Computer Science

I am a Lecturer in Machine Learning and Optimisation in the Department of Computer Science, and Academic Co-Lead of Project Bluebird, a prosperity partnership programme between the University of Exeter, NATS and The Alan Turing Institute. I lead research on safe and efficient AI agents for air traffic control. Our research has won two awards at The Engineer's Collaborate to Innovate Awards, underpins BLADE, the digital twin platform NATS uses to assess air traffic controller candidates, and has been featured in the Financial Times and The Conversation.

 

I hold both an MSci in Computer Science and Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Exeter.

 

Research Interests

My research focuses on real-world applications of machine learning and optimisation, particularly for air traffic control and safety-critical systems. My core interests are Bayesian optimisation, including acquisition function design, batch and asynchronous methods, and multi-objective optimisation, alongside reinforcement learning, probabilistic modelling with Gaussian processes, and uncertainty quantification. I co-organise the BOSS workshop on Bayesian and surrogate-assisted search and optimisation at PPSN, and I am on the organising committee of EMO 2027, the 14th International Conference on Evolutionary Multi-Criterion Optimization, hosted at Exeter in April 2027.

 

Prospective Students

I welcome MSc and PhD students interested in Bayesian optimisation, reinforcement learning, machine learning, and uncertainty quantification, particularly applied to safety-critical domains such as air traffic control. I also encourage students with overlapping interests to reach out. Current opportunities include:

 

Current Students

  • (PhD) Ben Carvell: Safety-Critical Decision Making under Uncertainty – Machine Learning Approaches for Tactical Air Traffic Control
  • (PhD) James Edwards: Transforming Air Traffic Control: Sequence Prediction and Modelling with Large Language Models
  • (PhD) Sam Tebbet: Multi-Objective Monte Carlo Tree Search 
  • (PhD) Ash Simmons: Adaptive AI Agents for Human-Machine Teaming in Air Traffic Control
  • (PhD) Mudathir Ayomide Ekundayo: Air Traffic Controller Style Characterisation
  • (PhD) Abhinav Thomas: Air Traffic Control World Models
  • (MRes) Lawrence Knight: Extending Pluribus to use Deep Counterfactual Regret Minimisation

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