Prof. Jaume Bacardit
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I am Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Newcastle University.

My research interests include the development of machine learning methods for large-scale problems, the design of techniques to extract knowledge and improve the interpretability of machine learning algorithms, known as Explainable AI, and the application of machine learning to life sciences real-world problems.

I have led the data analytics efforts of several large biological/biomedical interdisciplinary consortiums: APPROACH (EU-IMI €15M, focusing on Osteoarthritis phenotype identification) and PORTABOLOMICS (£4.3M EPSRC Programme grant focusing on Engineering Biology).

My applied machine learning work at the interface with the life sciences has always been interdisciplinary, collaborating with data generators to make sense of their data, be it on plant science [1], animal behaviour [2,3,4], basic immunology [5,6,7], engineering biology [8,9] or Osteoarthritis [10,11,12,13].

Interpreting how machine learning models take decisions has been one of Bacardit’s active areas of research for many years, way before the term Explainable AI emerged. Most of his early work was done in the specific context of an application domains but these works motivated the generation of general-purpose methods for biological knowledge extraction of panels of biomarkers [14] or functional networks [15].

I have published papers on algorithmic advances to improve the scalability of machine learning methods [16], tackling challenges such as large dimensionality spaces [17], large sets of records [18], postprocessing operators [19] or using computational backends such as GPUs [20,21] or MapReduce [22,23].

I have 100+ peer-reviewed publications, 6800+ citations and an H-index of 39 (Google Scholar, as of January 2024).

My PhD thesis dealt with the Pittburgh model of Learning Classifier Systems (LCS). Specifically, the thesis had the following objectives:

  • Improving the generalization capacity of the model
  • Reducing the run-time of the system
  • Proposing rule-based representations for real-valued attributes
You can download my thesis here

From 2005 to 2007 I worked as RA applying LCSs to protein structure prediction, in an EPSRC project called Robust Prediction with Explanatory Power for Protein Structure and Related Prediction Problems

Research team and visitors:

  • Knectt Lendoye L'Eyebe. PhD student, Neuroscience NUCoRE Postgraduate Studentship scheme. 2023-
  • Genevieve Moat. PhD student, Cloud Computing for Big Data CDT. 2021-
  • Philip Darke. PhD student, Cloud Computing for Big Data CDT. 2019-
  • Christian Taylor. PhD student (AHDB studentship) and now postdoc (MRC OCTage project). 2019-
  • José Verdú-Díaz. PhD student. 2023-
  • Sneha Sharma. PhD student (funded by FOREUM) 2023-
Previous members and visitors:
  • Yiming Huang (PhD student and later Postdoc, 2018-2023)
  • Conor Turner (PhD student, EPSRC CASE studentship. 2019-2023)
  • Jordan Connolly (PhD student, Portabolomics project, 2019-2023)
  • Paweł Widera (Postdoc, APPROACH project, 2015-2022)
  • Artur Sakalouski (PhD student, CRITICAL project, 2018-2022)
  • Federico Angelini (Postdoc, APPROACH project. 2020-2021)
  • Ossama Alshabrawy (PhD student, 2016-2020)
  • Jake Cowton (PhD student, 2017-2021)
  • Stephen Matthews (Postdoc, CATALYST project, 2017-2019)
  • Farida Mustafazade (KTP research associate, Orchard Systems LTD., 2017-2019)
  • Wayne Smith (KTP research associate, Rain Data LTD., 2017-2019)
  • Nicola Lazzarini (PhD student, 2013-2017, D-BOARD project). Now Data Scientist at Shryne.
  • Samuel Danso (Postdoc, 2017, APPROACH project).
  • Bart Craenen (Postdoc, 2016, CRITICAL project).
  • Maria Franco (PhD student, 2009-2013). Now working at Palantir technologies.
  • Anna Swan (PhD student, 2010-2014). Now a science writer for doctors.net.uk.
  • Xiaolei (Celina) Xia (Postdoc, Computer Science, June 2010-August 2011; LCSxLCD project)
  • Jesús Alcalá-Fernández (Visiting lecturer, University of Granada, Spain, May 2010)
  • Julián Luengo-Martín (Visiting PhD student, University of Granada, Spain, May-July 2010)
  • Nuria Macià-Antolinez (PhD student visiting from the Ramon Llull University, Spain, July-October 2010)
  • Álvaro García-Piquer (PhD student visiting from the Ramon Llull University, Spain, September 2010-March 2011)
  • Dan Andrei Calian (Undergraduate student. EPSRC Vacation Bursary and final year dissertation)
  • Maria Martinez Ballesteros (PhD student visiting from the University of Seville, Spain, June 2011-September 2011)
  • Alfonso Marquez (PhD student visiting from the Pablo de Olavide University, Spain, September 2011-December 2011)
  • Gualberto Asencio (PhD student visiting from the Pablo de Olavide University, Spain, November 2011-February 2012)
  • Andreu Sancho Asensio (PhD student visiting from the Ramon Llull University, Spain, April 2012-July 2012)
  • Isaac Triguero (Visiting PhD student, University of Granada, Spain, July-September 2013)
  • Pablo Gutierrez Perez (visiting PhD student, University of Granada, Spain, April-June 2014)
  • Ismael Rodriguez Fernandez (visiting PhD student, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, May-July 2014)
  • Juan Carlos Gamez Granados (visiting PhD student, University of Cordoba, June-September 2016)