Opteran Mind Award: hosted by the Centre for Machine Intelligence.

We are delighted to be welcoming Professor Andrew Barron, our 2024 Opteran Mind Winner to discuss his research. The Opteran Mind Award is presented each year to a researcher who has made foundational contributions to the understanding of animal minds, and in doing so helped to develop our capacity to develop new approaches to machine autonomy.

As the Natural Intelligence company, Opteran reverse-engineers the brain to develop new algorithms for robotics and autonomous systems. This award celebrates the pivotal role of biological insights and interdisciplinary research in shaping the future of autonomous technology.

This event is hosted by the University of Sheffield Centre for Machine Intelligence. Creating a better future through AI-driven research, innovation and education.

Andrew B. Barron: How to think like a honey bee

Advances in neuroscience are at last giving us insight into what it might be like to think like a bee. The honey bee has evolved as the consummate generalist pollinator, and has become perhaps the most important insect pollinator of our food crops. Here I will talk about how honey bees think, and how we know how they think. I discuss how their thought processes influence their flower choices, and how bees’ long coevolution with flowers has shaped a bee’s type of intelligence and the bee brain.

Speaker information

Andrew Barron is Professor of Comparative Neuroscience and Director of The Macquarie Minds and Intelligences Initiative at Macquarie University.

Andrew completed his PhD in Zoology at The University of Cambridge in 1999. He has studied the honey bee ever since. His research is currently supported by awards from the Templeton World Charity Foundation, The Australian Research Council, Horticulture Innovation and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the United Kingdom. He has held fellowships from the Australian Research Council, the Leverhulme Trust, The Fulbright Commission and The Royal Society of London.

His lab at Macquarie University studies honey bee neurobiology, specialising on understanding the incredible intelligence of bees and how such sophisticated social behaviour is possible with such a tiny brain. Half of his lab is devoted to the study of honey bee health and welfare to translate knowledge of honey bee sociobiology and neurobiology into better health outcomes for honey bees.

Programme:

12:30-13:30 - Andrew Barron
13:30-14:30 - Reception with light refreshments