As ADAPT prepares to launch its 2026 podcast series, the 2025 episodes offer a clear snapshot of the issues that matter most, from emerging AI breakthroughs to the ethical, societal, and commercial implications of adoption. The series aimed to provide practical, evidence-based perspectives on how AI is transforming organisations and decision-making.
ADAPT Radio: AI Lesson Preparation Addresses Teachers Planning Burden
Teachers are under growing pressure as education systems move toward personalised learning and outcomes-based curricula, without the supporting infrastructure needed to make this shift effective. The result is a fragmented ecosystem that disconnects teachers, students, school leaders, and education departments, while significantly increasing preparation workloads. Dr Chris Byrne, founder and CEO of MESO, is addressing this challenge through intelligent planning software designed specifically for teachers. MESO is supported by Enterprise Ireland and the ADAPT Centre at Trinity College Dublin.
ADAPT Radio: Agentic AI – Convenience or Compromise?
November’s podcast featured a riveting session from ADAPT’s annual industry forum, ADVANCE 2025, with a candid fireside chat between Dr Abeba Birhane, of the AI Accountability Lab at ADAPT and Trinity College Dublin, and Meredith Whittaker, President of the Signal Foundation. The episode, titled “Agentic AI: Convenience or Compromise?”, examines what it really means to let AI agents take control of our digital lives.
ADAPT Radio: Sea-Scan Maritime AI Technology
Ireland’s territorial waters are among Europe’s largest, yet monitoring this vast maritime expanse for unauthorised vessels, environmental threats, and infrastructure protection remains an enormous challenge with current surveillance technologies.
Professor Marco Ruffini and Dr. John Kennedy from Trinity College Dublin have developed Sea-Scan, a revolutionary system that transforms existing undersea telecommunications cables into comprehensive acoustic monitoring networks. Using distributed acoustic sensing and AI, their technology can detect and classify vessels across hundreds of kilometres of ocean using just one land-based device.
ADAPT Radio: Vacant No More: AI and the Future of Irish Buildings
Ireland is facing a housing crisis, and yet countless buildings sit empty and unused. In this episode of Adapt Radio, Dr. Clare O’Connell speaks with Dr. Philip Crowe and Milo Dennehy from University College Dublin about a bold, AI-driven project to map and tackle building vacancy across the country. Discover why data on empty buildings is so patchy, how new tech could unlock hidden opportunities for homes and communities, and why solving this puzzle means more than just better spreadsheets.
ADAPT Radio: Meeting the Challenges of Cyber Disinformation
Content can lead to hate crimes and other violence, but many European Police Authorities do not have access to any specialised tools or technologies to help them tackle the issue – how can they be helped? As individuals, how can we establish if we are being manipulated? Listen to ADAPTs Prof. Owen Conlan discuss.
ADAPT Radio: AI’s Role in Spreading Digital Propaganda
This July episode features insights from media historians Professor Aphra Kerr and Dr. Nelson Ribeiro with the discussion centring on the growing use of AI to create and distribute disinformation that is hyper-personalised and politically polarising. Drawing on recent examples from Ireland and Spain, the experts highlight how false narratives rapidly gain traction online, often targeting specific demographic groups. They call for urgent action in media literacy education, stronger regulation, and a broader societal response.
ADAPT Radio: Explainable AI in Action, From Tutors to Health Tech
As part of of Summer series in 2025, we showcased the transformative power of Explainable AI with a keynote address by Professor Cristina Conati, recorded live at ADAPT’s Annual Scientific Conference. Professor of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia, Cristina Conati, a pioneer in user modeling, personalisation, and explainable AI explains how AI systems can go beyond performing tasks to meaningfully communicating with users.
ADAPT Radio: Empowering Cancer Patients with AI
This episode explores an AI-powered platform that helps patients record questions and quality-of-life issues ahead of time to support more effective consultations. Our guest Denis Roche, CEO and founder of eAltra, discusses how artificial intelligence is being used to transform cancer care. eAltra, a Trinity College Dublin campus company built on research from the ADAPT Centre, has developed a conversational AI platform that allows patients to record their questions, symptoms, and quality-of-life concerns ahead of consultations.
ADAPT Radio continues to position itself as a platform for informed dialogue, offering thoughtful, accessible discussions that support strategic understanding of AI’s impact across sectors.
