PyData Cambridge - 38th Meetup

We are happy to announce the 38th PyData Cambridge meetup!

Agenda

18:45 - Doors open (Please do not arrive earlier)
19:00 - Introduction
19:15 - Introduction to Bayesian Optimisation - Tutorial (Panagiotis Petsagkourakis, Illumina)
19:50 - Interval
20:15 - Lightning Talks (Spaces for speakers still open! Please register using the form here)
20:50 - End (Pub - Old Ticket Office, Station Square)

Title: Introduction to Bayesian Optimisation - Tutorial

Abstract: Optimising expensive black-box functions is a challenging problem that usually requires quite significant resources to evaluate alternatives along the way. Bayesian optimisation (BO) can be applied in this context to enhance the sample efficiency and solve the optimisation problem faster. This is achieved by following a simple procedure of fitting a model to data and then using the model to decide where to collect data next. This methodology offers the best trade-off between exploiting the current information and exploring the space, with the ultimate goal of using only a small number of function evaluations.

In recent years, BO has become a popular tool in the machine learning community for the excellent performance attained in the problem of hyperparameter tuning, with significant results both in academia and industry. This success has made BO a crucial player in the current trend of “automatic machine learning”. Another important application is the “automatic design” of products, where every data point may take minutes to days, and searching for the best possible design can impact the cost of the operation.

In this talk, Panagiotis will give an introduction to Bayesian optimisation methodology followed by a short tutorial.

Bio: Panagiotis received his chemical engineering degree (silver medal award - summa cum laude) from the National Technical University of Athens (Greece) in 2015. He then joined the University of Manchester and the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science to pursue his Ph.D. degree in 2015. In February 2019, he joined University College London as a Research fellow for the EPSRC project on cognitive chemical manufacturing. He also joined Imperial College London as an associated researcher. Since August 2021, he has joined Illumina as a staff system integration scientist, where he leads the machine learning efforts of the team.

Lightning Talks
5-minute talks about a topic in data and open-source software/tools.
Spaces for speakers are still open! Please register using the form here.

Code of Conduct
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The PyData Code of Conduct governs this meetup. ( http://pydata.org/code-of-conduct.html ) To discuss any issues or concerns relating to the code of conduct or the behaviour of anyone at a PyData meetup, please contact NumFOCUS Executive Director Leah Silen (leah@numfocus.org) or organizers.