Roles

• Associate Head for Undergraduate Education (SECaM).
• Lecturer in Applied Mathematics.
• Awarded the University SSTAR Award for "Inspirational Teacher of the Year" (June 2021) and nominated a further six times. This includes "Programme Leader of the Year" and "The Big Thank You Award" in 2022.
• Co-leads the Plymouth Optimisation Group and the Big Data research group .
• Member of the University Senate (until June 2024).
• Applied Mathematics seminar joint organiser - if you wish to give a seminar then please contact me.

Research interests:

The two main pillars of my research are Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) and Cyber Security . Underpinning these two pillars is work in artificial intelligence (AI), big data, mathematical modelling and visualisation, encompassing the following:

• Hyperheuristics and machine learning
• Group-theoretic cryptanalysis
• Real-time visualisation and analysis of AI algorithms

In many of the above, I make use of parallel computation on the University High Performance Computing facility.

Grants:

1. 10/2024 - 04/2028, EPSRC ORE DTP: PhD Studentship, £73.5k. PI Ansell L, Co-I Craven M.
2. 10/2024 - 10/2027, SECaM: PhD Studentship, £78k. PI Bazazian D, Co-I Wei Y, Craven M, Asthana S.
3. 06/2023 - 09/2023, Manning Endowment UG Research Internship: "Multi-Objective Optimisation of Electric Vessel Charging", £3k. PI Ansell L, Co-I Craven M.
4. 01/04/2022 - 01/10/2023, Royal Academy of Engineering, Diversity Impact Programme: "Embedding Systemic Inclusion for Neurodiverse and Disabled Engineering Students", £94k. PI Khan A, Co-I Craven M, Wei Y, et al.
5. 2021- 2022, British Council: "Going Global Partnerships Undergraduate STEM Education in Pakistan", £20k. PI Khan A, Co-I Craven M, Walker D, et al.
6. 2021 - 2023, European Regional Development Fund, Invited researcher on the Cornwall Floating Offshore Wind Accelerator project. PI Greaves D.
7. 01/10/2020 - 01/04/2024, EPSRC ORE DTP Supergen-ORE: PhD studentship, £50.75k. PI Walker D, Co-I Craven M.
8. 01/10/2019 - 01/10/2022, SECaM: PhD Studentship, £43.5k. PI Walker D, Co-I Craven M.
9. 01/08/2014 - 01/08/2017, NVIDIA, Award of NVIDIA GPU Research Center, £3.4k. PI Craven M. [Eight School academic staff carried out interdisciplinary research, supported by hardware from NVIDIA. The centre has continued as a part of the HPC Centre at the University.]
10. 05/2015, Medicem, "Clinical Assessment of the WIOL-CF", £14k. PI Buckhurst P, Co-I Buckhurst H, Hewson P, Craven M.

• Dr T. Alotaibi: Portfolio Optimisation Using Genetic Algorithms and Copula Financial Models (Director of Studies), 2022
• Dr M. Walter: Understanding Optimisation Processes with Biologically-Inspired Visualisations (2nd Supervisor), 2023
• Dr F. Ben Salamah: Adaptive Awareness Raising and Cyber Security Training for Social Media Users (2nd Supervisor), 2023

Current PhD Students at the University of Plymouth

• A. Verulkar: Game-Theoretic Approaches Towards Insider Threat Detection and Mitigation (Director of Studies)
• P. Manikowski: Multi-Objective Optimisation of Floating Offshore Windfarms (Director of Studies)
• R. Soni: Hybridizing Metaheuristics with Machine Learning for Portfolio Optimization Problems (Director of Studies)
• J. Hancock: The Use of Quantum Computing to Solve Problems in Quantum Field Theory and Optimisation (Co-supervisor)
• S. Ishaq Tijani: APT Detection and Analysis (Co-supervisor)
• J. O'Brien: Use of physical and numerical modelling data to create digital twins for improved floating offshore wind operations and fault response (Director of Studies)
• J. Gray, Real-time Fall Prediction and Detection System for The Elderly in Care Homes Based on Quantum Computing and Artificial Vision (Co-supervisor)

I am always happy to hear from prospective PhD students in the areas specified above. For informal enquiries, please contact me directly. To apply officially for a PhD position at Plymouth, please read the information on applying for a research degree.

• Member of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications
• Member of the London Mathematical Society
• Member of the Foundation Year Network

• Member, EPSRC Peer Review College (2023 - Present)
• Member, Royal Society International Exchanges Panel (2024 - Present)

Undergraduate 2024-25:

• MATH051 Mathematical Methods I (Module Leader)
• COMP0001 Topics in Computer Science (Guest Lecturer)
• MATH3709 Optimisation, Networks and Graphs (Module Leader)
• MATH3628 Final Year Mathematics Projects (Supervisor)

Postgraduate 2024-25:

• GS19 Introduction to R for research staff and PhD students - Doctoral College (Module Leader) 
• PROJ518 MSc Dissertation and Research Skills (Supervisor)
• COMP5013 Topics in Applied Artificial Intelligence (Guest Lecturer)

External CPD Courses:

• Big Data (April 2019)
• Introduction to RStudio (January 2020)
• Lunchtime Course on Inference (August 2021)
• Algorithms and Algebra: A Journey Into Group-Theoretic Cryptology, Pakistan Virtual University (May 2022)

the majority in conjunction with the Environmental Futures and Big Data Impact Labat the University of Plymouth.
I also have many years of teaching experience in many different venues and levels, from foundation year to MSc levels and PhD workshops. I was awarded the University SSTAR Award for "Inspirational Teacher of the Year" (June 2021). I was also the Programme Manager for the SECaM foundation years from September 2015 to January 2023.
I have a proven track record of taking student research to publication, with articles in LNCS, Studies in Economics and Finance, and the Plymouth Student Scientist.

Undergraduate and Taught Masters Student Research:
I have a track record of research with undergraduate and MSc students.

• 2022: What might happen to the global stock market after Brexit?
• 2021: Constrained portfolio optimisation
• 2020: Assessing the security of cryptographic primitives for infinite groups
• 2018: A comparison of exact and heuristic algorithms to solve the travelling salesman problem
• 2017: Exploring botnet evolution via multidimensional models and visualisation

Other research:

PhD Internal Examiner:

• University of Plymouth (March 2020, 2025)

PhD External Examiner:

• University of Greenwich (Sept 2019) 

Invited lectures:

Recent invited lectures and talks:

• 2024 (with J. Hancock, C. McNeile and D. Vadacchino) "Quantum Phase Transition of Non-Hermitian Systems Using Variational Quantum Techniques", Lattice 2004, Liverpool, UK.
• 2024 (with F. Ben Salamah, M. A. Palomino, M. Papadaki and S. Furnell) "The Influence of Human Factors on Adaptive Social Media Cybersecurity Training and Education", HAISA 2024, Skövde, Sweden.
• 2024 (with J. Roberts, A. López-Santander and F. le Pivert) "Using Simulation to Reduce Uncertainty in the Wet Towing of Full-Scale 15 MW Floating Offshore Wind Turbines", PRIMaRE Conference, Southampton, UK.
• 2024 (with J. Hancock, C. McNeile and D. Vadacchino) "Using Quantum Computers to Solve Optimization Problems", New to OR Conference, London, UK.
• 2024 (with J. Hancock, C. McNeile and D. Vadacchino) "Investigating Solving QUBO Problems on a Circuit Based Quantum Computer", Adiabatic Quantum Computing 2024, Glasgow, UK.
• 2023 (with J. Hancock, C. McNeile and D. Vadacchino) "Circuit Approach to QUBO", DIRAC Day 2023, Liverpool, UK.
• 2023 (with F. Ben Salamah, M. Palomino, M. Papadaki and S. Furnell) "Evaluating the Risks of Human Factors Associated with Social Media Cybersecurity Risks", HAISA 2023, Kent, UK.
• 2023 (with J. W. Davies) "The Role of a Foundation Year in Providing Access to Engineering", Univ. Warwick.
• 2023 Session leader at the Inclusive Engineering Conference, Univ. Plymouth.
• 2023 Invited Talk and Panel Session, PGR Students into Teaching Conference, Univ. Plymouth.
•  2022 (with D. J. Walker and M. J. Walter) "An Explainable Visualisation of the Evolutionary Search Process", ECXAI Workshop at GECCO 2022, Boston, USA. 
•  2022 (with P. L. Manikowski and D. J. Walker) "Many-Objective Optimisation of Offshore Wind Farms", 9th PRIMaRE Conference.
• 2022 (with M. J. Walter, P. L. Manikowski and D. J. Walker) "Explainable Optimisation of Offshore Wind Farms", 9th PRIMaRE Conference.
• 2021 "Foundation Year Innovation, Challenges and Opportunities During a Pandemic", FYNAC21, Univ. Keele, Online. Also, invited panel discussion.
• 2021 (with P. L. Manikowski and D. J. Walker) "Single and Multi-Objective Optimisation of Benchmark Wind Farm Optimisation Problems", 8th PRIMaRE Conference.
• 2021 (with D. J. Walker and K. Tam) "Securing and Automating Offshore Renewable Engineering: Challenges in Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Security", 8th PRIMaRE Conference.
• 2020 (with S. Martin and J. R. Woodward) "A Structured Approach to Modifying Successful Heuristics", 12th Intl. Conf. on Evolutionary Computation Theory and Applications, Online.
• 2020 "Inclusion for Foundation Year Mathematics Post Covid-19", FYNAC20, Univ. East Anglia, UK. Also, invited panel discussion.
• 2020 (with M. J. Walter and D. J. Walker) "Visualising Evolution History in Multi- and Many-Objective Optimisation", PPSN 2020, Leiden, Netherlands.
• 2019 (with T. Alotaibi and P. Tziogkidis) "Constructing Class-Based Portfolios on Gulf Markets with Metaheuristics", OR-61, Kent, UK.
• 2019 (with T. Alotaibi) "Efficient Frontiers in Portfolio Optimisation with Minimum Proportion Constraints", GECCO 2019, Prague, Czech Republic.
• 2019 (with J. Sharp) "Combatting the Deficit Model in Foundation Year Mathematics: Ethical Admissions and Inclusive Curricula", FYNAC19, Univ. Sussex, UK.
• 2019 "Group-Theoretic Cryptanalysis Using Hyperheuristics", Queen Mary University of London, UK.
• 2019 "Evolution of Cryptanalytic Attacks via Hyperheuristics", Big Data Group, Plymouth, UK.
• 2018 (with J. Sharp) "Exploring the Frontiers of Foundation Years in Mathematics - An Update on a Work in Progress", FYNAC18, Nottingham, UK.
• 2018 (with D. J. Walker) "Visualising the Operation of Evolutionary Algorithms Optimising Water Distribution Network Design Problems", HIC 2018, Palermo, Italy.
• 2018 (with D. J. Walker) "Toward the Online Visualisation of Algorithm Performance for Parameter Selection", EVOIndustry, Parma, Italy.
• 2018 "The Plymouth GPU Research Centre, Big Data Group", Plymouth, UK.

Other academic activities:

• I have taught many Royal Institute Mathematics Masterclasses and outreach events, the most recent in 2024.
• I regularly lead sessions at Mathematical Sciences open and applicant days for undergraduate students.
• I review for the Journal of Operational Research, Transactions on Evolutionary Learning and Optimization, Expert Systems with Applications, and Applied Soft Computing, among others. I was a Programme Committee member for the GECCO-UP Workshop 2013 and GECCO 2019, and a Review Committee member for the VizGEC Workshop in 2015-date.
• I review EPSRC grant applications in cryptography and artificial intelligence, and also for the Royal Society.

Links:

Centre for Mathematical Sciences (research group)
Mathematical sciences