Professor James Marshall

Profile

Professor James Marshall is the Director of the Centre for Machine Intelligence (CMI) and a Professor of Theoretical and Computational Biology within the School of Computer Science at the University of Sheffield. With an interdisciplinary background spanning both computer science and biology, his work sits at the forefront of Bioinspired Machine Intelligence.

Research Focus: Natural Intelligence

Professor Marshall has spent over a decade reverse-engineering the behaviour and neural algorithms of insects to design highly efficient, robust, and understandable controllers for autonomous robotics. This approach, widely referred to as Natural Intelligence, differs fundamentally from standard data-driven AI. By directly modelling how tiny biological brains achieve complex, autonomous tasks with minimal energy consumption, his research addresses many of the compute and efficiency constraints facing modern robotics.

He has a deep interest in theoretical neuroscience, decision theory, and the collective behaviour of social insects. Throughout his academic career, he has been the principal investigator on major, multi-million-dollar research initiatives including the Consolidator Grant of the European Research Council, and Green Brain and Brains on Board projects, which successfully simulated insect behaviour and neural circuits on mobile computing hardware.

Translating his academic research into real-world applications, Professor Marshall is the Founder Science Officer at Opteran Technologies, a highly successful University of Sheffield spin-out company. Opteran is dedicated to building "naturally intelligent" machines by equipping drones and robots with autonomy modelled on insect brains.

Full contact details

Professor James Marshall
D204a, Centre for Machine Intelligence
Central Wing, Engineering Heartspace
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD

Orcid ID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1506-167X
Google Scholar
Personal website (BET Lab)