Lilja Øvrelid

Research projects and/or fields of interest

I have been a permanent staff member at IFI since 2010, when I joined the Language Technology Group (LTG) and I have been the group leader for LTG since 2018. I was a member of the department’s PhD board for several years and I was the leader for the working group on research strategy during the department-wide process that resulted in the current department strategy.

My field of research is Natural Language Processing, a field that has recently experienced a dramatic shift in public attention and interest through the release of large language models (LLMs) for public use. My research these days focuses on development and benchmarking of  LLMs with a specific focus on the Norwegian context. I have extensive experience with research leadership and am currently involved in several RCN-funded projects, SFI(s), infrastructure projects etc. I am also the co-director of the Center of Excellence (SFF) Integreat. I am currently also leading a center application for the AI billion entitled “Norwegian Center for Language Modeling” (NCLM).

Aspirations and priorities for this role

• The field of computer science is going through a time of growth and increased societal demand. As a member of the department board I will aim to contribute to the systematic strengthening of our research profile based on explicit goals of excellence and societal relevance, based in the department strategy, as well as better communication of our research results to the outside world.
• Research excellence requires good working conditions. I also believe that improving the psychosocial conditions for conducting top research is an important area for the future, seeing that many employees report feeling overwhelmed in the recent work environment survey. Following up on this work will be a priority moving forward.
• Finally, the increased societal demand for competency in the field of AI requires our department to provide relevant studies both in terms of regular study programs and for life-long learning. I believe I have the relevant background to contribute to ensuring that our department meets these needs in the future.