
Dr Ce Zhang
MSc (ITC), MSc (Soton), PhD (Lancaster)
Expertise
AI and data science techniques to tackle the most pressing environmental and socio-ecological challenges of our time
Current positions
Lecturer
School of Geographical Sciences
Contact
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Research interests
I am a Lecturer in Environmental Data Science at School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol. I am also a Fellow in UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. My research expertise involves Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Deep Learning, and the application of these techniques in geospatial data science and remote sensing. I am extremely passionate about cross-disciplinary integration of AI and Data Science to better understand environmental and socio-ecological systems, driven by the ambition to tackle some of the greatest challenges in our society. My research breaks traditional boundaries between human and physical geography, fosters new connections across disciplines by expanding the knowledge and insight about the data-rich world that we inhabit.
Four of the most significant themes of my research are:
- Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Geospatial Data Mining and Modelling
- Landscape Pattern and Process Modelling
- Remotely Sensed Image Analysis and their Applications
At University of Bristol, I am the Co-lead for the Environmental Change theme at the Cabot Institute for the Environment, and a supervisor for Masters by Research projects. I am the Programme Director of MSc Environmental Modelling and Data Analysis, as part of an Interdisciplinary Hub for Data Science.
PhD supervision
I am happy to supervise exceptional PhD students with strong background in geospatial science, AI, data science, computer science, and/or statistics. If you are interested in my research, please do not hesitate to contact me via email: ce.zhang@bristol.ac.uk. Please contact me with an idea of what you want to work with and how that would be relevant to my research topics. Once you know this, send me such details in the form of a concise research proposal (less than 3000 words) along with your CV (including previous degrees and grades, publications, awards etc.).
Each year, our School has a number of funding schemes to support PhD research. Depends on topics, applications can be made through PhD in Geographic Data Science, PhD in Human Geography or PhD in Physical Geography. China PhD candidates or vistors are particularly welcome to contact me for opportunities, with full funding from China Scholarship Council-University of Bristol PhD Scholarship (application deadline 2 December 2024).
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
STFC IAA: Leveraging AI and Earth Observation for Strategic Heat Network Planning in the UK
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Geographical SciencesDates
01/04/2024 to 30/09/2025
European Union Horizon programme: Modern Approaches to the Monitoring of BiOdiversity (MAMBO)
Role
Co-Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Cabot InstituteDates
01/08/2022 to 01/08/2026
Publications
Selected publications
27/05/2023Deep learning enables satellite-based monitoring of large populations of terrestrial mammals across heterogeneous landscape
Nature Communications
Identifying and mapping individual plants in a highly diverse high-elevation ecosystem using UAV imagery and deep learning
ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
Joint Deep Learning for land cover and land use classification
Remote Sensing of Environment
Recent publications
01/05/2025Evaluating multi-seasonal SAR and optical imagery for above-ground biomass estimation using the national forest inventory of Zambia
International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
MaCon
IEEE Transactions on Image Processing
People, places and a pandemic
Geography and A Geographer
A Lightweight Building Extraction Approach for Contour Recovery in Complex Urban Environments
Remote Sensing
An efficient and generalisable approach for mapping paddy rice fields based on their unique spectra during the transplanting period leveraging the CIE colour space
Remote Sensing of Environment