RDA-Microsoft Information Session: Global Community Priorities for Agentic AI in Research (November 13th)
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A global conversation about how AI agents can transform research
Agentic AI systems can independently plan, reason, and act with minimal human oversight, revolutionising the research lifecycle. From literature reviews and experimental design to data analysis and publication, AI agents can make advanced research tools more widely accessible.
This session aimed to determine community priorities for agentic AI development in research.
This session was open to everyone – no AI expertise required. We welcomed researchers, students, librarians, research data or software professionals, funders, policymakers, and members working in any other part of the research ecosystem. All perspectives mattered.
Agenda (45 minutes)
Background context about agentic AI – Understanding AI agents and their potential in research
Community examples of agentic AI use in research – Real-world applications
Discussion – Sharing needs, challenges, and ideas for how and where agentic AI could have the greatest impact
Ugochi Okengwu Associate Professor at University Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Dr. Ugochi A. Okengwu is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department, University of Port Harcourt, a scholar and researcher whose expertise spans Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and Environmental Informatics. Her research focuses on developing AI-driven and multilingual systems for climate change awareness, environmental monitoring, and sustainable development in Africa. She has led and contributed to several interdisciplinary projects, including Social Media Analysis of Climate Change in Africa, Tomato Leaf Disease Detection and Real-Time Data Capture Systems for Greenhouse Gas Monitoring. Dr. Okengwu’s academic and professional work emphasizes responsible AI, cross-regional research collaboration, and the application of intelligent systems to address societal and environmental challenges.
Talk title: The Prospect of Agentic AI in Crop Image Analysis
A community report (December 2025) on priority needs and challenges
A comprehensive blueprint (2026) identifying the most important area for agentic AI development in research
Note that all of this activity is conducted under the RDA guiding principles and all the results will be openly available to the entire community on the RDA web platform.
Your Input
We invited participants to complete our survey to share their priorities and perspectives on how agentic AI can best support the research ecosystem. The survey took 15-20 minutes, participants could save their progress and return anytime, and responses helped shape the community report and final blueprint. See survey questions (pdf). The survey closed on Monday 1 December at 23:59 UTC.
This initiative is collaboratively led by the RDA and Microsoft as part of our commitment to community-driven innovation in research infrastructure.
