A Royal Astronomical Society Specialist Discussion Meeting organised by *Seb Oliver (Sussex); Ilian Iliev (Sussex); Mark Sullivan (Southampton)
Data sets in astronomy are becoming extremely large and complex, the research questions that are being asked of these data are also becoming complex and in many cases the richness of the data surpasses the level of sophistication of the theoretical models. Machine learning and AI can thus be used to augment physical models for practical applications (e.g. photometric redshifts) or physical understanding (e.g. galaxy classification, model fitting).
Meanwhile the UK government has recently identified artificial intelligence as a key opportunity (one of its four grand challenges) in the Industrial Strategy White paper. As a highly computationally literate community with extreme data challenges astronomy research could provide a very valuable environment for developing the skills and techniques the UK economy needs. This would provide a significant socio-economic impact, important for the sustainability of the discipline. This meeting thus provides us with an opportunity to share expertise and develop our skills in these important areas.
More information can be found here.
Admission to Specialist Discussion Meetings is free for RAS Fellows, £15 for non-fellows (£5 for students), cash or cheque only, collected at the registration desk. Admission to the subsequent Open (Monthly A&G) Meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society is open to all, at no charge.