Biography

I am currently Reader in Computational Intelligence in the School of Computing. I have been Associate Dean Research for the Faculty of Technology in the past. I have a PhD in Control Systems and a DSc in Intelligent Systems – both from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. I have been a recipient of a national award for best young researcher from the Bulgarian Union of Scientists. I have been Humboldt Guest Researcher at the Universities of Duisburg and Wuppertal in Germany. I have also been EU Visiting Researcher at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

My research interests are in the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning methods as well as their application for modelling and simulation of complex systems and networks. I have guest edited several special issues of journals and books with conference proceeding published by IEEE and Springer. I have authored 5 research monographs and more than 20 book chapters published by Springer. I have also authored more than 100 articles and papers in a wide range of peer-reviewed specialised journals and international conferences including IEEE journals and conferences. I have presented more than 20 invited lectures and tutorials at international scientific events including IEEE, EPSRC and NATO Conferences and Summer Schools on Artificial Intelligence, Fuzzy Systems, Neural Networks, Intelligent Systems, Computational Intelligence, Cybernetics and Complexity Science.

I have been actively involved in PhD supervision and examination. I have been Co-investigator on research projects funded by EPSRC, Innovate UK and South East England Development Agency. I have been Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, the International Journal of Intelligent Systems, the Journal of Fuzzy Sets and Systems, the Journal of Intelligent and Fuzzy Systems, the International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems and the Journal of Knowledge Based Intelligent Engineering Systems. I have also been Reviewer for several journals including IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Assessor for several national research councils including EPSRC. I have served as a Member of the Soft Computing Technical Committee of the IEEE Society of Systems, Man and Cybernetics and the Outstanding Paper Award Committee of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society. I have also served as a Member of the IEEE Working Groups on Explainable Artificial Intelligence and Fuzzy Markup Language as well as the IEEE Task Forces on Explainable Fuzzy Systems and Fuzzy Systems Software.

Research interests

• Development of artificial intelligence and machine learning methods using fuzzy systems, neural networks and evolutionary algorithms
• Validation of these methods for management, modelling, simulation and control of complex systems and networks characterised by nonlinearity, uncertainty, dimensionality and connectivity
• Application of these methods in areas such as public security (in collaboration with NATO ACT), financial forecasting, medical diagnosis and environmental modelling and their evalution in terms of feasibility, accuracy, efficiency and transparency