Keynote speakers

Biography

Rudolf F. Albrecht is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Innsbruck, Austria. He was the head of the Institute of Informatics. He was also Professor at the University of Graz, Austria, and Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, the Technical University of Karlsruhe, Germany, at the Aeronautical Institute in Nanjing, PRC, and employed as Research Specialist by Philco Corp., Blue Bell, PA, and the Siemens Research Center, Princeton, N.J. He earned his academic degrees from the Technical University in Munich, Germany.

His main topics of research were partial differential equations, computer architecture, knowledge bases, pattern recognition, mathematical systems theory, topological theory of uncertainty, on which he published more than one hundred articles in scientific books and journals. He is Honorary Editor of the journal "Computing", Springer Vienna, New York.

Biography

Ivan Bratko is professor of computer science at University of Ljubljana, and head of the Artificial Intelligence Lab of Faculty of Computer and Information Science. He has conducted research in machine learning, knowledge-based systems, qualitative modelling, intelligent robotics, heuristic programming and computer chess. Professor Bratko has published over 200 scientific papers and a number of books, including the widely adopted Prolog Programming for Artificial Intelligence (3rd edition, Pearson Education, 2001). He is member of SAZU (Slovene Academy of Arts and Sciences), Fellow of ECCAI, and a winner of the Slovenian Zois award for outstanding scientific achievements. He was visiting professor or scientist at Edinburgh University, Strathclyde University, Sydney University, University of New South Wales, University of Klagenfurt, Delft University of Technology and others.

Biography

Roman Jerala is head of the Department of biotechnology at the National institute of chemistry and professor at the University of Ljubljana. His main research interests are molecular mechanisms of cellular signaling of the innate immune system and synthetic biology. He has published more than 70 papers in the scientific journals in the fields of biochemistry, molecular biology, immunology, biomolecular nuclear magnetic resonance, and biological systems simulations. In 2009 he received the Zois award, the highest Slovenian award for scientific achievements. He has been the leader of Slovenian teams at the international genetically engineered machines competition at MIT since 2006 that won several times the Grand prize and best projects in health and medicine awards for the projects on artificial cellular signaling pathway to improve the immune defense.

Biography

Kevin Warwick is Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, England, where he carries out research in artificial intelligence, control, robotics and cyborgs.

Kevin was born in Coventry, UK and left school to join British Telecom, at the age of 16. At 22 he took his first degree at Aston University, followed by a PhD and research post at Imperial College, London. He subsequently held positions at Oxford, Newcastle and Warwick Universities before being offered the Chair at Reading, at the age of 33.

As well as publishing over 500 research papers, Kevin’s experiments into implant technology led to him being featured as the cover story on the US magazine, ‘Wired’.

Kevin has been awarded higher doctorates (DSc) both by Imperial College and the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, and received Honorary Doctorates from Aston University and Coventry University in 2008. He was presented with The Future of Health Technology Award in MIT, was made an Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, in 2004 received The IEE Senior Achievement Medal and in 2008 the Mountbatten Medal. In 2000 Kevin presented the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, entitled “The Rise of the Robots”.

Kevin’s most recent research involves the invention of an intelligent deep brain stimulator to counteract the effects of Parkinson Disease tremors. The tremors are predicted and a current signal is applied to stop the tremors before they start – this is shortly to be trialled in human subjects. Another project involves the use of cultured/biological neural networks to drive robots around – the brain of each robot is made of neural tissue.

Perhaps Kevin is though best known for his pioneering experiments involving a neuro-surgical implantation into the median nerves of his left arm to link his nervous system directly to a computer to assess the latest technology for use with the disabled. He was successful with the first extra-sensory (ultrasonic) input for a human and with the first purely electronic telegraphic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans.