| Time: | May 13, 2026, 9:45 a.m. (CEST) |
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Online--> Please use the following webex link: https://unistuttgart.webex.com/unistuttgart-en/j.php?MTID=mba528edda0e89a55469967ddde04552c
We are pleased to announce our upcoming ELLIS Unit Stuttgart Distinguished Lecture Series talk by Mário Figueiredo (University of Lisbon)!
Title: Causal Discovery from Observations
Abstract: Modern machine learning excels at identifying correlations. However, to make real impact, we must understand causality, the “why” behind the data, and uncover the underlying causal mechanisms behind the observations. This is the core challenge in causal discovery. This pursuit of causal understanding is foundational for the next generation of AI. It is the key to building genuinely explainable AI (XAI) that can justify its decisions with causal claims rather than just complex correlations. Although identifying causal links traditionally requires experiments (interventions), this is often impossible, impractical, or unethical. The central challenge, therefore, is learning cause-and-effect from purely observational data. In this talk, after briefly surveying the field, I discuss recent advances in this area, focusing on the fundamental problem of distinguishing cause from effect (i.e., does X→Y or Y→X?) from bivariate data.
Bio: Mário Figueiredo is an IST Distinguished Professor and holder of the Feedzai Chair on Machine Learning at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon. He also serves as a group leader at Instituto de Telecomunicações and is the Director of the ELLIS Unit Lisbon. His research career spans a broad range of topics, including statistical machine learning, image processing, optimization, inverse problems, and increasingly, causal inference and discovery. His contributions have been recognized with the EURASIP Individual Technical Achievement Award, the IEEE W. R. G. Baker Award, the IAPR Pierre Devijver Award, the IEEE Signal Processing Society Best Paper Award, and with the grade of Fellow of the IEEE, IAPR, EURASIP, and ELLIS. He is a member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and the Portuguese Academy of Engineering.