Mary Loftus

This keynote hopes to provoke a conversation about how we are building the critical thinking skills, dispositions and relationships we need – and our learners need – to navigate life in an age overshadowed by AI.


Mary Loftus has been conducting research for a number of years on how we can understand AI better, as it appears in ever more aspects of decision-making in our lives. One of the directions of this research has been exploring is how AI challenges our understanding, disposition and capacity for Critical Thinking.

Mary is a lecturer at ATU Sligo in the areas of AI, Internet of Things, Design Thinking. She also Chairs ATU‘s Athena Swan SAT because she wants to be part of building a more welcoming culture for women in technology. She’s a former CoderDojo mentor and IT Manager in a corporate setting.

At heart, she’s a learner and always looking for ways to learn with others. She took up surfing last summer and now spends quite a bit of time falling down!