Professor James Taylor PhD, FIET

Professor of Control Engineering

Profile

James Taylor holds a Personal Chair in Control Engineering. He is Impact Champion for the School of Engineering and lead for Robotics & Control. He was group lead for Nuclear Science & Engineering (2019-24), Deputy Head of Engineering (2015-2018), and Director of Undergraduate/Postgraduate Studies (2005-2014). His research focuses on data-driven modelling and automatic control, applied to challenging, uncertain systems across robotics, energy, health, agriculture and the environment.

Professor Taylor is Co-investigator for Autonomous Inspection for Responsive and Sustainable Nuclear Fuel Manufacture (EP/V051059), Advancing Location Accuracy via Collimated Nuclear Assay for Decommissioning Robotic Applications (EP/V026941/1) and Novel High Performance Wave Energy Converters (EP/V040561/1). He has been Principal investigator for 10+ industry funded projects, with a focus on mobile robotic systems for remote handling and nuclear decommissioning. He was lead at Lancaster for the National Centre for Nuclear Robotics (EP/R02572X/1) and Adaptive Treatment and Robust Control (EP/M015637/1). He was Co-investigator for Technology Development to Evaluate Dose Rate Distribution (EP/N017749/1) and Developing an Automated Microphenotyping Platform to Unlock the Potential of Chemical Biology in Plants (BB/M004260/1). Earlier in his career, he was Principal investigator for Control of Nonlinear Systems Identified using Scheduled, Adaptive and State Dependent Parameter Models (GR/R94442/01).

He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET), sits on the Academic Accreditation Committee, and is a past chair for the Control & Automation Network. He is external examiner at the University of Southampton (MSc Systems, Comms), and has previously held program examiner roles at Bath University (MEng Integrated Mechanical & Electrical Engineering), Coventry University (MSc Systems, Control) and Loughborough University (BEng/MEng EEE). He sits on the Editorial Boards for three Elsevier Journals, Environmental Modelling & Software, Biosystems Engineering and Progress in Nuclear Energy. He is a member of the UK Automatic Control Council (UKACC) Exec.

He is the author of over 200 peer reviewed Journal and International Conference articles. His co-authored book on True Digital Control: Statistical Modelling and Non-Minimal State Space Design was published by Wiley. He co-develops the CAPTAIN Toolbox (MATLAB) for system identification, time series analysis, forecasting and control.

Professor Taylor arrived at Lancaster University as an undergraduate student of Biological Sciences in 1989, but graduated with BSc (Hons) (1992) and PhD (1996) degrees in Environmental Science, the latter in the area of control system design, supervised by Professor Peter Young and Dr Arun Chotai. He was Research Associate in Environmental Science for six years, before his appointment to an academic position in the Engineering Department, now School, in 2000.

Professor Taylor's personal web page has more information.

Selected Publications

Digital twin challenges and opportunities for nuclear fuel manufacturing applications
Bandala Sanchez, M., Chard, P., Cockbain, N., Dunphy, D., Eaves, D., Hutchinson, D., Lee, D., Ma, X., Marshall, S., Murray, P., Parker, A., Stirzaker, P., Taylor, C.J., Zabalza, J., Joyce, M. 15/04/2024
Review article

Robust Data Driven Analysis for Electricity Theft Attack-Resilient Power Grid
Khan, I.U., Javaid, N., Taylor, C.J., Ma, X. 31/01/2023 In: IEEE Transactions on Power Systems. 38, 1, p. 537-548. 12 p.
Journal article

Adaptive treatment and robust control
Clairon, Q., Henderson, R., Young, N., Wilson, E., Taylor, C.J. 30/03/2021 In: Biometrics. 77, 1, p. 223-236. 14 p.
Journal article

Robust and adaptive anticoagulant control
Avery, P., Clairon, Q., Henderson, R., Taylor, C.J., Wilson, E. 1/06/2020 In: Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series C (Applied Statistics). 69, 3, p. 503-524. 22 p.
Journal article

Dealing with observational data in control
Wilson, E.D., Clairon, Q., Henderson, R., Taylor, C.J. 29/05/2018 In: Annual Reviews in Control. 46, p. 94-106. 13 p.
Journal article

The Microphenotron: a robotic miniaturized plant phenotyping platform with diverse applications in chemical biology
Burrell, T.I., Fozard, S., Holroyd, G.H., French, A.P., Pound, M.P., Bigley, C., Taylor, C.J., Forde, B.G. 1/03/2017 In: Plant Methods. 13, 20 p.
Journal article

Development of a grow-cell test facility for research into sustainable controlled-environment agriculture
Tsitsimpelis, I., Wolfenden, I., Taylor, C.J. 10/2016 In: Biosystems Engineering. 150, p. 40-53. 14 p.
Journal article

True digital control: statistical modelling and non–minimal state space design
Taylor, C.J., Young, P., Chotai, A. 08/2013 Chichester : John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 360 p. ISBN: 978-1-118-52121-2. Electronic ISBN: 978-1-118-53551-6.
Book

Autonomous Inspection for Responsive and Sustainable Nuclear Fuel Manufacture (AIRS-NFM)
06/09/2021 → 05/05/2025
Research

Novel High Performance Wave Energy Converters with advanced control, reliability and survivability systems through machine-learning forecasting (NHP-WEC)
01/08/2021 → 30/09/2024
Research

Advancing Location Accuracy via Collimated Nuclear Assay for Decommissioning Robotic Applications
08/04/2021 → 07/01/2026
Research

Motion Planning and Trajectory Generation for a Robot Assisted Laser Cutting Manipulator
01/10/2019 → 30/09/2021
Research

Mobile Sensor Network for Deployment and Characterisation of the Environment in Nuclear Sites.
01/10/2018 → 31/03/2023
Research

National Centre for Nuclear Robotics (NCNR)
02/10/2017 → 31/03/2022
Research

Fluorescence spectra of alpha emitting isotopes for stand-off detector development
01/08/2017 → 18/10/2017
Research

FST CASE studentship: Development of a Coded-aperture Neutron Imager for Nuclear Decommissioning Applications
01/09/2016 → 31/03/2019
Research

In situ measurement and analysis of sludge using robotic platform
01/08/2016 → 31/08/2021
Research

GPR Integrated Mixed-field Imaging
01/04/2016 → 30/03/2020
Research

Adaptive Treatment and Robust Control
01/11/2015 → 31/01/2019
Research

Industrial Case Account 2015
01/11/2015 → 30/10/2020
Research

Alpha-induced Air Fluorescence even under daylight conditions
01/10/2015 → 30/04/2020
Research

Autonomous Mobile Robotic Systems for Remote Handling and Decomissioning
01/10/2015 → 30/09/2018
Research

The Microphenotron: Developing an Automated Microphenotyping Platform to Unlock the Potential of Chemical Biology in Plants
01/10/2014 → 30/03/2016
Research

Fast, smooth and co-ordinated control of a dual-arm manipulator used for nuclear decommissioning
01/01/2010 → 31/12/2012
Research

IPC, 7th IFAC Conference on Sensing, Control and Automation Technologies for Agriculture (AGRICONTROL 2022)
Participation in conference - Academic

IPC, 16th IFAC Symposium on Control in Transportation Systems
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Biosystems Engineering (Journal)
Editorial activity

Sensors (Journal)
Editorial activity

External PhD Examiner, Coventry University
Examination

IET Academic Accreditation Committee (External organisation)
Membership of committee

Chair, Academic Programme Accreditation Panel, IET (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

Co-Chair, IET Conference: Telemetry: Sharing Cross-Industry Experiences
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Chair, Academic Programme Accreditation Panel, IET (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

Chair, Academic Programme Accreditation Panel, IET (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

Academic Appointment Committee, KU Leuven
Visiting an external academic institution

IET Executive Committee, Design & Manufacturing Sector (External organisation)
Membership of committee

External PhD Examiner, Cambridge University
Examination

External PhD Examiner, Birmingham University
Examination

Invited Keynote Speaker, 13th IFAC Workshop on Adaptive & Learning Control Systems (ALCOS)
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Academic Programme Accreditation Panel, IET (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

Engineering Accreditation Board (External organisation)
Membership of board

Academic Programme Accreditation Panel, IET (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

External PhD Examiner, Southampton University
Examination

IPC, 6th IFAC Symposium on Nonlinear Model Predictive Control, Madison, United States
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

IPC, 15th IFAC Symposium on Control in Transportation Systems, Genova, Italy
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

IPC, 12th UKACC International Conference on Control, Sheffield
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Invited Speaker, Research Seminar, Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

External PhD Examiner, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Examination

External PhD Examiner, Sheffield University
Examination

External Program Examiner, BEng/MEng Integrated Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, University of Bath
Examination

IPC, 12th IFAC Symposium on Robot Control (SYROCO-2018)
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Invited Speaker, Research Seminar, Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

External PhD Examiner, Bath University
Examination

External PhD Examiner, Sheffield University
Examination

IPC, 3rd International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems, Porto, Portugal
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

EPSRC College (External organisation)
Other Membership

Chair, IET Control and Automation Technical and Professional Network (External organisation)
Membership of network

Academic Programme Accreditation Panel, IET (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

Chair, Judging panel, IET Control and Automation Doctoral Prize (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

Academic Programme Accreditation Panel, IET (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

Academic Programme Accreditation Panel, IET (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

Academic Programme Accreditation Panel, IET (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

IPC, 14th IFAC Symposium on Control in Transportation Systems, Istanbul
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

IPC, 2nd International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems, Rome
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Chair, IET Mini Symposium on Applications of Biomedical Modelling and Control
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Invited speaker, Workshop on Current and Future avenues between Control, Ecology and Epidemiology, University of Bath
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

IPC, 11th UKACC International Control Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

IPC, 14th IFAC Symposium on Large Scale Complex Systems: Theory and Applications, Riverside, USA
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Vice-Chair, IET Control and Automation Technical and Professional Network (External organisation)
Membership of network

CINDe Steering Board, NNL and Sellafield Ltd (External organisation)
Membership of board

Local Organising Committee, Intelligent Robotic and Autonomous Systems Conference
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Chair, The 2015 Tustin Lecture
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

IPC, 24th International Conference on Systems Engineering
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

IPC, 11th IFAC Symposium on Robot Control, Salvador
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Engineering Accreditation Board (External organisation)
Membership of board

External PhD Examiner, KU Leuven, Belgium
Examination

Invited speaker, IEEE Workshop on Robotics and Control, Bristol Robotics Laboratory
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Invited speaker, IBPSA Symposium on Greenhouse Energy Simulation, Cambridge University
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Invited speaker, IAgrE Annual Conference: Reimagining agriculture: engineering as the strategic enabler, Cranfield University
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Environmental Modelling and Software (Journal)
Editorial activity

Chair, IET Mini-Symposium on Monitoring and Control of Poorly-Defined and Uncertain Systems
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Chair, Pre-Conference Workshop, 10th UKACC Control Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

IPC, 10th UKACC International Control Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

IFAC Technical Committee on Robotics (External organisation)
Membership of committee

Academic Programme Accreditation Panel, IET (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

External Examiner, MSc Control Programs, Coventry University
Examination

Progress in Nuclear Energy (Journal)
Editorial activity

IPC, IFAC Workshop on Advances in Control and Automation Theory for Transportation Applications, Istanbul
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

IPC, IET Control and Automation Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

External PhD Examiner, Bath University
Examination

External PhD Examiner, Coventry University
Examination

Academic Programme Accreditation Panel, IET (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

Academic Programme Accreditation Panel, IET (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

Academic Programme Accreditation Panel, IET (External organisation)
Member of Advisory Panel

Invited Speaker, Industrial Control Centre, University of Strathclyde
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Invited speaker, Time for Causality Workshop, School of Mathematics, University of Bristol
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

IPC, 9th UKACC International Control Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

IFAC Technical Committee on Control in Agriculture (External organisation)
Membership of committee

IFAC Technical Committee on Modelling and Control of Environmental Systems (External organisation)
Membership of committee

Executive Committee, IET Control and Automation Technical and Professional Network (External organisation)
Membership of network

Invited speaker, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Invited speaker, Graduate Institute of Electronics Engineering, NTU
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Invited speaker, Department of Biosystems, Katholieke University of Leuven
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Visiting Associate Professor, NTU
Visiting an external academic institution

External Masters By Research Examiner, MMU University, Malaysia
Examination

Chair, InstMC Mini–Symposium on Challenges in Oil & Gas Subsea Production
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Invited speaker, Joint Warwick & Coventry University Seminar Series on Control
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

IPC, 8th UKACC International Control Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

External PhD Examiner, Loughborough University
Examination

Invited speaker, Mathematics for Biomedical Engineering Summer School, University of Warwick
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

IPC, 12th IFAC Symposium on Control in Transportation Systems
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

IFAC Technical Committee on Transportation and Vehicle Systems (External organisation)
Membership of committee

Systems & Control Technology Panel, Institute of Measurement and Control (External organisation)
Membership of committee

Executive Committee, UK Automatic Control Council (UKACC) (External organisation)
Membership of committee

External PhD Examiner, Sheffield University
Examination

Invited speaker, Industrial Control Centre, University of Strathclyde
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Invited speaker, Workshop on Ramp Metering in Europe: The EURAMP Project, Paris
Participation in workshop, seminar, course

External Masters by Research Examiner, RMIT University, Australia
Examination

External Program Examiner, BEng/MEng Electronic & Electrical Engineering, Loughborough University
Examination

External PhD Examiner, Sunderland University
Examination

External Program Examiner, MSc by Research, Coventry University
Examination

External PhD Examiner, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Examination

External PhD Examiner, Glasgow University
Examination

External PhD Examiner, Coventry University
Examination

  • Doctorate Centre in Nuclear Engineering
  • DSI - Foundations
  • Energy Lancaster
  • Lancaster Intelligent, Robotic and Autonomous Systems Centre
  • LIRA - Environmental Modelling
  • LIRA - Extreme Environments
  • LIRA - Fundamentals
  • Robotics and Control
  • TALOS