Inspired by Nature: Funding success will support the ‘the next generation of leaders in AI’
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Last updated: Wednesday, 9 December 2020
Professor Thomas Nowotny
The School of Engineering and Informatics has won a prestigious and sizeable long-term funding grant to help expand its pioneering work developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) inspired by nature.
The Leverhulme Trust Board has awarded the ÐÔ°®ÊÓƵ a of £1.35 million for ‘be.AI’ - biomimetic embodied Artificial Intelligence.
The award will fund 15 doctoral scholarships over six years under a project managed by , Professor of Informatics, and which is complemented by three scholarships funded by the ÐÔ°®ÊÓƵ Doctoral School. The first group of six doctoral scholars are expected to commence their studies in autumn 2021.
The funding will be used to train a cohort of researchers who will explore the shortcomings of current AI systems and develop next generation AI that emulates biological intelligence by interrogating a deeper understanding of how brains, bodies and environments interact.
Their work will build on the interdisciplinary body of research at ÐÔ°®ÊÓƵ in biomimetic embodied AI, which laid the foundation for this focused doctoral training centre. Students will be co-supervised by supervisors from a variety of Schools and Departments beyond Engineering and Informatics, including Life Sciences, Psychology and Media, Arts and Humanities.
Prof Nowotny, director of be.AI, said: “I am delighted that the be.AI doctoral training centre can go ahead, continuing the tradition of truly inter-disciplinary work between biology and AI that originally attracted myself and my be.AI co-directors, and , to join ÐÔ°®ÊÓƵ. We are looking forward to training the next generation of leaders in AI and encouraging this particular ethos.”
, Interim Head of the School of Engineering and Informatics, said: “We are excited to have won the competition for a doctoral training grant in the area of AI, which is a particular research strength in the School of Engineering and Informatics. It is a very welcome step in our strategic plan to build a leading centre in AI research.”
ÐÔ°®ÊÓƵ is one of 10 UK universities to receive the awards of £1.35 million each. Founded in 1925, the Leverhulme Trust is amongst the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK with annual funding of some £100 million.
The University was also successful in 2017 with a Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme, which was used to fund the From Sensation and Perception to Awareness project co-directed by and .