Dr Arjan Gosal

Profile

I am a Lecturer in Socio-Environmental Data Science and joined the University of Leeds in 2017; I am passionate about using machine learning techniques applied to real-world environmental problems. I am interested in the context dependence of human preference in cultural ecosystem services (landscape aesthetics and recreation), related to the physical environment. I was awarded a competitive Michael Beverley Innovation Fellowship at the University of Leeds in 2021 to conduct innovative research into the composition of urban trees using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques. Recent funding was received from the Microsoft AI4Earth programme to assess landscape aesthetics at large scales using machine learning, artificial intelligence and cloud technologies.

Professional memberships

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

Awarded fellowships

• Michael Beverley Innovation Fellow
• Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence (LITE) Fellow 

 

Responsibilities

• Academic Lead for Decolonisation

Research interests

My research interests often draw from socio-environmental systems, specifically urban forests, hydrology, conservation, landscape aesthetics and recreation. Author of several peer-reviewed articles, including publication in the Journals; Ecosystem Services, Ecological Indicators and Science of the Total Environmental. Recent lead author on the report Exploring ecosystem markets for the delivery of public goods in the UK and contributing author for The IPBES regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Europe and Central Asia. An expert in spatial modelling approaches, I have used various techniques from statistical and process-based models. With strong programming experience in both R and Python, I have a passion for adopting machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies for real-world environmental management issues. 

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Student education

Apart from my research activities, I am currently the Decolonisation Academic Lead for the Faculty of Environment. Additionally, I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and lecture in the School of Geography on subjects related to the physical environment and data analytics, am an Academic Personal Tutor (APT), and supervise dissertation students. I am very interested in student education, and currently hold a Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence (LITE) Accelerator Fellowship on community-led pedagogies.

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Spatial Analysis and Policy
• River Basin Processes and Management

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>