Giovanni Montana, Professor of Data Science at WMG, has been awarded a Turing AI Acceleration Fellowship.

Professor Giovanni Montana’s project, Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning for Sequential Decision Making in Real-World Applications, aims to make advances in Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL), an area of machine learning which teaches artificial decision makers such as robots and software agents how to interact with the world in order to achieve a desired goal. By allowing autonomous systems to learn a wide range of skills without human intervention, DRL will allow them to be effective in various applications, such as industrial assembly lines and warehouse management systems, driverless cars and in decision making for the most appropriate form of medical treatment for patients.

 Giovanni comments “I am thrilled to have been awarded such a prestigious fellowship that will support an exciting research programme in AI over the next 5 years. The project will aim at developing systems of artificial decision-makers that interact with the real world and autonomously develop collaborative strategies. For instance, in advanced manufacturing, we’ll develop self-coordinating robots in assembly lines that can carry out many different tasks and adapt to changing environments. In digital healthcare, we’ll leverage large volumes of historical NHS data to create an artificial team of specialised clinical experts that can reason under uncertainty and make joint decisions about patient care.” 

Science Minister, Amanda Solloway said: “The UK is the birthplace of artificial intelligence and we have a duty to arm the next generation of Alan Turings with the tools that will keep the UK at the forefront of this remarkable technological innovation. The inspirational fellows we are backing today will use AI to tackle some of our greatest challenges head on, transforming how people live, work and communicate, cementing the UK’s status as a world leader in AI and data.”

Digital Minister, Caroline Dineange, said: "The UK is a nation of innovators and this government investment will help our talented academics use cutting-edge technology to improve people's daily lives - from delivering better disease diagnosis to managing our energy needs." 

EPSRC Executive Chair Professor Dame Lynn Gladden said: “The Turing AI Acceleration Fellowships will support some of our leading researchers to progress their careers and develop ground-breaking AI technologies with societal impact. By enhancing collaboration between academia and industry and accelerating these transformative technologies these Fellowships will help to maintain and build on the UK’s position as a world leader in AI.”