Departmental news

We are happy to announce four promotions in the department:

• Dr Charilaos Efthymiou has been promoted to Associate Professor
• Dr Igor Carboni Oliveira has been promoted to Associate Professor
• Dr Hongkai Wen has been promoted to Professor
• Dr Weiren Yu has been promoted to Associate Professor

Many congratulations to our colleagues for all their achievements!

The start of this year’s 2023 academic year has been particularly busy for Professor Robin Clark, Dean of WMG. Over the last few months, he has had the privilege of connecting with counterparts at universities worldwide, engaging with international students, and meeting members of the Warwick alumni community.

In October, Professor Robin Clark; and Associate Professor and Director of Overseas Programmes, Mike Newton, travelled to Singapore to attend the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) graduation.

WMG and SIM have a global education partnership allowing students in Singapore to receive a degree from WMG. A total of 45 students graduated, many of whom completed their course during the Covid 19 pandemic.

Dean of WMG, Professor Robin Clark, said, "At the ceremony, we celebrated the students' latest achievement on their path to leadership. Overcoming various challenges, they earned the University of Warwick qualification through their dedicated efforts. Their graduation is a testament to their academic success and a promising sign of their potential to positively influence our shared future. They're poised to make a meaningful impact by fostering connections, promoting sustainability, and contributing to a more productive world around us."

From Singapore, Professor Clark and Mike Newton, then travelled to Beijing to attend the Beijing City University (BCU) graduation. Similar to SIM, BCU and WMG have a global education partnership allowing students in Beijing to receive a degree from WMG.

Professor Clark said, “At BCU, we had an engaging roundtable discussion on project management, followed by insightful speeches, the presentation of awards, the symbolic turning of tassels, and memorable group photos."

After a brief return to the UK, Professor Clark then travelled to the University of Pentecost and University of Ghana where he gave the keynote at the University of Ghana's First Annual Engineering Conference on Sustainable Innovative Technologies for Development.

Professor Clark added, “It was a privilege to be invited to address the audience. I had the honour to meet the Dean of the University of Ghana, Engineering, and several colleagues for an informative discussion about collaboration.”

Catch up on the University of Ghana's First Annual Engineering Conference and Professor Clark’s keynote here: https://www.youtube.com/live/be7yHiADbwg?si=2LYMrrzcTLA_39Br

In November, Professor Clark, Professor Dan Nunan, Associate Dean (Postgraduate) and Dr. Mosh Mujthaba (Academic Director, Hong Kong) travelled to Hong Kong to attend the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK PolyU) graduation ceremony. Like Warwick, HK PolyU is ranked in the top 100 Universities in the world and has a strong partnership with WMG that has been running for 33 years.

This was the first in-person graduation ceremony attended by WMG faculty members since 2019 and with students graduating all having their studies affected by COVID.

Professor Clark said, "More than 2,000 postgraduate students have now graduated from joint programmes as part of the longstanding WMG – PolyU partnership. With record numbers of applications and strong student numbers, we look forward to this partnership continuing to flourish in the future. At the ceremony, it was wonderful to celebrate students’ success, recognising that many graduating had overcome numerous challenges over the COVID period in order to succeed in their studies."

To wrap up the final leg of Professor Clark’s international travels for 2023, he recently accompanied the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Stuart Croft, on a trip to India to meet with members of the Warwick alumni community at two receptions in New Delhi and Mumbai.

The focal points of the alumni receptions centred around Warwick's upcoming 60th anniversary in 2025, and the transformative potential of WMG in addressing global challenges.

Professor Clark had the opportunity to connect with potential partners and revive relationships. As part of the visit, he met with Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of the Confederation of Indian Industry, at CII House in New Delhi to discuss ways to strengthen the relationship between CII and WMG.

Professor Clark also held meetings with senior representatives at Tata Trusts and then Tata Power. He concluded his trip by visiting the CII Naoroji Godrej Centre of Excellence, where he discussed the possibility of developing new education partnerships.

Professor Clark said: “These global experiences underscore my commitment to international engagement and highlight the profound impact of cultivating a worldwide network. Connecting with alumni globally is a cornerstone of the University's dedication to building enduring relationships, contributing to the collective success of a global academic community like no other.”

Follow more updates from Professor Clark here: (19) Professor Robin Clark (@Prof_RobinClark) / X (twitter.com)

Six engineering students from the West Midlands have each won a bursary worth £5000 a year for three years to support their university studies. The awardees were announced today (7 December) at an event at WMG at the University of Warwick to celebrate three successful years of the Lord Bhattacharyya Engineering Education Programme.

The six recipients of the Lord Bhattacharyya Higher Education bursaries were announced by engineer and social entrepreneur Yewande Akinola MBE HonFREng, who was the keynote speaker at the celebration event held at the National Automotive Innovation Centre in Coventry.

The Lord Bhattacharyya Engineering Education Programme aims to widen participation in engineering by attracting young people in the West Midlands from low-income backgrounds and other groups currently underrepresented in engineering. Launched in 2020, the five-year programme is led by the Royal Academy of Engineering in close partnership with WMG. It is funded by the Department Science, Innovation and Technology as a tribute to the late Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya Kt CBE FREng FRS, a renowned engineer, academic, educator and government advisor who established WMG at the University of Warwick in 1980. The Programme provides a comprehensive package of engineering-focused science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) support, including grants to schools and colleges, teacher networking and CPD opportunities, funded industrial secondments, as well as individual FE and HE student bursaries.

The six bursary recipients are:

• Natasha Daniels, studying civil with environmental engineering at the University of Brighton
• Ecaterina Falinschi, also studying civil with environmental engineering at the University of Brighton
• Saara Hussain, studying general engineering at the University of Warwick
• Wafiq Hussain, studying aeronautical engineering at Imperial College London
• Jamie Phillips, studying mechanical engineering at the University of Plymouth
• Kelly Zheng, studying engineering with a foundation year at the University of Liverpool

Since 2020, a total of over £400,000 has been awarded in bursaries to 28 students.

Over 150 people from schools, colleges and engineering industries in the West Midlands attended the event to celebrate the Lord Bhattacharyya Engineering Education Programme. The event featured secondary schools and further education colleges demonstrating to invited guests some of the projects that have been supported by the Programme and helped to enrich science, technology, engineering and maths teaching and learning.

The day also included inspirational speakers and hands-on activities, including a competitive group challenge delivered by Jaguar Land Rover’s Powertrain team, and an immersive session in TATA Motors’ VR lab and tour of their cutting-edge research facilities. More than ten other locally based engineering employers were also on hand to give students an understanding of the region’s engineering excellence and career opportunities.

Dr Rhys Morgan, Strategic Projects Director for Skills and Inclusion at the Royal Academy of Engineering, said of the celebration: “The energy and enthusiasm shown by the students, and indeed everyone else present at the event was fantastic to witness. The creativity and diversity of thought shown by the students is exactly what West Midlands businesses will need from their future engineers and technicians in order to thrive and contribute to the local and national society and economy.

“My congratulations too to the six students awarded bursaries who have already taken the next step towards becoming engineers and I wish them every success.”

Professor Margaret Low MBE, Director of Outreach and Widening Participation at WMG, said: “The Lord Bhattacharyya Engineering Education Programme has been a valuable support network for local schools and for teams at the University who work in partnership with our community. It has brought together teachers, students, academics, and industrial partners to create inspiring opportunities for all.

“The bursary awards encourage and support students to study engineering at university. These students have demonstrated considerable skill and experience already to have been awarded the bursaries, and it’s clear that these students have bright futures ahead. I wish them well on their engineering journey.”

Applications for the fourth round of Lord Bhattacharyya Higher Education Bursaries will open in March 2024, for students enrolling at university in September 2024.

End

Notes for Editors

1. More information about the six awardees can be found here.

2. The Lord Bhattacharyya HE Bursary Scheme helps students at sixth forms, colleges and academies across the West Midlands prepare for degree-level engineering education. The funding available provides students from low-income households or under-represented communities with a pathway to higher education and therefore encourages the pursuit of careers in the sector. The Scheme not only drives diversity and inclusion throughout the engineering sector, but also ensures that talented students are equipped with the resources needed to develop the latest engineering skills required to access degree-level programmes and ultimately thrive in a fast-paced sector with lots of opportunities.

3. The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public. Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

4. WMG, University of Warwick, is a world leading research and education group, transforming organisations and driving innovation through a unique combination of collaborative research and development, and pioneering education programmes.
As an international role model for successful partnerships between academia and the private and public sectors, WMG develops advancements nationally and globally, in applied science, technology and engineering, to deliver real impact to economic growth, society and the environment.
WMG’s education programmes focus on lifelong learning of the brightest talent, from the WMG Academies for Young Engineers, degree apprenticeships, undergraduate and postgraduate, through to professional programmes.
An academic department of the University of Warwick, and a centre for the HVM Catapult, WMG was founded by the late Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya in 1980 to help reinvigorate UK manufacturing and improve competitiveness through innovation and skills development.

Media enquiries to: Pippa Cox at the Royal Academy of Engineering Tel. +44 207 766 0745; email: Pippa.Cox@raeng.org.uk

On this recent article in the Quanta magazine, Alex Dixon, who wrote in Haskell the first solver for the problem, commented:

For the past 50 years, Vector Addition Systems—a simple but powerful computational model—have been a topic of great interest in theoretical CS. The reachability problem in that model asks whether we can get from some configuration to another.

The problem sounds relatively easy on a first glance, and an exponential lower bound held firm for over 40 years. Work by excellent theoreticians, including familiar names from Warwick DCS, finally closed the difficulty of the problem in 2021, concluding that it is very, very difficult indeed.

We are happy to announce that Dr Paris Giampouras has joined the Department of Computer Science as an Assistant Professor. Originally from Greece, he has relocated to Warwick from Baltimore, where he spent four years working as a Postdoctoral Fellow and later as a Research Faculty member at the Mathematical Institute for Data Science at Johns Hopkins University. His expertise lies in machine learning theory and its applications in image processing and computer vision. More specifically, his research has focused on exploring parsimonious representations to address various inverse problems and adversarial robustness.

Currently, he is focusing on two main areas: a) leveraging structured representation in Generative AI applications, and b) developing algorithms that enable continual learning of various tasks for deep learning systems. His goal is to contribute to the foundational understanding of AI algorithms, with a focus on robustness, applications of AI in medicine, and climate change.

We welcome him to the department!

Congratulations to Assistant Professor in Technology Management and Systems Engineering, Dr Devon Allcoat; and Head of eLearning, Chris Evans at WMG at the University of Warwick, who have co-authored a new text book entitled ‘Meaningful Game Design.’

Routledge, publisher of professional and academic books, approached Dr Allcoat and Mr Evans after hearing about specific modules that form part of WMG’s e-Business Management and Games Engineering full-time Master’s programmes, and the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning's (IATL) undergraduate offerings.

The book provides readers with the tools and methods with which to create effective tabletop games. It covers the design and development process guiding readers through the necessary mechanics, messages, and motivations of games that must be understood in order to build successful tabletop games, including educational games for teaching or training.

It includes chapters on design methodology, narrative, accessibility and playtesting, and aims to support students on game design courses, as well as appealing to designers, teachers and hobbyists.

Dr Allcoat explains: “This book teaches core principals of game design, applicable to all types of games. In our increasingly digital age, it discusses hybrid games and digital elements, but doesn’t forget the human component, also exploring psychology and accessibility.”

Meaningful Game Design is widely available online and in book shops. A 20% discount code EFL03 is available if purchased directly via www.routledge.com. This code expires on 31 December 2023.

Professor Siddartha Khastgir, Head of Verification and Validation at WMG, University of Warwick, comments on the Government’s plans to introduce the primary legislation for automated vehicles in the upcoming parliamentary session, as announced in the King’s Speech today (Tuesday 7^th November).

Professor Khastgir said: ‘‘We welcome the Government’s decision to introduce the primary legislation on automated vehicles in the King’s Speech today. Following on from the discussions at the AI Safety Summit last week, this very first legislation on AI-powered technology is an important step for the UK to reach its target of rolling out automated cars in 2025.

“Regulation is the key enabler for the safe introduction of automated vehicles on UK roads. Not only does it provide regulatory certainty for the industry, but it is also key to setting high safety thresholds and gaining the public’s trust. We urge the Government to ensure that the regulatory framework is robust and underpinned by strong research outcomes. International and national self-driving standards should be built upon when creating this legislation.

“We also urge the Government to speed up the secondary legislation on automated vehicles to provide more information on the engineering requirements. The Government needs to ensure public views are incorporated into this legislative journey and take future users’ viewpoints into account. As a result, along with the legislation, a public awareness programme should be introduced to ensure an accurate understanding of the capabilities and limitations of this emerging technology. The Government needs to act quickly to be at the forefront of this technology.

“WMG will continue to fully support the Government and the eco-system to develop research and evidence-based self-driving regulation in the UK.’’

Find out more about WMG’s Verification and Validation research here: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/cav/vandv/

Fernando Conde Nodal, undergraduate turned PhD student, talks through his time in the Department of Chemistry and how his education and experience inspired him to study further.

Professor Siddartha Khastgir, Head of Verification and Validation at WMG, University of Warwick, comments on Cruise pausing all driverless robotaxi operations in the US to rebuild public trust.

“Safety is the number one priority when commercialising self-driving vehicles, we should never compromise safety even though this is a fast-paced technology. The industry and autonomous vehicle developers and operators need to have a thorough review of the current incidents and be more open and transparent regarding their safety assurance processes and systems.

“Safety messages and information should be communicated to the public to gradually build up societal trust and ensure that technology users and road users are well-informed about this new technology’s capabilities and limitations.

“As a world-leading research institution, WMG is working closely with international and national policymakers, regulators, and industry to improve the safety of self-driving vehicles. We encourage the ecosystem to collaborate further to gain the public’s confidence in this emerging transport technology.”

Find out more about WMG’s Verification and Validation research here: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/cav/vandv/

We are happy to announce that Dr Fanghui Liu and Dr Debmalya Mandal have joined the Department of Computer Science as Assistant Professors.

Fanghui finished his PhD degree at Institute of Image Processing and Pattern Recognition, Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2019. Then he gained the research experience in Europe as a postdoc researcher, at ESAT-STADIUS, KU Leuven from 2019 to 2021 and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland from 2021 to 2023, respectively. His research interests include machine learning, statistical learning theory as well as applications in trustworthy machine learning systems.

Debmalya completed his Master’s degree in Computer Science and Automation from Indian Institute of Science, and his PhD in Computer Science from Harvard University, where he was also part of the EconCS group. He then gained experience as a postdoctoral researcher at the Data Science Institute of Columbia University, and at the Max Planck Institute of Software Systems. He is broadly interested in the theoretical foundations of AI/ML systems and often incorporate tools from computational social choice, game theory, and machine learning theory in his research. He is currently working on fairness in machine learning, reinforcement learning, and the exciting problem of AI alignment.

We welcome them both to the department!