School of Computing and Mathematics

I’ve been fascinated in computers since a very young age when I sat next to our class computer in Year 3 in primary school which these days, seems like a lifetime ago! Since then I’ve developed a huge interest in Computational Intelligence and the many techniques which it involves. I’m currently towards the final stages of my PhD investigating the use of Artificial Neural Networks (more specifically Reservoir Computing - see Research tab) in the automatic detection of defects within reinforced concrete.

I graduated from Keele University with a BSc in Computer Science and Management Science in 2007. During that time I was involved in a Nuffield bursary funded summer project investigating the use of structured abstracts within Software Engineering. For my final year project I studied L-Systems and created a program which modelled the growth of trees using axioms and growth rules. This is still an ongoing project now as I have many things to work on to get the program to the stage I want. During the summer between graduation and the start of my PhD I was involved in a project which used a Self Organising Map to classify X-Ray signatures of metals with promising results.

I'm a member of the Computational Intelligence and Cognitive Science (CICS) research group at Keele as well as the EPSAM research institute. I'm also an IEEE student member and a member of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (CIS). Here's my Linkedin profile for those interested.

My interests lie in the huge field of Computational Intelligence, especially anything to do with Neural Networks, particularly the recently new area of Reservoir Computing and Echo State Networks.

A good introduction on Echo State Networks can be found on Scholarpedia. A free Matlab toolkit, along with many publications using Reservoir Computing can be found on the Reservoir Lab website which is based at Ghent University, Belgium: http://snn.elis.ugent.be.

My other research interests lie  in biologically plausible approaches at replicating how the brain functions, such as spiking neural networks, as well as speech recognition, signal processing, robotics and generally finding out as much as I can on how the human brain works.  To further my knowledge for this field, I recently attended an excellent
summer school on computational neuroscience at the University of Ottawa, Canada (for more info see http://www.neurodynamic.uottawa.ca/summer.htm).  While intensive, this course was very interesting where several topics regarding neural models, analysis of neural data and stochastic resonance, among others, were covered.  I'm now working with colleagues in the department on biologically inspired models for robot navigation.

• Butcher, J.B., Verstraeten, D., Schrauwen, B., Day, C.R. and Haycock, P.W., 2011, "Defect detection in reinforced concrete using Reservoir Computing and Extreme Learning Machines", to be submitted

• Butcher, J.B., Verstraeten, D., Schrauwen, B., Day, C.R. and Haycock, P.W., 2011, "Investigating reservoir computing and extreme learning machines for non-linear time series data analysis", to be submitted 

• Kyriacou, T.K., Butcher, J.B., and Day, C.R., "A biologically inspired model of the head direction system of rats implemented on a robot", 2011, submitted to the International Workshop on Evolutionary and Reinforcement Learning for Autonomous Robot Systems 2011

• Butcher, J.B., Verstraeten, D., Schrauwen, B., Day, C.R. and Haycock, P.W., 2010, "Pruning reservoirs with random static projections", IEEE workshop on Machine Learning for Signal Processing (MLSP)

• Butcher, J., Verstraeten, D., Schrauwen, B., Day, C. and Haycock, P., 2010, "Extending reservoir computing with random static projections: a hybrid between extreme learning and RC", European Symposium on Neural Networks (ESANN)

• Butcher, J.B., Lion, M., Day, C.R., Haycock, P.W., Hocking, M.J., Bladon, S., 2009, "A Low Frequency Electromagnetic Probe for Detection of Corrosion in Steel-Reinforced Concrete", In Grantham, M., Majorana, C. and Valentina, S. (eds), Concrete Solutions , pages 417-424, CRC Press

• Day, C.R., Austin, J.C., Butcher, J.B., Haycock, P.W., Kearon, A.T., 2009, "Element-specific determination of X-ray transmission signatures using neural networks", NDT&E International, 42(5), pages 446-451

• Kitchenham B.A., Brereton O.P., Owen S.C., Butcher J. and Jefferies C., 2008, "Length and readability of structured software engineering abstracts", IET Software, 2(1), pages 37-45