Dr Chris Town

Bye-Fellow, Director of Studies in Computer Science (Parts II and III)
University Positions
Affiliated Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Technology
Subjects
Specialising in
Computer Vision

Chris Town is an Affiliated Lecturer and Research Fellow in the Department of Computer Science and Technology (Computer Laboratory) where he primarily teaches Computer Vision and related courses to undergraduates and MPhil students. His current main research focus is on high performance mobile computer vision and on pattern recognition algorithms for the biological and medical sciences.

Academic interests

Chris Town’s academic interests include: 

  • Computer Vision
  • Pattern recognition
  • Biometrics
  • High performance deep learning
  • Medical informatics.

Degrees obtained

  • BA/MA, Cantab.
  • PhD, Cantab.

Awards and prizes

  • ICPRS best paper award, 2022.
  • Wolfson College Senior Research Fellowship, 2009.
  • BCS Distinguished Dissertation (PhD) Awards recipient, 2006.
  • Wolfson College Junior Research Fellowship, 2005.
  • Trinity College Rouse Ball Scholarship, 2005.
  • ICVS best cognitive vision paper award, 2003.
  • Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Industrial Fellowship, 2001.

Biography

Chris Town’s research lies at the nexus of computer vision, information retrieval, machine learning, and language processing. Together with Dr David Sinclair he pioneered the ontology based approach to automated visual information processing. His PhD work (supervised by Professor John Daugman OBE) and post-doctoral research in this area at Cambridge were honoured in the UK's distinguished dissertation competition, and led to the award of a Trinity College Rouse Ball Scholarship, an Industrial Fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, and a JRF at Wolfson College. He previously worked at AT&T Labs Research, where he reported directly to Dr David Belanger (AT&T Chief Scientist) and worked with Dr Yann LeCun (the pioneer of deep convolutional neural networks).

Chris is also a Fellow, Tutor and DoS at Wolfson College, as well as Chief Technology Officer of Imense Ltd, a high-tech company co-founded by him that develops novel image analysis, optical character recognition and document verification solutions.

He has many active interdisciplinary research collaborations with biologists, ecologists and medical researchers. Chris is a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London.

Other interests

Photography, SCUBA diving, marine biology.

Department link

https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk

Publications, links and resources

Find more information about Chris Town's publications and research on his Cambridge profile page

Hear from our students

  • Photograph of a postgraduate student

    Fiamma

    Postgraduate

    Jesus College, my home. I am truly grateful to be able to call Jesus College my second home. It was my preferred option when I first applied for my MPhil and I could not be happier to still be here during my PhD! There are many reasons why Jesus stands out from the other colleges: from its fantastic facilities to its glorious formal dinners and to its wonderful café and brewery room. The Quincentenary Library is a lovely place to study. It has many spaces to choose from and everything...

    Read more
    Postgraduate
  • Photograph of a postgraduate student

    Tara

    Postgraduate

    Jesus College has all the benefits of being large, historical and prestigious college, whilst also retaining fantastic welfare: the staff and other students all care about each other, and will be there to cheer you on when you are thriving, but also there to support you if you need any help. I chose Jesus due to several reasons, including its prime location, where it is very central, and easy to access everywhere, even if you work in one of the institutes further out. I also selected Jesus for its MCR...

    Read more
    Postgraduate
  • Photograph of a postgraduate student

    Dulcie

    Postgraduate

    Jesus College is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and historical colleges at Cambridge! It is also, in my opinion, one of the most supportive colleges: from wellbeing to the porters there is always someone to ask for advice, support, or to talk through your stress. I chose Jesus for many reasons. Firstly, it’s right in the heart of the city centre which is amazing not only for that quick top-up shop but also to explore the beautiful city of Cambridge even while busy (it’s so easy to go for...

    Read more
    Postgraduate
  • Postgraduate at Jesus College

    Dolly

    Postgraduate

    I chose Jesus College because of the great mixture of undergraduates and postgraduates, and when I first visited I thought it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen! The sense of community in Jesus has had an enormous impact on my experience here. Whether you need help, advice, cheering up or even just a chat there is always someone there to put a smile on your face. From the MCR committee to the Porters, the canteen staff to the gardeners, everyone is so friendly and welcoming. Jesus also...

    Read more
    Postgraduate
  • Photograph of a postgraduate student

    Ahsan

    Postgraduate

    It is a well-accepted opinion in Cambridge that Jesus College is the best college and no other college even comes a distant second. Its sports grounds are enormous, its buildings are mesmerising, its libraries are rich, its chapel is the oldest, its accommodation is the best value for money, its international community is diverse, its religious circles are the most welcoming, and its members are the smartest, kindest and the friendliest. It is one of the central colleges that aims to offer three years accommodation to postgraduates, and has comparatively...

    Read more
    Postgraduate