Tagged / Data Science Institute

Invitation to the 20th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems (KES2016)

KES-2016

20th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems

Welcome to the 20th Year of KES Conferences!

We are pleased to invite participation in the 20th International Conference on Knowledge Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, KES2016 organised by KES International in the historic city of York in the United Kingdom.

The conference will consist of keynote talks, oral and poster presentations, invited sessions and workshops, on the applications and theory of intelligent systems and related areas.

The conference proceedings will be published in Elsevier’s Procedia Computer Science open access journal, available in ScienceDirect and submitted to be indexed/abstracted in CPCi (ISI conferences and part of Web of Science), Engineering Index, and Scopus (subject to confirmation).

KES2016 will be held in York, a historic walled city in the North East of England, founded by the Romans in 71AD. It possesses a wealth of historic attractions including an impressive 13th-century Gothic cathedral, York Minster, with beautiful medieval stained-glass windows, and City Walls that form a walkway on both sides of the River Ouse. The Monk Bar gate houses an exhibition tracing the life of 15th-century Plantagenet King Richard III.

The conference flyer and call for papers and special sessions can be found here.

We are looking forward to your submissions and welcoming you in York next year.

KES2016 General Chairs
Robert J. Howlett, Bournemouth University, UK
Lakhmi C. Jain, University of South Australia and Bournemouth University, UK
Bogdan Gabrys, Bournemouth University, UK

Three for the price of one: Keynote Talk, Outstanding Contribution Award and Media Appearance.

Prof Gabrys delivers a keynote talk at the KES 2014 international conference, receives the Outstanding Contribution to the KES International organisation award and appears in two popular Polish TV’s “Panorama” news programmes.

It was a very nice and productive trip to a beautiful Polish seaside city of Gdynia where the 18th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems took place between the 14th and 17th of September 20014.

I thought that I was only going to deliver a keynote talk which in itself was a nice recognition of the ongoing work that we are doing in the areas of robust adaptive predictive modelling and data science and a great opportunity to talk to over 200 delegates from over 30 countries attending the conference but as it turned out there were some other attractions awaiting.

This very well organised conference attracted the attention of the Polish TV and the topics of data science, artificial intelligence or big data, all in the focus of our Data Science Institute at BU, were judged to be of considerable interest to the general public. Not only I had an opportunity to talk briefly about the conference topics during the TV coverage at the conference venue (which was aired in the evening news programme on the 15th of Sep) but together with one of the local organisers we were invited to the “Panorama” programme studio to take part in the morning news programme the following day (aired on the 16th of Sep). The interaction with the journalists and the production teams brought to my attention how important is our role in informing and educating about this very dynamically changing field and related technological innovations which have already had such a huge impact on our lives and will play even bigger role in the near future.

So whatever next, I thought. Well, there was another surprise around the corner. Though I have been involved in the KES International for a number of years it has come as a very pleasant surprise and an honour to receive the Outstanding Contribution to KES International award during the conference dinner.

An icing on the cake, you could say. 🙂

Data as Utility and Analytics as a Service

We are currently experiencing an incredible, explosive growth in digital content and information. According to IDC, there currently exists over 2.7 zetabytes of data. It is estimated that the digital universe in 2020 will be 50 times as big as in 2010 and that from now until 2020 it will double every two years. Research in traditionally qualitative disciplines is fundamentally changing due to the availability of such vast amounts of data. In fact, data-intensive computing has been named as the fourth paradigm of scientific discovery and is expected to be key in unifying the theoretical, experimental and simulation based approaches to science. The commercial world has also been transformed by a focus on BIG DATA with companies competing on analytics. Data has become a commodity and in recent years has been referred to as the ‘new oil’. We are entering a new era of predictive analytics and data intensive computingwhich has been recognised worldwide with various high profile reports highlighting the challenges and attempting to quantify its huge potential benefits.

In addition to our previously advertised Data Science workshop suitable for a broader audience (Data Scientist: The sexiest job of the 21st century?), this much more focused EPSRC IT as a Utility Network+ (http://www.itutility.ac.uk/) and EU INFER (http://www.infer.eu/) co-sponsored event organised as part of the Bournemouth University’s Festival of Learning will explore the value of very quickly growing data and feasibility of providing data and predictive analytics as services in various industries, public sector and academic disciplines.

The workshop will feature five invited 30 minutes talks to set up the scene for:

i) looking at the growing value of data and treating it as a utility; and

ii) feasibility of providing data and predictive analytics as a service on a large scale and across many industries and disciplines.

The talks will be followed by breakout interactive/discussion sessions in mixed groups with potential linking of partners for various follow on activities (grant applications, proof of concept projects etc.).

The attendance is free and if you are interested to join us please register following this link: http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/festival-of-learning/events/data-as-a-utility-and-analytics-as-a-service/.

Confirmed invited speakers:

Prof. Nello Cristianini, Prof. of Artificial Intelligence, University of Bristol, UK

Prof. Detlef Nauck, Chief Research Scientist, BT’s Research and Innovation Division, UK

Tom Quay, Director, We Are Base Ltd, UK

Prof. Trevor Martin, Prof. of Artificial Intelligence, University of Bristol, UK

Dr. Dymitr Ruta, Chief Researcher, EBTIC, Khalifa University, UAE

 

Date: 9 June 2014: 12pm – 6pm.

Location: 3rd Floor, Executive Business Centre, 89 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, BH8 8EB

Workshop programme:

12.00 – 12.45 – Registration and buffet lunch.

12.45 – 13.00 – Welcome and introduction (Bogdan Gabrys, Bournemouth University, UK)

13.00 – 13.30 – Prof. Detlef Nauck (BT, UK)

13.30 – 14.00 –Prof. Nello Cristianini (Bristol University, UK)

14.00 – 14.30 – Tom Quay (We Are Base Ltd, UK)

14.30 – 15.00 – Coffee break

15.00 – 15.30 – Prof. Trevor Martin (Bristol University/BT, UK)

15.30 – 16.00 – Dr Dymitr Ruta (EBTIC, Khalifa University, UAE)

16.00 – 16.15 – Break

16.15 – 17.15 – Breakout discussion sessions: i) data as a utility; ii) analytics as a service.

17.15 – 18.00 – Summary, recommendations and follow on actions.

 

Please contact the workshop chair, Prof. Bogdan Gabrys (bgabrys@bournemouth.ac.uk), if you require any further information.

Data scientist: The sexiest job of the 21st century?

UK Government has identified Data Science as the ‘transforming and growth driving force across all sectors of economy’ and named Big Data as one of the ‘eight great technologies’. With an unprecedented growth in digital content and data, as the digital universe in 2020 is estimated to be 50 times as big as in 2010, we have entered a new era of predictive analytics and data intensive computing. Data scientists are expected to play a key role in this data revolution and their job has even been referred to as “the sexiest job of the 21st century”. This EU INFER sponsored one-day open workshop will combine talks by eminent speakers, a panel-audience discussion, exhibition of projects, hands-on experience session with a number of digital devices and provide a chance to meet data science experts from academia and industry.

Please register at: (http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/festival-of-learning/events/data-scientist-the-sexiest-job-of-the-21st-century/) and join us during this exciting event.

Date: 10 June 2014: 9am – 6pm.

Location: 3rd Floor, Executive Business Centre, 89 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, BH8 8EB

Workshop chair: Prof. Bogdan Gabrys, Data Science Institute, Bournemouth University

Detailed program of the workshop:

9.00 – 9.15 – Welcome and introduction

9.15 – 10.15 – Prof. Nello Cristianini (Bristol University, UK), ThinkBIG : The Impact of Big Data on Science and Society

10.15 – 10.30 – Break

10.30 – 11.30 – Prof. David van Dyk (Imperial College London, UK), Big Data and Complex Modeling Challenges in Astronomy and Solar Physics

11.30 – 14.30 – Lunch combined with networking, exhibitions, poster session and hands on experimenting.

14.30 – 15.45 – Panel discussion: Is Data Science “the transforming and growth driving force across all sectors of economy”? Is a Data Scientist the “sexiest job of the 21st century”? (Panelists to include the keynote speakers and a number of users and experts from academia as well as public and private sectors)

15.45 – 16.00 – Break

16.00 – 17.00 – Prof. Detlef Nauck (BT, UK), Predictive Analytics and Big Data

17.00 – 17.15 – Break

17.15 – 18.00 – Prof. Bogdan Gabrys (Bournemouth University, UK), Data Science at BU

 

Information about invited keynote talks and speakers:

Talk 1: ThinkBIG: The Impact of Big Data on Science and Society by Prof. Nello Cristianini, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, Bristol University

Abstract: Computers can now do things that their programmers cannot explain or understand: today’s Artificial Intelligence has found a way to bypass the need for understanding a phenomenon before we can replicate it in a computer. The technology that made this possible is called machine learning: a method to program computers by showing them examples of the desired behaviour. And the fuel that powers it all is DATA. Lots of it.

For this reason, data has been called the new oil: a new natural resource, that businesses and scientists alike can leverage, by feeding it to massive learning computers to do things that we do not understand well enough to implement them with a traditional program. This new way of working is all about predicting, not explaining. It is about knowing what a new drug will do to a patient, not why. But: was not science meant to help us make sense of the world? Or is it just meant to deliver good predictions? And let us remember that the fuel that powers this revolution is very often our own personal data, and that we still do not have a clear cultural framework to think about this.

Short Bio Note: Nello Cristianini is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Bristol. His current research covers the large scale analysis of media content (news and social media), using various AI methods, and the implications of Big Data.

Cristianini is the co-author of two widely known books in machine learning, “An Introduction to Support Vector Machines” and “Kernel Methods for Pattern Analysis” and of a book in bioinformatics “Introduction to Computational Genomics”. He is also a former recipient of the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and a current holder of a European Research Council Advanced Grant.

Talk 2: Big Data and Complex Modeling Challenges in Astronomy and Solar Physics by Prof. David van Dyk, Professor of Statistics, Imperial College London

Abstract: In recent years, technological advances have dramatically increased the quality and quantity of data available to astronomers.  Newly launched or soon-to-be launched space-based telescopes are tailored to data-collection challenges associated with specific scientific goals. These instruments provide massive new surveys resulting in new catalogs containing terabytes of data, high resolution spectrography and imaging across the electromagnetic spectrum, and incredibly detailed movies of dynamic and explosive processes in the solar atmosphere. These new data streams are helping scientists make impressive strides in our understanding of the physical universe, but at the same time generating massive data-analytic and data-mining challenges for scientists who study the resulting data. This talk will give an overview of a number of statistical challenges that arise form big data and complex models in astronomy and solar physics.

Short Bio Note: David van Dyk is a Professor in the Statistics Section of the Department of Mathematics at Imperial College London. After obtaining his PhD from the University of Chicago, he held faculty positions at Harvard University and the University of California, Irvine before relocating to London in 2011. Professor van Dyk was elected Fellow in the American Statistical Association in 2006, elected Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in 2010, received a Wolfson Merit Award in 2011, and was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Statistical Association (2015-17). His scholarly work focuses on methodological and computational issues involved with Bayesian analysis of highly structured statistical models and emphasizes serious interdisciplinary research, especially in astronomy. He founded and coordinates the CHASC International Astrostatistics Center and is particularly interested in improving the efficiency of computationally intensive methods involving data augmentation, such as EM-type algorithms and various Markov chain Monte Carlo methods.

Talk 3: Predictive Analytics and Big Data by Prof Dr Detlef Nauck, Chief Research Scientist, BT

Abstract: Detlef’s research focuses on exploiting large operational data sources to improve BT’s systems, networks and processes. The ultimate goal is the introduction of autonomic systems into operations that can learn from historic data to self- improve, self-configure and self-heal. In his presentation, Detlef will discuss how the application of predictive analytics to operational data has led to a number of solutions in BT’s operations that predict performance of networks, systems and processes, and forecast expected demand. Detlef will also discuss some current research topics at BT, which range from automatic discovery of patterns, to autonomic behaviour in processes and systems, to the challenges of exploiting Big Data.

Short Bio Note: Detlef Nauck is a Chief Research Scientist with BT’s Research and Innovation Division located at Adastral Park, Ipswich, UK. He is leading a group of international scientists working on Intelligent Data Analysis and Autonomic Systems. He is a Visiting Professor at Bournemouth University and a Private Docent at the Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, Germany. Detlef holds an MSc (1990) and a PhD (1994) in Computer Science both from the University of Braunschweig, Germany. He also holds a Habilitation (post-doctoral degree) in Computer Science from the Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, Germany (2000). Detlef has published over 120 papers, holds 4 patents and 20 active patent applications.