Dr Xilin Xia
Assistant Professor in Resilience Engineering
Staff profile for Dr Xilin Xia, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham
AI for Sustainability
Our AI for Sustainability theme aims to explore the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in addressing the world’s most pressing environmental challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and water resource management. These interconnected issues require innovative solutions, and AI offers new possibilities to tackle them at scale.
While traditional methods have provided valuable insights, the complexity of environmental systems demands more advanced tools. AI has already been applied in specific areas such as weather prediction, natural hazard monitoring, and water usage optimisation. However, these applications tend to be narrow in focus, limiting their broader impact on sustainability.
The emergence of Foundation AI presents a game-changing opportunity for environmental science. These large-scale, pre-trained AI models can analyse vast datasets and adapt to a wide range of tasks, offering the potential to uncover patterns across environmental systems, improve predictions, and support evidence-based decision-making.
Our research brings together experts from various disciplines to explore the opportunities and challenges of using AI for sustainability. By collaborating with stakeholders across sectors, we aim to develop the next generation of AI systems that can address environmental challenges, while ensuring that ethical and safety considerations are met.
Meet our BISCA Affiliates who are working within this theme.
Dr Justyna Bandola-Gill
Assistant Professor in Sociology and Social Policy
Dr Justyna Bandola-Gill is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology at the School of Social Policy and Society, University of Birmingham, UK.
Professor Iseult Lynch
Professor of Environmental Nanosciences
Professor Iseult Lynch is an environmental chemist working at the interface of chemical (and materials) pollution and environmental policy.
Gu Pang
Associate Professor in Procurement and Operations Management
Gu Pang is a Senior Lecturer in Procurement and Operations Management at Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham.
Dr Ning Zhao
Assistant Professor in Railway Systems Engineering
Staff profile for Dr Ning Zhao,Assistant Professor in Railway Systems Engineering for BCRRE
Dr Weiqi Hua
Assistant Professor in Energy Systems
Profile of Dr Weiqi Hua, Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Birmingham
Professor David Lee Butler
MTC Chair in Sustainable Manufacturing
Profile of Professor David Lee Butler, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham