The department hosted the AISB'03 Convention, "Cognition in Machines and Animals" from 7th to 11th April 2003. This multi-conference was supported by an EPSRC grant and was peer-reviewed as outstanding.

(The long story - AISB 2003 consisting of five separate symposia, five international keynote speakers, and 40 research student bursaries. The AISB is the UK society for artificial intelligence and provided organisational assistance. A grant from EPSRC for £14,624 was won for the financial costs. These grants are reviewed after the event by EPSRC and an overall assessment is assigned (top grade of 'outstanding'). Three months after sending in our report, we received a letter stating it had not been received by the deadline and EPSRC sanctions would be applied: £2902.67 would be recovered from the funding. After much frantic phoning, hero John in the Post Room provided a tracking sheet that proved that EPSRC had signed for receipt of the report. A few days later an unapologetic, unsigned letter from EPSRC acknowledged receipt three months earlier. Apparently, it was eventually discovered 'filed' in a cupboard.)