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SUMMARY:Enabling intelligent management of the environment - Drew Purves (
 Microsoft Research)
DTSTART:20090702T123000Z
DTEND:20090702T133000Z
UID:TALK18601@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Fabien Petitcolas
DESCRIPTION:*Abstract*: In recent years all parts of society – individua
 ls\, companies\, governments – have become keenly aware of the need to c
 onserve the environmental life support systems on which we all depend. Whe
 n it is fully developed\, ecology will enable this conservation\, by provi
 ding reliable\, accurate models to predict how alternative human actions w
 ould translate into outcomes at the ecosystem level\, e.g. changes in biod
 iversity\, carbon storage and water cycling. But ecology is a young scienc
 e\, unaccustomed – and some would say\, not yet ready – to build these
  predictive models. In this talk I will present some examples of the compu
 tational ecology being carried out in our group. At least one project will
  be drawn from each of our research foci: ecological networks\; next-gener
 ation Earth System science\; biodiversity and biogeography\; and behaviour
 al dynamics. What these projects share is a methodology of combing pre-exi
 sting and new concepts and models with large amounts of data\, and an aim 
 of carrying out science that is both relevant to society\, and packaged in
  way that can be understood and used by as wide a variety of people as pos
 sible (whether fellow scientists\, policy makers\, or individuals).\n\n*Bi
 ography*: Drew Purves studied ecology at Cambridge University\, did a PhD 
 in ecological modelling at the University of York (UK)\, and spent nearly 
 6 years as a postdoc in the EEB Department at Princeton University\, befor
 e joining MSR Cambridge in 2007. Purves’ work\, which focuses on the dyn
 amics of populations and communities of plants\, especially forests\, has 
 been published in a number of top-tier scientific journals including Scien
 ce\, PNAS\, and Proc Roy Soc B. Dr Purves co-supervises several PhD studen
 ts at European universities\, and is an affiliate lecturer at Cambridge Un
 iversity.\n
LOCATION:Small public lecture room\, Microsoft Research Ltd\, 7 J J Thomso
 n Avenue (Off Madingley Road)\, Cambridge
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