Dear ICTP Community,
To explore the opportunities, challenges, and growing impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science worldwide, particularly in the global South, TWAS has launched a monthly Distinguished Speaker Webinar Series on AI and Data Science.

The next webinar will feature Prof. Professor Sinem Çöleri, who will deliver a lecture titled ‘Beyond connectivity: explainable and robust AI for 6G control systems’.

The event will take place online via Zoom on 8 September 2026 at 4:00 pm ROME time, in a 40-minute online lecture format, followed by a 20-minute Q&A session. Register here.

Abstract: Beyond connectivity: explainable and robust AI for 6G control systems
Future wireless networks are undergoing a fundamental paradigm shift from connecting humans and machines to enabling real-time control of complex physical systems. While 5G enabled massive machine-type communications and large-scale data acquisition, 6G is expected to transform this data into actionable intelligence for applications such as UAV swarms, collaborative robots, and cooperative autonomous vehicles. This talk presents a unified perspective on explainable and robust AI as a key enabler of control-centric 6G networks. First, we combine extreme value theory with generative AI to model, learn, and predict rare but critical events. Second, we develop optimization-theoretic AI approaches for robust and safe radio resource management in wireless networked control systems. Third, we explore the role of explainable AI in enhancing robustness, interpretability, and trust in safety-critical wireless systems by making AI-driven decisions more transparent and verifiable. The talk highlights how the integration of extreme value theory, generative AI, optimization, and explainable AI can enable the transition from connectivity-centric networks toward intelligent, trustworthy, and controllable 6G systems.

Who is Prof. Sinem Çöleri
Sinem Çöleri is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Koc University (KU), Istanbul, Türkiye. She is the founding director of Wireless Networks Laboratory, and director of Ford Otosan Automotive Technologies Laboratory. She worked as a research scientist in Wireless Sensor Networks Berkeley Lab under sponsorship of Pirelli and Telecom Italia, from 2006 to 2009. Her research interests are in 6G wireless communications and networking, AI-based wireless networks, machine-to-machine communications, wireless networked control systems and vehicular networks.

We hope you will join us for this event and take part in the discussion.

Best regards,

Giovanni Ortolani