Matthew Craven

Academic profile

Dr Matthew Craven

Associate Head of School (UG Education)
School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

Overview

Fingerprint

Network

Research outputs

Similar profiles

The Global Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Matthew's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

Goal 04: SDG 4 - Quality EducationGoal 07: SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean EnergyGoal 08: SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth

About Matthew

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:

My research lies in developing methodological and theoretical interdisciplinary tools in AI and Data Science that are applied to a variety of topics, the two main pillars of which are Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) and Cyber Security.

In ORE, my work focuses on optimisation of offshore renewable energy. I work on optimising offshore wind farms through multi- and many-objective optimisation, analysing the algorithm results and evolutionary history via visualisation, and accounting for wind wake effects. Fixed and floating offshore wind turbines present distinct optimisation challenges. With a PhD student, I have worked on quantum algorithms to solve layout optimisation problems for fixed turbines. As part of this, the work has featured in a SDG7 case study in the Open Quantum Institute (CERN) white paper here, demonstrating its impact. In addition, with another PhD student, I work on digital twins to predict response of floating offshore wind turbines to extreme events.

I am a member of CDORE at Plymouth. Collaborating with the Maritime Simulation Laboratory, I also work on multi-objective optimisation of routes of a ship towing a floating wind turbine to sites in the Celtic sea.

In Cyber Security, I am an international leader in using AI to break group-theoretic cryptographic key-exchange protocols. By applying evolutionary algorithms and hyper-heuristics, I assess, break, and enhance protocols. Examples include the Anshel-Anshel-Goldfeld key exchange protocol over various groups. With my PhD students, I have also worked on cyber security awareness training, and game-theoretic and data science approaches towards insider threat detection.

Through supervision of two PhD students in the area of quantum computing, I have an interest in optimisation using the technology. Work includes applying quantum optimisation in ORE and exploring quantum neural networks for elderly fall detection. I also work on the optimisation of portfolios in the financial and energy sectors. 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. 04/2022 - 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. 10/2020 - 04/2024, EPSRC ORE DTP Supergen-ORE: PhD studentship, £50.75k. PI Walker D, Co-I Craven M.
  8. 10/2019 - 10/2022, SECaM: PhD Studentship, £43.5k. PI Walker D, Co-I Craven M.
  9. 08/2014 - 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.

 

Supervised Research Degrees

  • 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 (Co-supervisor), 2023
  • Dr F. Ben Salamah: Adaptive Awareness Raising and Cyber Security Training for Social Media Users (Co-supervisor), 2023

Current PhD Projects 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.

Teaching

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 Lab at the University of Plymouth.

I also have around 20 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 the Programme Leader for the SECaM foundation years from  (Sept 2015-Jan 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.

Contact Matthew

Room 111, 2 Kirkby Place, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
+44 1752 586329