Professor Robert F Harrison
BSc, PhD
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Professor of Computational Data Modelling


Full contact details
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Amy Johnson Building
Portobello Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
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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 º£½ÇÉçÇø 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 º£½ÇÉçÇø. On 1 January 2012, I was appointed to a Chair in Computational Data Modelling. I have acted twice as Head of Department, in 2008-09 and again in 20011-12, and, since 2014, have been Director of our Centre for Doctoral Training in Control & Systems Engineering.
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 short courses on machine learning as far afield as Chongqing, 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.
- Research interests
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Computational Data Modelling
Neural networks; machine learning; kernel machines; support vector machines; generalised linear models; clustering; dimensionality reduction; pattern recognition; data visualisation; 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; 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.
- Publications
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Journal articles
Chapters
Conference proceedings papers
st index prediction using joint and dual unscented Kalman filter. Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Applied Simulation and Modelling, ASM 2009 (pp 30-36)
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Other
- Grants
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Siemens plc, P Richmond, D I Fletcher, R F Harrison, 'S2AM Sheffield Siemens Advanced Multi-Modal Transport Demonstrator: Phase II’ (2017), £87,000
RSSB, D I Fletcher, P Richmond, R F Harrison, 'Ratesetter: Improving Passenger Boarding Rate And Reducing Risk At The Platform-Train Interface’ (2017–18), £124,000
Western Park Hospital Cancer Charity, V Parker, A A Pacey, R F Harrison, PR Heath, 'Predicting disease relapse and failure of primary chemotherapy in patients with Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia’, (2016–2019), £200,000
EPSRC, D A Stone, M P Foster, D Gladwin, D I Fletcher, S C Koh, R F Harrison et al., 'TransEnergy – Road to Rail Energy Exchange (R2REE)', (2016 - 2019), £1.5²Ñ
Rolls-Royce plc, A R Mills, RF Harrison, V Kadirkamanathan, 'Lean burn', (2016-2016),&²Ô²ú²õ±è;£44,031
TSB, A R Mills, V Kadirkamanathan, J Liu, R F Harrison, ' PreDICT', (2014-2017), £215,000
DEFRA, D A Lerner, P R Bibby, R F Harrison, 'Validation of trading estate runoff analysis', (2013-2015),&²Ô²ú²õ±è;£150,000
EPSRC/Network Rail, M Gilbert, CC Smith, RF Harrison, `Ultimate & permissible limit state behaviour of soil-filled masonry arch bridges´, (2011-2015), £468,000
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