Dr David Walker
Profiles

Dr David Walker

Associate Head of School (Computing)

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

Biography

Biography

I currently undertake the following academic roles within the School:

  • Module lead (COMP2002, COMP3006 and COMP5009).
  • I am the Programme Manager for all of the programmes in the Computing undergraduate suite.
  • I am the Programme Champion for MSc Artificial Intelligence
  • I am the Exam Coordinator for Computing modules.
  • I supervise a number of PhD students undertaking research in topics such as evolutionary computation and machine learning.

Qualifications

I received a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Exeter in 2007, and obtained a PhD in Computer Science from Exeter in 2013 for a thesis entitled "Visualisation and Ordering of Many-objective Populations". Between 2013 and 2018 I held postdoctoral research positions at Exeter, working on a range of topics relating to evolutionary computation and machine learning.

Professional membership

  • Member of the IEEE Task Force on Many-objective Optimisation.
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
  • Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

Roles on external bodies

Committee member of the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (AISB)

Key publications

Walker D & Keedwell EC (2016) 'Towards Many-objective Optimisation with Hyper-heuristics: Identifying Good Heuristics with Indicators' Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN2016) , DOI Open access
Walker D & Keedwell E (2016) 'Multi-objective Optimisation with a Sequence-based Selection Hyper-heuristic' Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2016)
Walker D & Craven M (2019) 'Identifying Good Algorithm Parameters in Evolutionary Multi- and Many-Objective Optimisation: A Visualisation Approach' Applied Soft Computing 0-0 , DOI Open access
Everson RM, Walker DJ & Fieldsend JE (2014) 'Life on the Edge: Characterising the Edges of Mutually Non-dominating Sets' Evolutionary Computation 22, (3) 479-501 , DOI
Walker DJ, Everson R & Fieldsend JE (2013) 'Visualizing Mutually Nondominating Solution Sets in Many-Objective Optimization' IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation 17, (2) 165-184 , DOI
View all publications
Teaching

Teaching

Teaching interests

This year (2021/22) I am module leader for:

  • COMP2002 Artificial Intelligence
  • COMP3006 Full-Stack Development
  • COMP5009 Computational Intelligence
I am supervising a range of final year projects.

Staff serving as external examiners

  • External Advisor for BSc Computing, National Commission for Further and Higher Education, Malta (June 2021)
  • External Examiner for MSc Data Science, University of Gloucestershire (2021-2024)
  • External Examiner for BSc Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire (2021-2025)
  • External Advisor for MSc Computer Science, National Commission for Further and Higher Education, Malta (October 2020)

Research

Research

Research interests

My research interests lie in the area of evolutionary computation and visualisation. My recent work has included:

  • Visualising sets of solutions to many-objective optimisation problems.
  • Visualising the operation and performance of evolutionary algorithms.
  • Interactive evolutionary computation for real-world engineering problems.
  • Data analysis within hydroinformatics (prediction and visualisation).

Research degrees awarded to supervised students

Completed PhD Project Supervision as Supervisor

  • Dr Hussein Oudah, Profiling and Identification of Web Applications in Computer Networks (2020)

Publications

Publications

Key publications

Walker D & Keedwell EC (2016) 'Towards Many-objective Optimisation with Hyper-heuristics: Identifying Good Heuristics with Indicators' Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN2016) , DOI Open access
Walker D & Keedwell E (2016) 'Multi-objective Optimisation with a Sequence-based Selection Hyper-heuristic' Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2016)
Walker D & Craven M (2019) 'Identifying Good Algorithm Parameters in Evolutionary Multi- and Many-Objective Optimisation: A Visualisation Approach' Applied Soft Computing 0-0 , DOI Open access
Everson RM, Walker DJ & Fieldsend JE (2014) 'Life on the Edge: Characterising the Edges of Mutually Non-dominating Sets' Evolutionary Computation 22, (3) 479-501 , DOI
Walker DJ, Everson R & Fieldsend JE (2013) 'Visualizing Mutually Nondominating Solution Sets in Many-Objective Optimization' IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation 17, (2) 165-184 , DOI

Key publications are highlighted

Journals
Articles
Milne-Ives M, Fraser L, Khan A, Walker D, van Velthoven MH, May J, Wolfe I, Harding T & Meinert E (2022) 'Life.course digital T.wins – I.ntelligent M.onitoring for E.arly and continuous intervention and prevention (LifeTIME): Proposal for a proof-of-concept study' JMIR Research Protocols 11, (5) , DOI Open access
Walter MJ, Walker DJ & Craven MJ (2022) 'Visualising Population Dynamics to Examine Algorithm Performance' IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation , DOI Open access
Manikowski P, Walker D & Craven M (2021) 'Multi-objective Optimisation of the Benchmark Wind Farm Layout Problem' Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 9, (12) , DOI Open access
Walker D & Craven M (2019) 'Identifying Good Algorithm Parameters in Evolutionary Multi- and Many-Objective Optimisation: A Visualisation Approach' Applied Soft Computing 0-0 , DOI Open access
Oudah H, Ghita B, Bakhshi T, Alruban A & Walker DJ (2019) 'Using Burstiness for Network Applications Classification' Journal of Computer Networks and Communications 2019, 1-10 , DOI Open access
Walker DJ (2018) 'Visualisation with Treemaps and Sunbursts in Evolutionary Many-objective Optimisation' Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines , DOI Open access
Walker D, Jakovljevic D, Savic D & Radovanovic M (2015) 'Multi-criterion water quality analysis of the Danube River in Serbia: A visualisation approach' Water Research 79, 158-172 , DOI Open access
Everson RM, Walker DJ & Fieldsend JE (2014) 'Life on the Edge: Characterising the Edges of Mutually Non-dominating Sets' Evolutionary Computation 22, (3) 479-501 , DOI
Walker DJ, Everson R & Fieldsend JE (2013) 'Visualizing Mutually Nondominating Solution Sets in Many-Objective Optimization' IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation 17, (2) 165-184 , DOI
Conference Papers
Bacardit J, Brownlee AEI, Cagnoni S, Iacca G, McCall J & Walker D (2022) 'The intersection of Evolutionary Computation and Explainable AI' Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2022) ACM 1757-1762 , DOI Open access
Walter M, Walker D & Craven M (2022) 'An Explainable Visualisation of the Evolutionary Search Process' ECXAI — Evolutionary Computation and Explainable AI Workshop of GECCO 2022 7-/-0/20227-/-0/2022Association for Computing Machinery 1794-1802 , DOI Open access
Ross JAJ, Tam K, Walker DJ & Jones KD (2022) 'Towards a Digital Twin of a Complex Maritime Site for Multi-Objective Optimization' 2022 14th International Conference on Cyber Conflict: Keep Moving! (CyCon) 5-/-0/20226-/-0/2022IEEE , DOI
Varga M, Gaudl S & Walker D (2021) 'Many-objective Population Visualisation with Geons' GECCO '21: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion 7-/-0/20217-/-0/2021ACM Publisher Site , DOI Open access
Al-Saadi M, Khan A, Kelefouras V, Walker DJ & Al-Saadi B (2021) 'Unsupervised Machine Learning-Based Elephant and Mice Flow Identification' Springer International Publishing 357-370 , DOI
Walter M, Walker D & Craven M (2020) 'Visualising Evolution History in Multi- and Many-Objective Optimisation' Parallel Problem Solving from Nature 2020 9-/-0/20209-/-0/2020Springer Verlag 299-312 , DOI Open access
Walter MJ, Walker DJ & Craven MJ (2020) 'Visualising Evolution History in Multi- and Many-objective Optimisation' in Bäck T; Preuss M; Deutz AH; Wang H; Doerr C; Emmerich MTM; Trautmann H Springer 299-312 Publisher Site
Johns MB, Mahmoud HA, Walker DJ, Ross NDF, Keedwell EC & Savic DA (2019) 'Augmented evolutionary intelligence' GECCO '19: Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference ACM , DOI
Walker D & Craven MJ (2018) 'Visualising the Operation of Evolutionary Algorithms Optimising Water Distribution Network Design Problems' 13th International Conference on Hydroinformatics Palermo, Italy 7-/-0/20187-/-0/2018, DOI Open access
Walker D & Craven MJ (2018) 'Toward the Online Visualisation of Algorithm Performance for Parameter Selection' EvoApplications 2018 Parma, Italy 4-/-0/20184-/-0/2018Springer , DOI Open access
Walker DJ, Johns MB, Keedwell E & Savic D (2018) 'Generating heuristics to mimic experts in water distribution network optimisation'
Walker D & Keedwell EC (2016) 'Towards Many-objective Optimisation with Hyper-heuristics: Identifying Good Heuristics with Indicators' Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN2016) , DOI Open access
Walker D, Fieldsend J & Everson R (2016) 'Visualisation Methods in Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (VizGEC 2016) Chairs' Welcome & Organization' GECCO '16: Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference ACM , DOI
Walker D & Keedwell E (2016) 'Multi-objective Optimisation with a Sequence-based Selection Hyper-heuristic' Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2016)
Walker D, Everson R & Fieldsend J (2015) 'Session details: VizGEC'15 Workshop' GECCO '15: Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference ACM , DOI
Walker D (2015) 'Visualising Multi-objective Populations with Treemaps' Visualisation Methods in Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (GECCO 2015 Workshop)
Walker D, Creaco E, Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia L, Farmani R, Kapelan Z & Savic D (2015) 'Forecasting Domestic Water Consumption from Smart Meter Readings Using Statistical Methods and Artificial Neural Networks' Elsevier BV 1419-1428 , DOI
Walker D, Everson R & Fieldsend J (2014) 'Session details: Workshop: visualisation methods in genetic and evolutionary computation' GECCO '14: Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference ACM , DOI
Walker DJ, Everson RM & Fieldsend JE (2013) 'Visualising and understanding Many-Criterion League tables' 41-44
Walker D, Everson R & Fieldsend J (2013) 'Session details: Visualisation methods in genetic and evolutionary computation (VizGEC 2013)' GECCO '13: Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference ACM , DOI
Everson RM, Walker DJ & Fieldsend JE (2013) 'Edges of Mutually Non-dominating Sets' Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2013)
McClymont K, Walker D & Dupenois M (2012) 'The lay of the land' GECCO '12: Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference ACM , DOI
Walker D, Everson R & Fieldsend J (2012) 'Session details: Visualisation methods for genetic and evolutionary computation (VizGEC)' GECCO '12: Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference ACM , DOI
Walker D, Everson RM & Fieldsend JE (2012) 'Visualising Many-objective Populations' Visualisation Methods in Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (GECCO 2012 Workshop)
Walker DJ, Everson RM & Fieldsend JE (2011) 'Rank-based dimension reduction for many-criteria populations' GECCO '11: Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference ACM , DOI
McClymont K, Walker D, Keedwell E, Everson R, Fieldsend J, Savic D & Randall-Smith M (2011) 'Novel methods for ranking district metered areas for water distribution network maintainence scheduling'
Walker DJ, Everson RM & Fieldsend JE (2010) 'Visualisation and ordering of many-objective populations' 2010 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC) 7-/-0/20107-/-0/2010IEEE , DOI
Other Publications
Manikowski P, Walker D & Craven M Wind turbines dataset. Open access
Personal

Personal

Conferences organised

I have organised the following conferences and workshops:

  • Co-Chair of the organising committee of Visualisation in Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (VizGEC) workshop held annually at GECCO (2012-2019).
  • Member of the organising committee of the 2013 AISB Convention (AISB 2013).
  • Member of the organising committee of the 2015 UK Workshop on Computational Intelligence (UKCI 2015).

Other academic activities

I currently undertake the following academic roles within the School:

  • I am the Programme Manager for all undergraduate Computing programmes.
  • I am the Exam Coordinator for Computing modules.
I am a reviewer for the following journals:

  • IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation
  • Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines
  • Computational Intelligence Magazine
  • Journal of Hydroinformatics
  • Applied Soft Computing
  • Control and Cybernetics

I also review for the following conferences:

  • Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO) - EMO and GA tracks
  • International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN)