Prof Alessandra Mileo, Research Ireland Frontiers for Future Awardee

Prof Alessandra Mileo holds an MSc and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Milan, where she specialised in formal logic and AI. Her research journey led her to neurosymbolic AI - a hybrid approach combining symbolic, rule-based AI with neural models.

After her PhD, she transitioned into statistical modeling, gaining hands-on experience in applied AI for healthcare and assisted living. She later moved to Galway, joining the DERI Institute (later Insight Centre), where she secured EU funding for a smart city project that merged theoretical and applied AI.

At Dublin City University, she expanded into media analytics and, as AI evolved, embraced a holistic approach that balances data-driven models with symbolic reasoning. This focus aligned with growing European interest in Explainable AI, leading her to co-lead research on decision-making within Insight.

Her latest achievement, a Research Ireland Frontiers for Future award, funds her work on explainable AI for cardiology, improving early diagnosis of cardiomyopathies - a project deeply personal to her due to her father’s passing from the condition. She commented, “Dad was still alive when I first started applying for funding for this project…It took me three attempts to get it.”

Prof Mileo credits the Insight Centre for fostering collaboration and providing resources essential to her work, allowing her to continually evolve her expertise and make a broader impact in AI research.

Commenting on her experience with Insight, she says “I feel like everything I do is much more impactful and I have visibility. People outside of my immediate research community come to me because I am an Insight researcher.”

Read the Insight Centre’s full article here.