Mark A. O'Neill (born 3 November 1959) is an English

computational biologist Computational biology refers to the use of data analysis, mathematical modeling and computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer science, biology, and big data, the field also has fo ...

with interests in

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

systems biology Systems biology is the computational modeling, computational and mathematical analysis and modeling of complex biological systems. It is a biology-based interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on complex interactions within biological syst ...

complex systems A complex system is a system composed of many components which may interact with each other. Examples of complex systems are Earth's global climate, organisms, the human brain, infrastructure such as power grid, transportation or communication s ...

and

image analysis Image analysis or imagery analysis is the extraction of meaningful information from images; mainly from digital images by means of digital image processing techniques. Image analysis tasks can be as simple as reading bar coded tags or as sophi ...

. He is the creator and lead programmer on a number of computational projects including the

Digital Automated Identification SYstem (DAISY) Digital automated identification system (DAISY) is an automated species identification system optimised for the rapid screening of invertebrates (e.g. insects) by non-experts (e.g. parataxonomists). It was developed by Dr. Mark O'Neill during th ...

for

automated species identification Automated species identification is a method of making the expertise of Taxonomy (biology), taxonomists available to ecologists, parataxonomy, parataxonomists and others via digital technology and artificial intelligence. Today, most automated ide ...

and PUPS P3, an

organic computing Organic computing is computing that behaves and interacts with humans in an organic manner. The term "organic" is used to describe the system's behavior, and does not imply that they are constructed from organic materials. It is based on the insi ...

environment for

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

Education

O'Neill was educated at

The King's School, Grantham The King's School is a British grammar school with academy status, in the market town of Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. The school's history can be traced to 1329, and was re-endowed by Richard Foxe in 1528. Located on Brook Street, the sch ...

Sheffield University , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

and

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

Research interests

O'Neill's interests lie at the interface of biology and computing. He has worked in the areas of artificial life and

biologically inspired computing Bio-inspired computing, short for biologically inspired computing, is a field of study which seeks to solve computer science problems using models of biology. It relates to connectionism, social behavior, and emergence. Within computer science, ...

. In particular, he has attempted to answer the question "can one create

software agents In computer science, a software agent or software AI is a computer program that acts for a user or other program in a relationship of agency, which derives from the Latin ''agere'' (to do): an agreement to act on one's behalf. Such "action on behal ...

which are capable of carrying a useful computational payload which respond to their environment with the flexibility of a living

organism In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and ...

?" He has also investigated how computational methods may be used to analyze biological and quasi biological systems for example:

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

s and economies. O'Neill is also interested in

ethology Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. Behaviourism as a term also describes the scientific and objectiv ...

, especially the emergent social ecosystems which occur as a result of

social networking A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

on the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

. His recent projects include the use of artificial intelligence techniques to look at complex socio-economic data. On the computer science front, O'Neill continues to develop and contribute to a number of other

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

and commercial software projects and is involved in the design of cluster/parallel computer hardware via his company
Tumbling Dice Ltd
Long-running projects include DAISY; PUPS P3 an organic computing environment for Linux; Cryopid, a Linux process freezer; th
[Mensor digital terrain model generation system]
and RanaVision, a vision based motion detection system. He has also worked with public domain agent based social interaction models such as

Sugarscape Sugarscape is a model for artificially intelligent agent-based social simulation following some or all rules presented by Joshua M. Epstein & Robert Axtell in their book ''Growing Artificial Societies''. Origin Fundaments of Sugarscape models can ...

and artificial life simulators, for example physis, which is a development of

Tierra Tierra may refer to: Astronomy *Earth in the Spanish and Asturian language Computing and games * Tierra (computer simulation), a computer simulation of life by the ecologist Thomas S. Ray * Tierra Entertainment, now known as AGD Interactive, a ...

. O'Neill has been a keen naturalist since childhood. In addition to his interests in complex systems and computer science, he is a member of the

Royal Entomological Society The Royal Entomological Society is devoted to the study of insects. Its aims are to disseminate information about insects and improving communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological Society of London ...

and an expert in the rearing and ecology of

hawk moth The Sphingidae are a family of moths (Lepidoptera) called sphinx moths, also colloquially known as hawk moths, with many of their caterpillars known as “hornworms”; it includes about 1,450 species. It is best represented in the tropics, but ...

s. He is also currently convenor of th
[Electronic and Computing Technology Special Interest Group]
(SIG) for the Royal Entomological Society. He is also interested in the use of

precision agriculture Precision agriculture (PA) is a farming management strategy based on observing, measuring and responding to temporal and spatial variability to improve agricultural production sustainability. It is used in both crop and livestock production. P ...

methodologies to monitor agri- ecosystems, and has been an active participant in a series of projects looking at the automatic tracking of

bumblebees A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...

, and other insects using vision, and using both

network analysis Network analysis can refer to: * Network theory, the analysis of relations through mathematical graphs ** Social network analysis, network theory applied to social relations * Network analysis (electrical circuits) See also *Network planning and ...

and

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth ...

techniques to monitor ecosystem health. Latterly, he has become interested in applying these techniques in the commercial sphere to look at issues of

corporate responsibility Corporate responsibility is a term which has come to characterize a family of professional disciplines intended to help a corporation stay competitive by maintaining accountability to its four main stakeholder groups: customers, employees, shareh ...

and

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

in industries like mining and agriculture which have significant ecological footprints. He has also been involved in both computational neuroscience and

, the former association resulting in many papers while working at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. Work in the latter area led to the successful flotation in 2007 of a systems biology company, e-Therapeutics, where O'Neill was a senior scientist, assisted with the establishment of the company, and was named in a number of seminal

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

s. O'Neill is a fellow of the

British Computer Society Sir Maurice Wilkes served as the first President of BCS in 1957 BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, known as the British Computer Society until 2009, is a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in infor ...

, the

Institute of Engineering and Technology The Institute of Engineering and Technology, Lucknow (IET, Lucknow) is a state government-funded technical institute in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is a constituent college of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University (erstwhile Uttar ...

, and the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

. He is also a chartered engineer, a

chartered IT professional Chartered IT Professional (in full, Chartered Information Technology Professional) denoted by CITP is a professional qualification awarded under Royal Charter to IT professionals who satisfy strict criteria set by the British Computer Society (B ...

and a member of the

Institute of Directors The Institute of Directors (IoD) is a British professional organisation for company directors, senior business leaders and entrepreneurs. It is the UK's longest running organisation for professional leaders, having been founded in 1903 and incor ...

. He was one of the recipients of the ''BCS Award for Computing Technology'' in 1992.

Publications

* *

References

External links

Tumbling Dice

e-Therapeutics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Mark A. 20th-century British biologists 21st-century British biologists British artificial intelligence researchers English computer scientists Systems biologists Computational biologists Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Fellows of the British Computer Society Living people 1959 births People educated at The King's School, Grantham