- Room 111, 2 Kirkby Place, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
- +44 1752 586329
- matthew.craven@plymouth.ac.uk

Profiles
Dr Matthew Craven
Lecturer in Applied Mathematics
School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (Faculty of Science and Engineering)
- Artificial intelligence
- Cryptography
- Mathematics
- High-performance computing
- Optimisation
Email publicrelations@plymouth.ac.uk to enquire.
Qualifications
FHEA (Higher Education Academy)
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice
PhD in Mathematics (University of Manchester, UK)
Professional membership
Member of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications
Member of the Foundation Year Network
Key publications
Teaching interests
- MATH051 * Mathematical Methods I
- MATH054 * Mathematics for Computing
- MATH055 Mathematics I
- MATH2604 Mathematical Methods and Applications
- MATH3628 Final Year Mathematics Projects
- PRCO304 Computing Projects
- GS19 * Introduction to R for research staff and PhD students - Doctoral College
- Big Data (April 2019)
- Introduction to RStudio (January 2020)
all in conjunction with the Environmental Futures and Big Data Impact Lab at the University of Plymouth.
Staff serving as external examiners
PhD External Examiner at the University of Greenwich (2019)
Research interests
- Hyperheuristics and machine learning for discovery of symbolic objects
- Offshore renewable energy
- Group-theoretic cryptanalysis and cybersecurity
- Copulas and combinatorial optimisation in financial mathematics
- Real time visualisation and performance analysis of algorithms (particularly Evolutionary Algorithms and variants)
Other research
I am an external member of the Cybersecurity research group at the University of Abertay Dundee.
Research degrees awarded to supervised students
PhD Internal Examiner at the University of Plymouth in March 2020.
Grants & contracts
Key publications
Several journal papers currently submitted or in preparation (as of 04/02/21):
B. Rowlingson, N. Pearce, M. J. Craven, J. Eales, The Effect of Travel Distance on Student Retention in Higher Education, in progress.
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M. J. Craven, J. Sharp, Evaluation of the effectiveness of the Foundation Year in Mathematics and the impact on student recruitment and retention, in progress.
D. J. Walker, M. J. Craven, A Visualisation-Based Benchmarking Approach in Water System Design, in progress.
Key publications are highlighted
JournalsReports & invited lectures
Recent invited lectures are as follows:
- 2020 (with S. Martin and J. R. Woodward) "A Structured Approach to Modifying Successful Heuristics", 12th Intl. Conf. on Evolutionary Computation Theory and Applications, Online.
- 2020 "Inclusion for Foundation Year Mathematics Post Covid-19", FYNAC20, Univ. East Anglia, UK. Also, invited panel discussion.
- 2020 (with M. J. Walter and D. J. Walker) "Visualising Evolution History in Multi- and Many-Objective Optimisation", PPSN 2020, Leiden, Netherlands.
- 2019 (with T. Alotaibi and P. Tziogkidis) "Constructing Class-Based Portfolios on Gulf Markets with Metaheuristics", OR-61, Kent, UK.
- 2019 (with T. Alotaibi) "Efficient Frontiers in Portfolio Optimisation with Minimum Proportion Constraints", GECCO 2019, Prague, Czech Republic.
- 2019 (with J. Sharp) "Combatting the Deficit Model in Foundation Year Mathematics: Ethical Admissions and Inclusive Curricula", FYNAC19, Univ. Sussex, UK.
- 2019 "Group-Theoretic Cryptanalysis Using Hyperheuristics", Queen Mary University of London, UK.
- 2019 "Evolution of Cryptanalytic Attacks via Hyperheuristics", Big Data Group, Plymouth, UK.
- 2018 (with J. Sharp) "Exploring the Frontiers of Foundation Years in Mathematics - An Update on a Work in Progress", FYNAC18, Nottingham, UK.
- 2018 (with D. J. Walker) "Visualising the Operation of Evolutionary Algorithms Optimising Water Distribution Network Design Problems", HIC 2018, Palermo, Italy.
- 2018 (with D. J. Walker) "Toward the Online Visualisation of Algorithm Performance for Parameter Selection", EVOIndustry, Parma, Italy.
- 2018 "The Plymouth GPU Research Centre, Big Data Group", Plymouth, UK.
- 2017 (with W. Dash) "Exploring Botnet Evolution via Multidimensional Models and Visualisation", STM (ESORICS) 2017, Oslo, Norway.
- 2017 (with D. I. Graham) "Exploring the (Efficient) Frontiers of Portfolio Optimization", GECCO2017, Berlin, Germany.
- 2017 (with S. P. Martin) "BBIOS: A Characterization of Evolutionary Algorithm Stability", GECCO2017, Berlin, Germany.
- 2017 (with J. Sharp, M. Lavelle and C. Christopher) "Exploring the Frontiers of Foundation Years in Mathematics - An Enhanced Transition", FYNAC'17, Warwick, UK.
- 2016 "Group Cryptography", Plymouth, UK.
Other academic activities
- I have taught many Royal Institute Mathematics Masterclasses and outreach events, the most recent in February 2020.
- I regularly lead sessions at Mathematical Sciences open and applicant days for undergraduate students.
- I review for the Journal of Operational Research (JORS) and Applied Soft Computing, among others. I was a Programme Committee member for the GECCO-UP Workshop 2013 and GECCO 2019, and a Review Committee member for the VizGEC Workshop in 2015-2019.
- I review EPSRC grant applications in cryptography and artificial intelligence.
- I lead the Big Data Group, and also the Plymouth GPU Research Centre.
Additional information
I am always happy to hear from prospective PhD students in the areas specified in my research section, and in particular:
- Group-Theoretic Cryptology
- Financial Mathematics
- Artificial Intelligence (including evolutionary algorithms, machine learning and high performance computing)
Links
http://math-sciences.org/
https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/schools/school-of-engineering-computing-and-mathematics/mathematical-sciences