My PhD Confirmation

I’ve completed my PhD confirmation-the first major milestone in my research journey at Deakin Applied Artificial Intelligence Initiative. My thesis, “Towards Reliable Large Language Models for Open-ended Question Answering”, aims to explore how we can build more trustworthy AI systems that can handle open-ended questions effectively. Reflecting on this past year, I’ve found research to be both challenging and inspiring. Coming from industry, where the focus is often on “making things work”, I’ve learned that research goes one step further-striving to make things work in a new, creative, and impactful way.

I believe two qualities are especially important in this journey: the persistence to keep learning and working hard, and the creativity to explore new ideas. Their importance shifts over time-at the early stage, as I am now, persistence is crucial for building a solid foundation, while creativity becomes increasingly vital as the research matures.

Looking ahead, I’m excited to continue developing both qualities and to take the next steps in shaping my research journey.