About Me

I am a professor in artificial intelligence at School of Computing Technologies, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. I received my Ph.D. degree in artificial intelligence from University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. My research interests include machine learning, evolutionary computation, multiobjective optimization, multimodal optimization (niching), swarm intelligence, data mining/analytics, deep learning, journey planning, math-heuristic methods for optimization. I was an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, the journal of Swarm Intelligence, and International Journal of Swarm Intelligence Research. I am the group leader of ECML (Evolutionary Computation and Machine Learning) research group. I am an IEEE Fellow, and an IEEE CIS Distinguished Lecturer (2024 - 2026). I am also a member of ARC (Australian Research Council) College of Experts (2023 - 2025). I was the General Chair for GECCO2024, which was held in Melbourne from 14 - 18 July 2024.

A recent talk (13 November 2024) on "Adaptive Solution Prediction via Machine Learning for Large-Scale Combinatorial Optimization" (viewable on YouTube) tells a bit more about my latest research efforts.

News: Call for Papers for a Special Issue on "Large Scale Optimization and Learning", by ACM Transactions on Evolutionary Learning and Optimization (TELO). Note that the submission deadline has been extended to 1 December 2023 (now closed).

PhD scholarship is available: We are looking for a strong candidate to work on our project "Effective AI for multi-stage optimisation of large supply chain operations". The scholarship is for 3 years. Further information can be found in the PhD scholarship advertisement page.

Research Awards

Citation Stats: Google Scholar; ORCID; Scopus.

Research Interests

Competitive National Research Grants

  • ARC Discovery Grant (DP250103251), "Learning to Value Constraints", $563K, 2025 - 2027.
  • ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hubs (IH240100009), "ARC Research Hub for Intelligent Energy Efficiency in Future Protected Cropping", $5 millions, 2024 - 2029.
  • ARC Linkage Grant (LP230100439), "Explainable machine learning for electrification of everything", $512K, 2024 - 2026.
  • CSIRO Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Program 2022,"All System analysis - analytics and intelligent automation", $1,073K, 2022 - 2025.
  • ARC Linkage Grant (LP190100991), "Machine learning techniques for fuel loss detection at service stations", $315K, 2020 - 2022.
  • ARC Discovery Grant (DP190101271), "A novel and efficient approach for optimisation involving iterative solvers”, $360K, 2019 - 2021.
  • ARC Discovery Grant (DP180101170), "Hybrid methods with decomposition for large scale optimization", $352K, 2018 - 2020.
  • ARC Discovery Grant (DP120102205), "Novel decomposition methods for large scale optimization", $317K, 2012 - 2014.
  • ARC Linkage Grant (LP120200305), "An integrated and real-time passenger travel and public transport service information system", $510K, 2012 - 2015.
  • ARC Linkage Grant (LP130100743), "Enhancing the Australian theme park experience by harnessing virtual-physical play", $300K, 2013 - 2016.
  • ARC Linkage Grant (LP130100236), "Developing an integrated optimisation platform for innovative design of composite fabrication process", $205K, 2013 - 2016.

Teaching