The University of Sheffield
Automatic Control and Systems Engineering

Professor Robert F Harrison
Deputy Head of Department
Professor of Computational Data Modelling

Photo of Dr Robert F Harrison Address:
Robert F Harrison BSc PhD CEng FIET
Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering
University of Sheffield
Sheffield, S1 3JD
Tel: (+44) (0)114 222 5134
Fax: (+44) (0)114 222 5683
Email: r.f.harrison @ sheffield.ac.uk
Room: B08, Amy Johnson Building

Biopic
Research interests
Teaching
Grants
Professional activities and recognition
Key publications since 2001

Biopic

I joined the Department as a Lecturer in 1987 by way of Oxford and Southampton universities with a brief sojourn at Harwell Laboratories. My original training was in acoustics and vibration but developed into control systems and then neural networks and machine learning to which I have devoted most of my professional attention.

I was promoted to Reader in Computational Data Modelling in 1998 following which I was elected by the Faculty of Engineering at Princeton University to a Visiting Fellowship in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and to a Fellowship of Butler College. I am a member of the editorial boards of a number of international journals and have served on numerous technical committees of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) and professional groups of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (now IET). More recently I was elected to a Visiting Fellowship at James Cook University.

Between April 2009 and April 2012, I acted as Director of Sheffield´s Rail Innovation and Technology Centre (RITC), a research initiative funded by Network Rail and drawing on research strengths across the whole of the Engineering Faculty. The aim here was to bring new technologies to bear on the ageing infrastructure of Britain´s railways.

I have delivered industrial short courses on machine learning as far afield as Chong Qing, where I am a visiting Professor, and Johannesburg, and have directed the Department´s Master´s Training Programme in Control Systems. Prior to this, I devised, implemented and directed two highly successful MSc Programmes by distance learning in Hong Kong and Singapore.

My research work has focused on the application of systems engineering methods in the biomedical life-sciences and some has won prizes and has been featured in the national press and broadcast media.

As of 1 January 2012, I have been appointed to a Chair in Computational Data Modelling.

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Research interests

Computational Data Modelling: neural networks; machine learning; kernel machines; support vector machines; generalised linear models; clustering; dimensionality reduction; pattern recognition; pattern classification; pattern discrimination; regression; function approximation; Bayesian analysis; Gaussian processes; system identification; Volterra series; polynomial models; NARX/NARMAX modelling; parsimony; sparsity control; covariate selection; model selection; structure detection; iterative majorization; majorize/minimize algorithms; minorize/maximize algorithms; kernel density estimation; missing/incomplete data problems; EM methods; extended Kalman filtering; unscented Kalman filtering; nonstationary random processes.

Applications: clinical decision support; identification of acute coronary syndromes; chest pain diagnosis; prediction of treatment failure and complications in diabetes sufferers; trauma prognosis; space weather forecasting; geomagnetic storm prediction; analysis of thyroid function; confocal laser microscopy imaging; analysis of biological pathways; tissue micro-array analysis; computational drug discovery; virtual screening; chronobiology; river catchment modelling; optimal therapy scheduling via non-linear optimal control; prognosis in complex technological systems e.g. gas turbine engine systems; meta-modelling of gas turbine engines.

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Teaching

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Grants

EPSRC/Network Rail, M Gilbert, CC Smith, RF Harrison, `Ultimate & permissible limit state behaviour of soil-filled masonry arch bridges´, (2011-2015), £418,000

Network Rail/TSB, HA Thompson, RF Harrison, `Energy harvesting and wireless sensors for remote condition monitoring of railway infrastructure´, (2010-2012), £160,000

Network Rail, R F Harrison, Establishment of a Rail Innovation and Technology Centre, (2009-2014), £400,000

Sheffield Hospitals Charitable Trust, Dr S S Cross (Genomic Medicine) R F Harrison, `Expression of cell adhesion molecules, matrix metalloproteinases and cell cycle regulator proteins in carcinoma of the oesophagus using Tissue Micro Arrays´, (2003—2005), £9,000

EPSRC, R F Harrison `A new approach to non-linear adaptive filtering´, (2001—2003), £86,000

DTI, R F Harrison, P J Fleming, N Mort, S Bennett, `Extension to Control Technology Transfer Network (CTTnet)´, (1998—2000), £150,000

EPSRC, R F Harrison, Rolls-Royce plc, `The inclusion of posterior knowledge in fault diagnosis´, (1995—1999), £324,000

SERC, R F Harrison, R L Kennedy (Medicine, Edinburgh), `Artificial neural networks in clinical decision support´, (1993—1996), £113,000

SERC, R F Harrison, R L Kennedy (Medicine, Edinburgh), `Neural network-based decision support systems which learn in real-time, non-stationary environments´, (1993—1996), £107,000

Scottish Office, R F Harrison, R L Kennedy (Medicine, Edinburgh), `Development of strategies for management of acute ischaemic heart disease´, (1993—1995), £116,000

Altim Medical Systems Ltd, R F Harrison, R L Kennedy (Medicine, Edinburgh) `Development of a diagnostic aid for heart attack´, (1992—1995), £95,000

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Professional activities and recognition

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Key publications since 2001

Harrison, R. F. and K. Pasupa (2010). "A simple iterative algorithm for parsimonious binary kernel Fisher discrimination." Pattern Analysis and Applications 13: 15-22.

Dodd, T. J., R. F. Harrison, et al. (2010). "The effect of the order of parameterisation in gradient learning for kernel methods." IET Proceedings on Control Theory and Applications 4(10): 2141-2151.

Ding, Y. and R. F. Harrison (2010). "A sparse multinomial probit model for classification." Pattern Analysis and Applications' Accepted.

Wilson, P. C., G. W. Irwin, et al. (2009). "Probabilistic classification of acute myocardial infarction from multiple cardiac markers." Pattern Analysis and Applications 12(4): 321-333.

Harrison, R. F. and K. Pasupa (2009). "Sparse multinomial kernel discriminant analysis (sMKDA)." Pattern Recognition 42(9): 1795-1802.

Russell, W., R. F. Harrison, et al. (2008). "Free triiodothyronine has a distinct circadian rhythm that is delayed but parallels thyrotropin levels." Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 93(6): 2300-2306.

Harrison, R. F. and R. L. Kennedy (2008). "Automatic covariate selection in logistic models for chest pain diagnosis: A new approach." Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine 89: 301-312.

Cross, S. S., F. C. Hamdy, et al. (2008). "Prostate cancer: a systems approach overview." Diagnostic Pathology 14(3): 122-133.

Bryant, R., R. F. Harrison, et al. (2008). "Ownership and uses of human tissue: what are the opinions of surgical in-patients?" Journal of Clinical Pathology 61(3): 322-326.

Wan, Y., T. J. Dodd, et al. (2007). "Kernel-based modelling of friction dynamics." Mechanical Systems And Signal Processing 22(1): 66-80.

Dodd, T. J., Y. Wan, et al. (2007). "Practical estimation of Volterra filters of arbitrary degree." International Journal of Control 80(6): 908-918.

Ding, Y. and R. F. Harrison (2007). "Relational visual cluster validity (RVCV)." Pattern Recognition Letters 28(15): 2071-2079.

Chen, B., R. F. Harrison, et al. (2007). "Evaluation of machine-learning methods for ligand-based virtual screening." Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design 21(1--3): 53-62.

Wilton, D. J., R. F. Harrison, et al. (2006). "Virtual screening using binary kernel discrimination: analysis of pesticide data." Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling 46(2): 471-477.

Kennedy, R. L. and R. F. Harrison (2006). "Identification of patients with evolving coronary syndromes using statistical models with data from the time of presentation." Heart 92: 220-227.

Hodgson, S., R. F. Harrison, et al. (2006). "An automated pattern recognition system for the quantification of inflammatory cells in hepatitis-C-infected liver biopsies." Image And Vision Computing 24(9): 1025-1038.

Cross, S. S., R. F. Harrison, et al. (2006). "The expression of receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa beta ligand (RANKL) and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) in breast cancer and their relationships with osteoprotegerin (OPG), oestrogen receptor (ER) and clinicopathological parameters." Journal of Clinical Pathology 59: 716-720.

Chen, B., R. F. Harrison, et al. (2006). "Virtual screening using binary kernel discrimination: effect of noisy training data and the optimisation of performance." Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling 46(2): 478-486.

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