and prediction'.
According to Tibor Hortobágyi, the three keynote speeches are definitely worth attending. The two Dutch speakers are key players in the field of medical research and gerontology. In his opening keynote lecture, Prof. Peter van Ooijen will inform the participants about the basics of AI in a simple way that everyone can understand. The second keynote speaker will be Prof. Neil Cronin, who will give an overview of research lines in the field of AI, including sports. In the third keynote lecture, Prof. Claudine Lamoth will talk about the main areas of AI in gerontology. Prof. Hortobágyi also highlighted the closing event of the second day, the workshop. Alan Godfrey and Connor Wall will present the application of AI in a presentation titled ‘Sensor-based activity recognition in health and disease.’
So it's well worth attending the symposium, as there is a wide range of programmes to suit everyone's interests. As Prof. Hortobágyi puts it:
"A piece of advice I can give to those who are not professionals is that they should attend the event with open eyes. It's less important to understand every little detail. It is more important to find out where sports science and gerontology are in terms of the application of AI. What is the evidence that it works, or is it too early to tell? As I know the presenters, everyone can learn how to make nice, elegant slides and diagrams to help transfer and process information."
The programme of the 2nd Biomechanics Symposium can be found here and you can register for the event here.
