Multi-disciplinary Optimisation and Data Mining at Birmingham

伯明翰大学致力于跨不同学科的合作是通过其研究战略确立的，并体现在其合作研究网络(CRN)中。该战略认识到，跨学校研究很难启动、推广，并最终难以持续。该战略以各学科的突出优势为基础，确定了九个主要的跨学科研究专题和四个有利的技术专题(www.research.bham.ac.uk)，并利用协作研究网络促进每个专题内的跨学科工作。每个CRN都有一名学术冠军，作为该网络的倡导者，促进和促进跨学科研究(IDR)。这种促进多学科工作的战略方法提供了坚实的基础，并使大学处于潜在的独特地位，可以利用这一机会。CRN和相关的IDR活动强调了该大学支持和提供IDR的战略和能力，这项建议寻求资金来开发途径，通过这些途径在计算机科学、数学、工程、化学和心理学等学科之间建立更深入和可持续的合作，为当前和未来的倡议增加重大价值。这项提议将支持信息学、通信技术、分子和材料、运输技术、可持续环境、能源和资源以及成像和可视化CRN之间的联系。这项提议的重点是优化和数据挖掘，它们低估了不同学科中的许多现实世界挑战，特别是在我们由于技术进步而收集越来越多数据的情况下。这些优化和数据挖掘问题中的大多数都不能由任何单一学科的研究人员有效地解决，因为只有在问题领域以及适用的技术/算法方面有深入的知识才能找到好的解决方案。至少需要涉及两个不同的学科。这项建议将把人们聚集在一起，使他们能够相互交流，为他们提供深入互动的时间和空间，为他们提供论坛，以确定长期和基本的研究挑战，创造促进多学科研究的环境和文化，并使他们能够制定可持续的研究计划和撰写高质量的拨款申请。

The University of Birmingham's commitment to collaboration across different disciplines is established through its Research Strategy and embodied in its Collaborative Research Networks (CRNs). The Strategy recognises that cross-School research is difficult to initiate, promote and ultimately to sustain. Building on the exceptional strengths within the disciplines, the Strategy identifies nine major cross-disciplinary research themes and four enabling technology themes (www.research.bham.ac.uk) and the use of Collaborative Research Networks to promote interdisciplinary working within each of the themes. Each CRN has an academic Champion who acts as advocate for the Network, promoting and fostering interdisciplinary research (IDR). Such a strategic approach to the promotion of multidisciplinary working provides a strong foundation and puts the University in a potentially unique position to take advantage of this opportunity. The CRNs and associated IDR activities underline the University's strategy and ability to support and deliver IDR and this proposal seeks funds to develop routes by which deeper and sustainable collaborations can be built upon such a foundation among the disciplines of Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, Chemistry and Psychology, adding significant value to current and future initiatives. This proposal will support linkages between the Informatics, Communications Technologies, Molecules & Materials, Transport Technology, Sustainable Environment, Energy and Resources, and Imaging and Visualisation CRNs. The focus of this proposal is on optimisation and data mining, which underly numerous real world challenges in different disciplines, especially as we collect more and more data due to the advance in technologies. Most of these optimisation and data mining problems cannot be tackled effectively by researchers from any single disciplines, because a good solution can only be found with in-depth knowledge in both the problem domain as well as the techniques/algorithms that are applicable. At least two different disciplines need to be involved.This proposal will bring people together, enable them to communicate with other, make available time and space for them to interact intensively, provide forums from them to identify long-term and fundamental research challenges, create an environment and culture that foster multidisciplinary research, and enables them to develop sustained research programmes and write high-quality grant proposals.