Emma Hart (computer scientist)

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Emma Hart

| image = Emma Hart.jpg

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1967}}

| birth_place = Middlesbrough, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| residence =

| nationality = English

| field = Computer science

| known_for = Evolutionary algorithms, optimisation

| work_institutions = Edinburgh Napier University

| alma_mater = University of Oxford
University of Edinburgh

| doctoral_advisor = Peter Ross

| awards = 2018, Bronze Award in International Human-Competitive Awards (Humies)

| spouse =

| thesis_title = Immunology as a metaphor for computational information processing: Fact or fiction?

| thesis_year = 2002

| thesis_url = https://era.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1842/23042/HartE_2002redux.pdf

}}

{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage= | video1 = [https://www.contactengine.com/insiders-guide-ai-evolutionary-computation/ "An Insider's Guide to Artificial Intelligence: Evolutionary Computation"], Laura van Beers talks to Professor Emma Hart | video2 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtNI3DYFOVA "Emma Hart - Full Interview"], Sentient Technologies, Aug 16, 2018 |video3=[https://www.ted.com/talks/emma_hart_self_assembling_robots_and_the_potential_of_artificial_evolution "Self-assembling robots and the potential of artificial evolution"] TED talk 2021}}

Professor Emma Hart, FRSE (born 1967) is an English computer scientist known for her work in artificial immune systems (AIS), evolutionary computation and optimisation. She is a professor of computational intelligence at Edinburgh Napier University, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Evolutionary Computation (MIT Press), and D. Coordinator of the Future & Emerging Technologies (FET) Proactive Initiative, Fundamentals of Collective Adaptive Systems.

Early life and education

Hart was born in Middlesbrough, England in 1967.{{cite web |title=Emma Hart: Bio-inspired computing |url=http://minervascientifica.co.uk/emma-hart/ |website=Minerva Scientifica |publisher=National Library of Scotland, British Society for the History of Science |access-date=15 February 2019 |location=Edinburg, Scotland |date=6 November 2017}} In 1990 she graduated from the University of Oxford with a first class BA(Hons) in Chemistry. She then continued her studies at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with an MSc in Artificial Intelligence in 1994, followed by a PhD that explored the use of immunology as an inspiration for computing, examining a range of techniques applied to optimization and data classification problems.{{cite book |editor-last=Ishibuchi |editor-first=Hisao |title=Computational Intelligence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZhgCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA138 |volume=II |year=2015 |publisher=UNESCO, ELOSS Publishers Ltd. |location=United Kingdom |isbn=978-1-78021-021-6 |pages=138}} Her dissertation was titled Immunology as a metaphor for computational information processing: Fact or fiction?,{{Cite book|last=Hart|first=Emma|date=2002|title=Immunology as a metaphor for computational information processing: fact or fiction? (Dissertation) |language=en|publisher=The University of Edinburgh|hdl=1842/23042}} and her doctoral advisor was Peter Ross.

Career

In 2000 Hart took a position as a lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University, and was promoted to a Reader, Professor, and in 2008 Chair in Natural Computation. She is now director of the Centre of Algorithms, Visualisation and Evolving Systems (CAVES) group in the School of Computing. She continues to research in the area of developing novel bio-inspired techniques for solving a range of real-world optimisation and classification problems,{{cite web |title=Autonomous robot evolution cradle to grave |url=https://www.napier.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/research-search/projects/autonomous-robot-evolution-cradle-to-grave |website=Edinburgh Napier University |language=en}} as well as exploring the fundamental properties of immune-inspired computing through modelling and simulation. She is also involved in editorial activity and currently occupies the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Evolutionary Computation (MIT Press).{{cite news |title=Welcome Emma Hart |url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/blog/welcome-emma-hart |access-date=21 February 2019 |work=The MIT Press |date=13 January 2017}}{{cite news |first1=Emma|last1= Hart |first2=Barry|last2= Gardiner |title=Storm Damage to Forests Costs Billions – Here's How AI Can Help |url=http://www.brinknews.com/storm-damage-to-forests-costs-billions-heres-how-ai-can-help/ |access-date=15 February 2019 |agency=Marsh & McLennan Insights |newspaper=Brink News |date=29 May 2018 |location=Washington, D.C.}}

Her interests lie in the area of bio-inspired computing, in particular artificial immune systems (AIS). She also undertakes research in three main areas: optimisation, self-organising/self-adaptive systems, and artificial intelligence.

Hart is D. Coordinator of Fundamentals of Collective Adaptive Systems (FoCAS), a Future and Emerging Technologies Proactive Initiative funded by the European Commission under FP7.{{cite web |title=About FoCAS |url=http://www.focas.eu/about-focas/ |website=Fundamentals of Collective Adaptive Systems|date=30 November 2020 }}

Selected works

= Conference talks =

{{cite web |last1=Hart |first1=Emma |title=Lifelong learning in optimization (video) |url=https://euro2016.euro-online.org/index.html%3Fp=781.html |website=28th European Conference on Operational Research |publisher=The Association of European Operational Research Societies}}
{{Cite web |last=Hart |first=Emma |date=December 2021 |title=Self-assembling robots and the potential of artificial evolution |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/emma_hart_self_assembling_robots_and_the_potential_of_artificial_evolution |website=}} TED talk 2021.

= Journal articles =

"An immune system approach to scheduling in changing environments". E.Hart, P.Ross. 1999. Proceedings of the 1st Annual Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (2), 1559-1566.
"Exploiting the analogy between immunology and sparse distributed memories: A system for clustering non-stationary data". E.Hart, P.Ross. 2002. 1st International Conference on Artificial Immune Systems.
"Evolutionary scheduling: A review". E Hart, P Ross, D Corne. 2005. Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines 6(2), 191-220. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10710-005-7580-7
"Application areas of AIS: The past, the present and the future". E.Hart, J.Timmis. 2008. Applied soft computing 8(1), 191-201. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asoc.2006.12.004
"Structure versus function: a topological perspective on immune networks". E.Hart, H.Bersini, F.Santos. 2010. Natural computing 9(3), 603-624. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11047-009-9138-8
"On the life-long learning capabilities of a nelli*: A hyper-heuristic optimisation system". E.Hart, K.Sim. 2014. International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature, 282-291. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10762-2_28
"A hyper-heuristic ensemble method for static job-shop scheduling". E.Hart, K.Sim. 2016. Evolutionary computation 24(4), 609-635. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1162/EVCO_a_00183

Awards and recognition

2016, Featured article on Lifelong Learning in Optimisation, IFORS newsletter{{cite web |title=IFORS newsletter features article on Prof. Harts work on Lifelong Learning in Optimisation |url=https://www.napier.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/research-search/news/ifors-newsletter-features-article-on-prof-harts-work-on-lifelong-learning-in |website=Edinburgh Napier University |language=en |date=December 5, 2016}}
2016, "A Combined Generative and Selective Hyper-heuristic for the Vehicle Routing Problem" presented at GECCO 2016 (Denver, USA), ACM{{cite web |title=Conference Success for members of Bio-Inspired Special Interest group |url=https://www.napier.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/research-search/news/conference-success-for-members-of-bioinspired-special-interest-group |website=Napier |language=en |date=July 18, 2016}}
2016, "A Hybrid Parameter Control Approach Applied to a Diversity-based Multi-objective Memetic Algorithm for Frequency Assignment Problems" presented at WCCI 2016 (Vancouver, Canada), IEEE{{cite book |last1=Segredo |first1=E. |last2=Paechter |first2=B. |last3=Hart |first3=E. |last4=González-Vila |first4=C. I. |title=2016 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC) |chapter=Hybrid parameter control approach applied to a diversity-based multi-objective memetic algorithm for frequency assignment problems |date=2016 |pages=1517–1524 |doi=10.1109/CEC.2016.7743969 |chapter-url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7743969/authors#authors |access-date=22 February 2019|isbn=978-1-5090-0623-6 |s2cid=19364774 |url=https://napier-surface.worktribe.com/168850/1/Hybrid%20Parameter%20Control%20Approach%20Applied%20to%20a%20Diversity-based%20Multi-objective%20Memetic%20Algorithm%20for%20Frequency%20Assignment%20Problems }}
2017, Keynote Speaker, 2017 International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence{{cite web |title=Prof. Emma Hart invited as a keynote speaker at IJCCI in Funchal, Madeira, November 2017 |url=https://www.napier.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/research-search/news/prof-emma-hart-invited-as-a-keynote-speaker-at-ijcci-in-funchal-madeira-november-2017 |website=Edinburgh Napier University |language=en |date=November 1, 2017}}
2018, Bronze Award in International Human-Competitive Awards (Humies), International Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation, Kyoto Japan{{cite web |title=Prof. Emma Hart and Dr Kevin Sim win Bronze Award in International Humies competition for work on predicting wind damage in Forestry |url=https://www.napier.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/research-search/news/prof-emma-hart-and-dr-kevin-sim-win-bronze-award-in-international-humies-competition-for |website=Edinburgh Napier University |date=July 19, 2018}}{{cite journal |last1=Langdon |first1=W. B. |title=Human-Competitive awards 2018 |journal=ACM SIGEVOlution |date=2 January 2019 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=3–8 |doi=10.1145/3302542.3302543 |arxiv=1810.09416 |s2cid=53046528 }}
2018, Nomination for best paper award, GECCO 18, Kyoto, Japan{{cite web |title= Evolutionary Robotics Research Nominated for Best Paper Award |url=https://www.napier.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/research-search/news/evolutionary-robotics-research-nominated-for-best-paper-award |website=Edinburgh Napier University |language=en |date=July 15, 2018}}
2022, Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh{{Cite web |last=Thomas |first=James |date=2022-03-22 |title=Academic and artistic minds honoured as RSE Fellows |url=https://rse.org.uk/academic-and-artistic-minds-honoured-as-rse-fellows/ |access-date=2022-10-28 |website=Royal Society of Edinburgh |language=en-GB}}