AI Focused Centre to Tackle Environmental Challenges

A new Joint Centre for Excellence in Environmental Intelligence, created by a partnership between the University of Exeter and the Met office, will pioneer the use of data science and AI to solve global environmental challenges and promote the UK as a global trailblazer in this fast-growing new field.

The centre aims to create and support a global community operating in areas of research including climate change, clean air, extreme weather events and environmental challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Janice Kay, Provost of the University of Exeter, said: “Building on our existing strong partnership with the Met Office and unique expertise at both institutions, the Joint Centre for Excellence in Environmental intelligence will provide a step-change in our understanding of the complex interactions between the environment, climate, natural ecosystems, societies, economies and human health.”

Professor Stephen Belcher, Chief Scientist at the Met Office, added: “We live in uncertain but exciting times. Never before has the environment been so threatened, but never before, have we had so much digital environmental information or the tools to interrogate it. The joint centre will put Exeter and the UK at the heart of a new revolution of harnessing environmental intelligence for the benefit of the world’s environment and humanity.”

Sir Adrian Smith, Institute Director and Chief Executive of The Alan Turing Institute, said: “By bringing together cutting-edge tools - such as machine-learning and AI – with unprecedented availability of environmental data, this exciting new partnership is perfectly placed to develop innovative solutions to the multiple environmental challenges facing humanity. At Turing we are proud to champion this pioneering initiative in Environmental Intelligence while encouraging even further collaboration from across the breadth of the UK’s data science and AI sector.”

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