Centre for Intelligent Environmental Systems

The Centre was established 15 years ago and specialises in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to environmental problems.

Over 15 years we have developed a reputation as an efficient and trustworthy research organisation. Testament to this are both our continued growth and our long-standing relationship, of over a decade, with the UK government  Environment Agency.

We have experience of applying a range of different types of intelligent techniques, from large Artificial Neural Networks to Rule-Based Systems. More recently we have worked on projects using Pattern Matching and Reasoning Systems. These projects usually result in software products built to analyse, in new ways, massive databases.

Pattern Matching or Cluster Analysis 

These techniques simplify large, complex data sets, thus making effective analysis more feasible. This is achieved by reducing the representation of large or complex blocks of data down into a single 'type'. These 'types' are derived by clustering records that share similar patterns of values.

Reasoning Systems

These systems model the relationships that exist in the real world. Initial expertise and/or knowledge is required to construct the model. Once completed these systems are able to provide 'expertise' to others in your organisation to help them make better decisions or more effectively guide them through a particular process.

More detail is available on the Centre for Intelligent Environmental Systems Mini Site

One of the major projects the Centre has completed in recent years has been the development of a pattern matching system (the River Pollution Diagnostic System) and a plausible reasoning system (the River Pollution Bayesian Network) for the English and Welsh Environment Agency.

These systems were designed to identify the causes of poor river quality in the UK and are currently being used to tackle some of the issues involved in the implementation of European Legislation.

For more information on the project, download the case study (PDF, file size: 149.08KB) .

• Dr Martin Paisley (Head of Centre)
• Dr David Trigg (principal researcher)
• Rob Buxton
• Prof Bernadette Sharpe
• Dr Wenyan Wu
• Sankaralingam Shunmugasundaram
• Emeritus Prof Bill Walley

Current Project

• Identifying Risks to Good Ecological Status. Environment Agency, R&D Project. (2009-2010)

Recent Projects

• Further Development of an Integrated Classification, Diagnostic & Prediction System. Environment Agency, R&D Project. (2008-2009). 
• Extension to Development of an Integrated Classification, Diagnosis and Prediction System relating pressures and ecological monitoring elements based on Pattern Recognition and Plausible Reasoning. Environment Agency, R&D Project. (2008). 
• Water Framework Directive River Basin Planning Project. Environment Agency, R&D Project. (2008). 
• Revision of BMWP scores. SNIFFER, R&D Project.(2008). 

More about projects

Recent Publications

Paisley M.F., Trigg D.J. & Walley W.J. (2010). Revision of the BMWP Score System: Derivation of Present-only and Abundance-related WHPT Scores from Field Data. In preparation. 

MF Paisley, DJ Trigg & WJ Walley (2010). Revision of the BMWP Score System: Site Type Variations and Scores for New Taxa. In preparation. 

Trigg D.J. & Paisley M.F. (2010). Identifying Risks to Good Ecological Status. Environment Agency Technical Report. In preparation. 

Paisley M.F. & Walley W.J. (2009). Identification of Macro-Invertebrate Taxa as Indicators of Nutrient Enrichment in Rivers. Submitted to Ecological Informatics. 

Paisley M.F., Trigg D.J., Martin R., Walley W.J., Andriaenssens V., Buxton R. and O’Connor M. (2008) Refinement of AI-Based Systems for Technical Report EMC/WP06 077. Environment Agency, Bristol. 

Full list of publications

For more information on the Centre, explore the CIES mini site