Groups
Members of the EASy group are drawn from the School of Life Sciences (formerly Biological Sciences) and the Department of Informatics (formerly Cognitive and Computing Sciences) at the University of Sussex. The EASy group also has strong links and overlap with the Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics (CCNR) and the Centre for the Study of Evolution (CSE).
Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics
The Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics (CCNR) is jointly co-ordinated by Michael O'Shea from the School of Life Sciences (formerly Biological Sciences) and by Phil Husbands from the Department of Informatics (formerly Cognitive and Computing Sciences). "The central aim of the Centre is to exploit a two-way flow of ideas and methods between neuroscience and artificial intelligence in order to provide a new way of understanding behaviour generating mechanisms in natural and artificial systems. This synergy is reflected in the approach taken in each project and the emphasis on exploiting the relationships between the projects." The CCNR is an integral part of the EASy research group.
Centre for the Study of Evolution
The CSE is a multi-disciplinary grouping of academics, drawn from the various schools of studies at the University of Sussex, whose common interest is the study of evolution. The members include evolutionary biologists, biochemists, mathematicians and researchers in the field of artificial life and evolutionary robotics. Seminars are held weekly during term, with speakers from inside and outside Sussex. The CSE builds upon the ethos and distinguished contributions of Professor John Maynard Smith, who founded the biology school at the University of Sussex in 1961.
Life Science
In the School of Life Sciences (formerly the School of Biological Sciences, BIOLS) the life sciences are studied free of the constraints encountered when subjects such as zoology, botany, microbiology, genetics, biochemistry and experimental psychology are separated into discrete departments. The integrated structure of the School has enabled it to develop undergraduate courses and research interests in multidisciplinary areas where progress is most exciting, such as molecular biology and neuroscience.
Informatics
The Department of Informatics (formerly the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, COGS) grew out of a pioneering multi-disciplinary centre for research into intelligent systems and the mechanisms which underly them. Research interests within the department include simulation of adaptive behaviour, artificial evolution, behaviour-based robotics, cellular automata, classifier systems, computational neuroscience, computational neuroethology, parallel implementations of genetic algorithms, reinforcement learning, and synthetic behavioural ecology, as well as most areas of computing and artificial intelligence. The work of the Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems research group is directly relevant to this degree.