In 2019, the INTERSPEECH conference brought together over 2000 scientists under the theme "Crossroads of Speech and Language." This event emphasized the convergence of three vibrant fields: speech science, language technologies, and artificial intelligence. It also highlighted the significant presence of four major European language families - Romance, Germanic, Slavic, and Finno-Ugrian - within a 150-kilometer radius of the conference’s location: Graz, Austria.
Building upon this pivotal conference, the idea of the Unite! Graduate School for Excellence in European Speech, Language and AI Technologies was conceived. This visionary project sets out to create a unique educational framework that seamlessly combines Master's and Ph.D. education. The Unite! Graduate School stands out with its comprehensive subject coverage and a remarkable assembly of renowned professors who collectively supervise over 120 PhD students. As of today, there is no comparable thematic cluster within the academic world.
The overarching objective is to establish a continuous pipeline of exceptional talents, starting from Bachelor's graduates and leading them into a distinctive Master's programme in speech, language and AI technologies offered jointly across Unite! universities. The best Master's graduates will then be recruited as PhD students, strengthening the Graduate School's profile and influence.
Therefore, the prestigious project got seed fundings for both interests, one for teaching & learning and the other for research and PhD.
The first part of the project, primarily focusing on PhD-level research, includes the seamless transition from joint Master's to PhD studies through an Intensive programme and a dedicated PhD student recruitment platform and focuses on the application for more substantial Horizon Europe funding in 2025.
The teaching & learning - part of the project outlines the Master-level education, by identifying student and teacher exchange opportunities for existing programmes and designing an integrated and innovative Master’s curriculum with established Erasmus+ structures.
The Unite! Graduate School for Excellence in European Speech, Language and AI Technologies is poised to make an indelible mark on the future of education and research in this pivotal field.