Biography

I am a Professor of AI and Data Science and Chair of the Logistics,  Operational Research, and Analytics Research Group (LORA) in the School of Mathematics at the University of Portsmouth. 

My main research interests are Computational Intelligence and Data Scinece and the development of novel mathematical optimisation models, advanced intelligent computational methods, and intelligent decision support systems for automatically producing high quality solutions to a wide range of real world challenges. Real world problems include: manufacturing, healthcare, intelligent transportation, sustainability and renewable energy.

I have developed a distinguished research profile in in these research areas and published papers in high quality journals and refereed conference proceedings with national and international inter-disciplinary teams. I have supervised a significant number of postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers, and created opportunities for collaborative supervision with national and international inter-disciplinary teams and business partners. I have also been a member of programme committees and a keynote speaker at national and international conferences, a reviewer for prestigious journals, and an external examiner for postgraduate research students in the UK and overseas. I have chaired and organised over a hundred industrial workshops with the lobcal authorities and business partners.

Enterprise and Innovation are central strengths and aspirations in my academic career. I have been proactive in the creation of research and innovation centres in collaboration with business partners, and the successful leadership of their innovation strategy, such as the Centre of Operational Research and Logistics (CORL), South Coast Centre of Excellence for Satellite Applications (SCCoE), Intelligent Transport Research Cluster, 10-year collaboration frameworks with NATO, Virginia, USA. I have negotiated a prestigious international partnership with NATO, which has opened up significant cross-faculty research and innovation opportunities on artificial intelligence and autonomy. The cross-faculty centres have enhanced the inter-disciplinary research and innovation capacity; inspired and supported staff to achieve their potential; grown outstanding long-term partnerships with world-leading businesses; leveraged a significant income generation from a diverse portfolio of sources, which has resulted in the production of impact, job creation and economic growth. 

I have had an exceptional track record of attracting external funding and leading large-scale research projects of national and international importance with world-leading organisations. This activity has led to a substantial partnership income to the value of nearly £50m on 30 R&D and EU grants with national and international academic and business partners; the establishment of outstanding patents and impact case studies. My notable recent achievement in the last five years as a principal investigator, is the success of the Solent Future Transport Zone programme (2020- 2025), which was funded by the Department for Transport, UK with a substantial partnership income of £29m. The programme is in collaboration with Portsmouth City Council, Southampton City Council, Hampshire County Council, Isle of Wight Council, University of Southampton, University of Portsmouth and other transport businesses. The five-year Solent Transport Zone programme aims to address local challenges such as high levels of car usage and the environmental impacts of freight movement within Solent’s urban areas. The Solent area will benefit from the implementation of several innovative and sustainable transport solutions by delivering a series of complementary projects within two key themes: Mobility as a Service and Sustainable Urban Logistics. Personal Mobility project has developed the trial of new modes of travel, and developed new, complementary means of planning and paying for all types of journeys via mobile devices. This includes an upgrade of the Solent Go multi-operator smartcard to an app-based platform, creating a “Mobility as a Service” Breeze app. The Sustainable Urban Logistics projects have developed environmental approaches to freight deliveries in urban environments. The project is also conducting trials on the UK’s first drone delivery network for the NHS, moving medical products between hospitals on the mainland and the Isle of Wight.

Research interests

• AI and intelligent computation methods
• Heuristics, meta-heuristics, hyper-heuristics, evolutionary computation, genetic algorithms, particle swarm optimisation, ant colony optimisation
• Expert systems
• Intelligent multi-agent systems
• AI powered intelligent decision support systems
• Data Science and analystics
• Applications: intelligent transportation, routing of mobile robotics, logistics and supply chain management, intelligent manufacturing and production scheduling, Healthcare, renewable energy and sustainability