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About Elevate AI
Elevate AI is Ulster University Business School's initiative for responsible, human-centred AI across education, industry and the community.
Elevate is the home of AHEAD (AI-Forward, Human-Centred Education in AI Developments), our peer-reviewed framework for building AI capability in students, staff, leaders and employers.
AHEAD gives everyone the same map for developing AI capability.
Four strands: who AHEAD is for:
- Leading AHEAD: leaders and educators, focused on AI governance and leadership
- Forging AHEAD: students, through cohort programmes and live employer challenges
- Thinking AHEAD: research that measures how AI capability develops
- Staying AHEAD: alumni, employers and executives, building AI capability for life
Four stages: how capability grows
- Understand
- Apply
- Create
- Innovate
Influence In AHEAD, responsible AI use is an assessed outcome, not just guidance. AHEAD is embedded through degree re-validation processes, and the ELEVATE team was named Team of the Year at the Gen AI in Education Awards 2026.
Elevate AI for Students
The Forging AHEAD AI Fellowship
Our first Forging AHEAD AI Fellowship brought 16 second-year business students together with employers and AI specialists for ten weeks before their placement year. Fellows tackled live business challenges and presented their AI solutions to employers at the Fellows Forum in Belfast. Two Fellows secured employment directly through the programme and several have gained project work.
Every Fellow completed with an Ulster University AI Fellowship Certificate, Professional Certificates in Piloting and Scaling AI from AI Academy, and the Ulster EDGE Award. The Fellowship is delivered with SmarterX (AI Academy) and the Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre (AICC).
Brink!
Where it started: in 2024 our students joined Brink!, Kainos and others for At the Brink: What Should Our City Do?, a one-day sustainability sprint for
Belfast.
@playthinkbrink / Visit PlayThink Brink
Elevate AI in Action
Discover how Elevate is making an impact. Created through Elevate's MWE Wellbeing Activation Project, in collaboration with Ulster University students, as well as 6th form and 1st year students in North Belfast, this video highlights our ongoing journey to tackle local wellbeing challenges.
Forging AHEAD Fellows Forum
Elevate AI for Industry
We work with employers, charities and public bodies that want to use AI responsibly.
You can bring a live challenge to our Fellows, mentor students, or explore what human-centred AI adoption could look like in your organisation. Recent Fellowship partners include Bytes, Vineyard Compassion, DAERA, CME Group, Impact PR, Micro Learning Labs and Seedling Learning. To get involved, contact the Elevate team.
Elevate AI: Taking a 'Human-Centered AI' Approach in Strategy Development at Vineyard Compassion
In a groundbreaking collaboration, Vineyard Compassion has been participating in the Elevate for Industry project to explore strategic and human centred AI approaches as generative AI's impact grows.
The project continues to focus on several strategic areas to explore the charity's operations in the age of AI. First, exploring policies and data protection measures so as to focus a more 'human centered' future for generative AI aligned to the charities core values. To empower the staff to enable this future, AI training sessions are being conducted, leveraging the concept of self-governing frameworks to guide use and non use in the application of such technologies by staff.
Another focus is the development of an AI Roadmap, which will be aimed at identifying current AI opportunities and help to plan future strategic implementations in key areas where values align and support the delivery of their vision 'to have a transformed and thriving community where poverty is uncommon and unacceptable'.
CEO Ricky Wright shared that "the aim of this pilot and of all of the charity's work is to increase human connectedness. Our values are toward building peoples' worth, hope, and dignity and through our holistic approach we can empower better outcomes'. Exploring how AI can be used for automating the mundane and bringing efficiency gains to processes that free up our staff to do what they do best, is a worthy goal and opportunity.
Looking ahead, the charity is considering an internal AI Council to better understand future impacts, toward guiding Vineyard Compassion in ethical AI use and continued innovation. For more information visit the Vineyard Compassion website.
