Professor Lawrence joins the University’s Department of Computer Science and Technology from Amazon Cambridge, where he has been Director of Machine Learning for the past three years. He is also Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Sheffield, where he will retain a visiting position.
Professor Lawrence’s research interests are in probabilistic models with applications in computational biology, personalised health and developing economies. At Sheffield, he led the ML@SITraN group, and helped to develop an Open Data Science Initiative, an approach to data science designed to address societal needs.
“There’s so much expertise at Cambridge, in all aspects of systems and data: that’s why I’m so excited about joining,” Lawrence said. “AI and machine learning have the potential to reshape almost every aspect of our lives, but we desperately need more machine learning specialists, or else the promise of AI will not be realised.”
Professor Lawrence completed his PhD at Cambridge’s Department of Computer Science and Technology in 2000. He has previously held positions at Microsoft Research Cambridge and the University of Manchester. In addition to his academic research, he hosts the Talking Machines podcast and is a contributor to the Guardian.
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge