̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Cambridge Big Data

Women in STEM: Dr Anita Faul

sc604 — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 06:00:00 +0000

I think the most fun I’ve probably had at work was when I programmed a movable camera to follow me around the room. I’m a mathematician by training and now work as a Teaching Associate in Scientific Computing, specialising in algorithms. I will soon be starting at the British Antarctic Survey as a Data Scientist, to which I am immensely looking forward to.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are very popular now. These are also algorithms, with the difference that often the numbers are interpreted as probabilities. So computers do not necessarily give an exact answer, but the answer that is the most probable in some setting. Computer vision has developed a lot in recent years. I've also worked in industry on various applications and particularly enjoy making connections between different fields. ̽��ֱ��challenge is to express the problem in mathematical terms. Then it can be tackled by algorithms.

With human learning, experiences change how we interpret our world. A levitation act will not fascinate a small child if it has not learned about gravity yet. Once it knows about gravity, it does seem to like throwing things down again and again, as any frustrated parent will tell you! Similarly, machine learning lets the computer have experiences in the form of data - lots and lots of data. While a human child can distinguish between a cat and a dog after seeing a few examples, a computer needs far more.

̽��ֱ��most important question is not how a computer arrives at a result, but why. Deep neural networks have had great success lately. However, their structure is so complex that a human cannot understand how they arrived at their answer. How can we then trust the answer? This can also lead to computers being easily fooled where a human would not be. This is something else that we don’t yet understand why. I'm interested in developing algorithms which are self-improving, learning from new data.

̽��ֱ��students are my teachers. They ask interesting, challenging questions. It is best to be open, if I do not know the answer, and go on a journey of discovery together. I might not know it, but I surely will find out. Students learn in different ways and I enjoy the challenge to find ways to make a topic accessible. Artificial intelligence makes the headlines often enough to be able to remain topical.

Collaborations are easy if one is willing. A lot of high tech companies working in this field have settled in Cambridge or have opened offices here. Additionally, exciting research is conducted in many departments across Cambridge using machine learning techniques. I enjoy pointing these out to the students who can then see what they have learned in action.

Have a go, you never know what you might achieve. When I was 15, I took part in a maths competition aimed at pupils two years above me at school, since my brother took part. I placed higher than him. He bore it gracefully. For me, it was a start to more and more opportunities opening up. If you do not try, you cannot succeed. Yes, there is failure, but then one readjusts and carries on. Lately, I have become more interested in post-graduate education in general, policies and procedures, funding and finances. ̽��ֱ��information is too dispersed, especially for those considering a post-graduate degree. I'm working on linking different sources of information.

Dr Anita Faul is a Teaching Associate at the Cavendish Laboratory and a Fellow of Selwyn College, where she specialises in algorithms. Here, she tells us about what it's like to teach at Cambridge and whether we can trust the answers that computers give us.

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£5.4 million centre will help transform the UK’s construction sector for the digital age

sc604 — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 13:19:13 +0000

̽��ֱ��Centre is a partnership between the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and the ̽��ֱ�� to support the transformation of the construction sector using digital technologies to better plan, build, maintain and use infrastructure. It will focus on the ongoing transformation of the built environment through the digital tools, standards and processes that are collectively known as Building Information Modelling (BIM). BIM enables the people building and managing our transport networks, cities and major infrastructure projects to take advantage of advances in the digital world to intelligently deliver better services and end products for UK citizens.

Led by Professor Andy Neely, Pro-Vice-Chancellor: Enterprise and Business Relations, the Centre builds on the expertise and experience of faculty from the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC), Cambridge Big Data, the Distributed Information and Automation Lab (DIAL), the Cambridge Service Alliance (CSA) and the Institute for Manufacturing. ̽��ֱ��Cambridge researchers work with a team of specialists from Digital Built Britain Programme and partners from industry and academia to develop and demonstrate policy and practical insights that will enable the exploitation of new and emerging technologies, data and analytics to enhance the natural and built environment, thereby driving up commercial competitiveness and productivity, as well as citizen quality of life and well-being.

" ̽��ֱ��Centre for Digital Built Britain will work in partnership with Government and industry to improve the performance, productivity and safety of construction through the better use of digital technologies," said Professor Neely.

“ ̽��ֱ��achievement of the BIM Task Group in delivering the Level 2 BIM programme has provided both the UK and increasingly a worldwide platform for the digitisation of the construction and services sectors. We welcome the vast experience and capability Cambridge brings to the team and the creation of the Centre for Digital Built Britain,” said Dr Mark Bew MBE, Strategic Advisor to the Centre for Digital Built Britain.

“ ̽��ֱ��construction and infrastructure sector are poised for a digital revolution, and Britain is well placed to lead it. Over the next decade advances in BIM will combine with the Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics, data-driven manufacturing and the digital economy to enable us to plan new buildings and infrastructure more effectively, build them at lower cost, operate and maintain them more efficiently, and deliver better outcomes to the people who use them,” said Dr Jennifer Schooling, Director of the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction. “This is a wonderful opportunity to put the breadth of research and industry engagement expertise from Cambridge at the heart of Digital Built Britain.”

̽��ֱ��UK is leading the world with its support of BIM implementation in the construction sector through its commitment to the Digital Built Britain Programme. By embedding Level 2 BIM in the government projects such as Crossrail, the programme has contributed significantly to Government’s £3 billion of efficiency savings between 2011 and 2015. Since 2016, all UK centrally funded projects require Level 2 BIM, which has achieved considerable cost savings for its construction procurement to date. Tasked with supporting innovation in the construction sector, the Construction Leadership Council has also put BIM at the heart of its sector strategy Construction 2025; which commits to cut built asset costs by 33 percent, and time and carbon by 50 percent. ̽��ֱ��Centre will continue and build on this transformative approach.

̽��ֱ��Centre for Digital Built Britain will be based in the Maxwell Centre in West Cambridge and will be formally launched in Spring 2018.

̽��ֱ��Government have announced £5.4 million in funding to launch the Centre for Digital Built Britain at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, which will help people make better use of cities by championing the digital revolution in the built environment. ̽��ֱ��Centre is part of a landmark government-led investment in growing the UK’s construction sector.

This is a wonderful opportunity to put the breadth of research and industry engagement expertise from Cambridge at the heart of Digital Built Britain.

Jennifer Schooling

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London Skyline

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Alan Turing Institute up and running

sc604 — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 00:38:40 +0000

̽��ֱ��Alan Turing Institute has marked its first few days of operations with the announcement of its new director, the confirmation of £10 million of research funding from Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a research partnership with GCHQ, a collaboration with Cray Inc and EPSRC, and its first research activities.

̽��ֱ��Institute will promote the development and use of advanced mathematics, computer science, algorithms and big data for human benefit. ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge is one of the Institute’s founding partners, along with the universities of Edinburgh, Oxford, UCL, Warwick and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). As of 22 July, the Institute, which will be based at the British Library in London, is now fully constituted and has begun operations.

Jo Johnson, Minister for Universities and Science, said: “ ̽��ֱ��Alan Turing Institute has set off on a speedy course to secure new lasting partnerships and bring together expertise from across the UK that will help secure our place as a world leader in areas like Big Data, computer science and advanced mathematics.”

̽��ֱ��Institute has also announced that:

Has appointed Professor Andrew Blake, who will join the Institute in October, as its first Director;
Has accepted a formally approved offer of £10 million of research funding from the board of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation;
Will work with GCHQ on open access and commercial data-analysis methods;
Is to collaborate with Cray Inc. and EPSRC to exploit a next generation analytics capability on the UK’s Largest Supercomputer for scientific research, ARCHER;
Is issuing its first call for expressions of interest from research fellows;
Will commence research work this autumn with a series of data summits for commerce, industry and the physical and social sciences and scoping workshops for data and social scientists to inform and shape the Institute’s research agenda.

Andrew Blake is currently a Microsoft Distinguished Scientist and Laboratory Director of Microsoft Research UK. He is an Honorary Professor in Information Engineering at Cambridge, a Fellow of Clare Hall and a leading researcher in computer vision. He studied Mathematics and Electrical Sciences at Trinity College, and after a year as a Kennedy Scholar at MIT and time in the electronics industry, he completed a PhD in Artificial Intelligence at the ̽��ֱ�� of Edinburgh in 1983.

“I am very excited to be chosen for this unique opportunity to lead ̽��ֱ��Alan Turing Institute,” said Blake. “ ̽��ֱ��vision of bringing together the mathematical and computer scientists from the country’s top universities to develop the new discipline of data science, through an independent institute with strategic links to commerce and industry, is very compelling. ̽��ֱ��institute has a societally important mission and ambitious research goals. We will go all out to achieve them.”

“ ̽��ֱ��enthusiasm and commitment of the founding partners have enabled the Institute to make rapid progress,” said Howard Covington, chair of ̽��ֱ��Alan Turing Institute. “We will now turn to building the Institute’s research activities. We are delighted to welcome Andrew Blake as our new director and to begin strategic relationships with the Lloyd’s Register Foundation and GCHQ. Our cooperation with Cray Inc. is one of several relationships with major infrastructure and service providers that will be agreed over the coming months. We are also in discussions with a number of industrial and commercial firms who we expect to become strategic partners in due course and are highly encouraged by the breadth of interest in working with the Institute.”

Professor Philip Nelson, Chief Executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) added: “I am delighted to see ̽��ֱ��Alan Turing Institute up and running. ̽��ֱ��teams from EPSRC and the founding universities have shown outstanding collaboration in bringing together five of our world-class academic institutions. We look forward to the Institute becoming an internationally leading player in data science.”

“Getting the most out of big data requires new methods to handle large quantities of information and the clever use of algorithms to distil meaningful knowledge out of such volumes,” said Professor John Aston of Cambridge’s Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, who is the university's representative on the Alan Turing Institute Board of Directors. “Research in this area could revolutionise our ability to compare, cross-reference and analyse data in ways that have previously been beyond the bounds of human or computer analysis.

̽��ֱ��Alan Turing Institute is a joint venture between the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, Warwick, UCL and EPSRC – ̽��ֱ��Alan Turing Institute will attract the best data scientists and mathematicians from the UK and across the globe to break new boundaries in how we use big data in a fast moving, competitive world.

̽��ֱ��Institute is being funded over five years with £42 million from the UK government. ̽��ֱ��university partners are contributing £5 million each, totalling £25 million. In addition, the Institute will seek to partner with other business and government bodies. ̽��ֱ��creation of the Institute has been coordinated by the EPSRC which invests in research and postgraduate training across the UK.

National institute for the development and use of advanced mathematics, computer science, algorithms and ‘Big Data’ has announced its first director, and will start research activities in the autumn.

̽��ֱ��Alan Turing Institute has set off on a speedy course to secure new lasting partnerships and bring together expertise from across the UK that will help secure our place as a world leader in areas like Big Data, computer science and advanced mathematics.

Jo Johnson

parameter_bond

Alan Turing - born 100 years ago, 23 June 1912

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Big Data – getting to the heart of the Information Revolution

lw355 — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 11:11:34 +0000

Our unprecedented ability to collect, store and analyse data is opening up new frontiers in science and the humanities, from extending our knowledge of how the universe is built, to creating new understanding of the genetic basis of disease, to discovering the impact of schools on pupil achievement.

It’s causing us to challenge not only long-held ideas about what is possible in research, but also to reflect on the value that we place upon ever-increasing quantification and the effect of pervasive data collection on our role as citizens.

‘Big Data’ has also been highlighted by the UK government as among the country’s ‘Eight Great Technologies’ that will help drive economic growth.

But what actually is big data? Collecting and analysing data on individuals, societies and all aspects of the natural world, is routine in research. So why the current preoccupation with the ‘bigness’ of data?

Part of this is the sheer deluge of data that we are now able to collect and store. Back in 2010, Google CEO Eric Schmidt declared that every two days we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilisation up until 2003. And that was five years ago.

Of course size doesn’t always matter – sometimes big data can mean large datasets that are incredibly messy, with missing or corrupt information, which requires complex mathematical algorithms to make sense of it all.

Another aspect of the current interest in big data is the realisation that just because we can collect data doesn’t mean we are making the best use of it. In fact, big data is often described as data exceeding our ability to handle it, and for which new analytical methods are required to extract useful information. But this is clearly a moving target, and research is urgently needed to keep up.

Recognising this, the government announced earlier this year that the new £42 million Alan Turing Institute, to be based in London, will carry out research in organising, storing and interrogating big data, headed by the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, Warwick and UCL.

A more subtle distinction that sets ‘big data’ apart from just ‘data’ is in the combination of factors that describe it, the so-called ‘Big Vs of Big Data’, including:

its Volume in terms of size, or the number of variables needed to describe it,
its Velocity, in how it’s collected and processed in real-time,
the Variety of its diverse, linked and unstructured datasets,
its Veracity in terms of where it originates from and how complete it is,
and finally its Value, and especially how the use, linkage and re-use of data can provide crucial new insights that may have been unforeseen at the time the data was collected.

Cambridge researchers are at the forefront of solving many of the challenges that big data presents. New machine learning algorithms are being developed, to the point that machines can now automate some very human tasks, like image recognition, reading and annotating text, or even writing documents in plain English.

For the very biggest big data projects such as the Large Hadron Collider and the Square Kilometre Array, Cambridge researchers are designing new methods to deal with huge data volumes and clever analytics to understand the fundamental makeup of matter and the origins of the universe.

Developing new mathematics and the algorithms to handle this data explosion go hand in hand with improving the storage and computing infrastructure underlying the big data revolution. Cambridge is home to Wilkes, one of the world’s most energy-efficient supercomputers, while scientists in the Computer Laboratory are building a test-bed data centre, where large-scale ‘experiments’ can be done in a safe environment to optimise the data centres of the future.

And what of the data that we personally generate in our everyday lives? Our researchers are asking whether what we share on social media could tell us about ourselves, how best to take the data captured in hospital records to improve patient treatment and if newly available datasets can be used to uncover corruption and misuse of public funds.

Questions of privacy, anonymity and consent are a crucial component of our research, and require engagement from governments, lawmakers, ethicists and, by consultation, the public. In a world where datasets can be linked together, where the breadcrumb trail that we leave as we go about our online and offline lives can be recorded, analysed and converted into a detailed picture of our behaviour, movements, actions and thoughts, a radical change to the way we conceive of these notions is taking place.

In order to make practical use of what we learn from these data, distillation and visualisation of the central information is key, and doing so in a way which is robust, comprehensible and actionable relies not only on advances in science but in our statistical literacy and a critical understanding of what the data can tell us, and what is left out.

And in the rush to convert our world into pixels and numbers, perspectives from the humanities and social sciences are needed more than ever before. What are the implications of data-driven hypothesis development for the practice of science, and for how evidence is used to make policy? What room does this data-driven society leave for aspects of the world that cannot be captured by computers? How does big data supplant or shore-up existing power structures?

To answer these questions requires a meeting of minds – between those working with the statistics, mathematics and algorithms underlying the new field of ‘data science’ and the computer scientists and engineers who are building systems to store and manage data, along with those who can offer perspectives in the social sciences and humanities to ensure that big data can deliver benefits in a sustainable and appropriate way. To this end, in 2013, the ̽��ֱ�� created Cambridge Big Data, a Strategic Research Initiative that brings together a diverse research community to allow Cambridge to respond to the ever-increasing challenges of big data.

Professor Paul Alexander (Chair) and Dr Clare Dyer-Smith (Coordinator) Cambridge Big Data

Big data has captured the world’s attention, with talk of a new Industrial Revolution based on information, and of data being one of the 21st century’s most valuable commodities. Today, we commence a month-long focus on research that uses, produces and interrogates huge datasets.

Cambridge researchers are at the forefront of solving many of the challenges that big data presents

Paul Alexander and Clare Dyer-Smith, Cambridge Big Data

Andy Wilkinson

̽��ֱ��Twingl mind

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Cambridge announced as one of five key partners in new national Alan Turing Institute

cjb250 — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 10:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��Alan Turing Institute will promote the development and use of advanced mathematics, computer science, algorithms and ‘Big Data’ – the collection, analysis and interpretation of immense volumes of data – for human benefit. Located at the British Library in London, it will bring together leaders in advanced mathematics and computing science from the five of the UK’s most respected universities – Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, UCL and Warwick – and partners.

Dr Cable said: “Alan Turing’s genius played a pivotal role in cracking the codes that helped us win the Second World War. It is therefore only right that our country’s top universities are chosen to lead this new institute named in his honour.

“Headed by the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, Warwick and UCL - the Alan Turing Institute will attract the best data scientists and mathematicians from the UK and across the globe to break new boundaries in how we use big data in a fast moving, competitive world.”

̽��ֱ��delivery of the Institute is being coordinated by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), which invests in research and postgraduate training across the UK. ̽��ֱ��Institute is being funded over five years with £42 million from the UK government. ̽��ֱ��selected university partners will contribute further funding. In addition, the Institute will seek to partner with other business and government bodies.

Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC’s Chief Executive said: “ ̽��ֱ��Alan Turing Institute will draw on the best of the best academic talent in the country. It will use the power of mathematics, statistics, and computer science to analyze Big Data in many ways, including the ability to improve online security. Big Data is going to play a central role in how we run our industries, businesses and services. Economies that invest in research are more likely to be strong and resilient; the Alan Turing Institute will help us be both.”

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge has a strong historical association with Alan Turing, who studied as an undergraduate from 1931 to 1934 at King's College, from where he gained first-class honours in mathematics. Research at Cambridge continues his legacy of groundbreaking work in mathematics and computer science, extending into many areas that he helped pioneer, including mathematical biology, language modelling, statistical inference and artificial intelligence.

Cambridge researchers will play a critical role in shaping the research agenda for the Alan Turing Institute, bringing in world experts in mathematics, statistics, computer science and information engineering, and linking to the research challenges of the future, such as the study of huge genomic datasets, or the development of the world’s largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array.

In 2013, the ̽��ֱ�� created Cambridge Big Data, a cross-School strategic initiative bringing together experts in a number of themes. These range from the fundamental technologies of data science, to applications in disciplines as diverse as astronomy, clinical medicine and education, as well as experts exploring the ethical, legal, social and economic questions that are critical to making data science work in practice. ̽��ֱ��research developed at the Alan Turing Institute will link to the first of these themes, allowing for a rich exchange of ideas within a broad researcher community, and a joined-up and multidisciplinary approach to the big data challenges of the future.

Professor Paul Alexander, who heads Cambridge Big Data, said: “Modern technology allows for the collection of immense volumes of data, but the challenge of converting this ‘Big Data’ into useful information is enormous. ̽��ֱ��Alan Turing Institute is an immensely exciting opportunity for the collective expertise of Cambridge and its partners to rise to this very important challenge and make a huge contribution to the future success of the UK economy, our ability to provide health and societal benefits and the ability of British universities to remain at the cutting edge of research.”

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge is to be one of the five universities that will lead the new Alan Turing Institute, announced the Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills today.

Alan Turing’s genius played a pivotal role in cracking the codes that helped us win the Second World War. It is therefore only right that our country’s top universities are chosen to lead this new institute named in his honour

Vince Cable

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Big Data

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