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AI & Machine Learning

We develop new Machine Learning and Statistical methods that use mass behavioural data, to generate new research insights.

Human Behaviour

Our research focuses on behavioural analytics, methods that use mass datasets to help better understand the behaviours that underpin our daily lives.

Social Good

Our projects predominantly target social good, from modelling food poverty and health in the UK, to predicting risk of perinatal mortality in East Africa.

Transformative Research

About the Research Centre

 
N/LAB is a centre of excellence at the University of Nottingham in behavioural analytics. We  use Big Data, Psychology and Machine Learning to investigate mass datasets, targeting social good and to support interventions and policy decision making. We derive novel forms of demographic intelligence generated from digital footprint data streams, partnering with NGOs, government and multinational companies across the globe.

Example Research Projects

Some Recent Publications

Model Class Reliance for Random Forests
Variable Importance (VI) has traditionally been cast as the process of estimating each variable’s contribution to a predictive model’s overall performance. Analysis of a single model instance, however, guarantees no insight into a variables relevance to underlying generative processes… [more]

Food sharing, redistribution & waste reduction via mobile apps
Food sharing mobile applications are becoming increasingly popular, but little is known about the new social configurations of people using them, particularly those applications that use consumers as voluntary intermediaries in supply chains. This article presents a social network analysis of… [more]

Psychological Predictors of Plastic Bag Consumption
Despite the success of plastic bag charges in the UK, over one billion single-use plastic bags are bought each year in England alone, and the government have made plans to increase the levy from 5 to 10 pence. Previous research has identified motivations, but little is known about the individuals who are… [more]

The plexus of consumer analytics and decision-making
We develop the concept of exogenous cognition (ExC) as a specific manifestation of an external cognitive system. ExC describes the technological and algorithmic extension of (and annexation of) cognition in a consumption context. ExC provides a framework to enhance [more]

Some of our Project Partners