Employment

giCentre, Department of Computer Science, City University London

September 2013 - present

Job title: Lecturer in Visual and Analytic Computing

Research-active lecturer.

September 2007 - December 2013

Job title: Willis Research Fellow

This position is funded by Willis Analytics as part of the Willis Research Network and it focuses on multidisciplinary research of issues affecting the insurance and reinsurance industries. My role in the network is to undertake research on the characterisation and visual representation of spatial uncertainty, collaborating with other members in their various application domains.

Prizes and Awards (shared with colleagues): Honorable mention for a paper at IEEE VisWeek (InfoVis) 2009 [pdf], Google KML in Research prize 2009 [link], VAST Challenge for Uncertainty Visualisation award at VisWeek (VAST) 2009, City University London staff research prize 2009, Best GISRUK09 paper, Best GISRUK10 paper, UKMap Challenge winner at GISRUK10 [link], Honorable Mention for a paper at VisWeek 2010 [pdf], Best Discovery Exhibit at VisWeek 2010 [link], VAST Challenge Award for Good Design and Analysis at VisWeek 2010 [link], City University Staff Prize 2010 (one of 5 awarded), Nokia Data Challenge (2012, third prize, open stream, with 2 colleagues), VAST Challenge Award for Efficient Visualisation at VisWeek 2012 (with 4 colleagues).

June 2006 - August 2007

Job title: Research Fellow

My research fellowship enables me to develop my own research agenda which involves developing some of the concepts of my PhD, collaborating with other members of the department to support their various research projects, and to assisting in attracting funding to the department through grant applications. I am involved in a number of projects related to geometrical, topological and semantic aspects of the urban environment.

Prizes and Awards (shared with colleagues): City University London staff research prize 2007.

PhDs supervised

2014-2018: Rafael Henkin. "A framework for Hierarchical Time-oriented Data Visualisation", Department of Computer Science, City, University of London.

2012-2015: Sarah Goodwin. "Visualisation for Household Energy Analysis: Techniques for Exploring Multiple Variables Across Scale and Geography", Department of Computer Science, City, University of London.

PhDs examined

2022: Jessica Hepburn (external). “The role of Geovisualisation to support Decision-Making in Major Engineering Projects” School of Engineering and the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering. Newcastle University, UK.

2018: Vanessa MacLellan (external). "New Methods and Applications for Context Aware Movement Analysis" School of Geography & Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, UK.

2016: Andreas Hall (external). "Reasoning in Spatio-Temporal Analysis Theory, Provenance, and Applications". School of Engineering, Aalto University, Finland.

2015: Azira Ab Aziz (external). "Repertory Grid Technique: A Pragmatic Approach to Evaluating User Experience in Visualisation Navigation", School of Management, Southampton University, UK.

2011: Susanne Bleisch (internal). "Evaluating the appropriateness of visually combining abstract quantitative data representations with 3D desktop virtual environments using mixed methods". School of Informatics, City University London.

Funded research projects

2020; Co-Investigator; RAMP VIS: Making Visual Analytics an Integral Part of the Technological Infrastructure for Combating COVID-19; Funder: EPSRC; £500K

2019; Principal Investigator; Funder: RSSB Title: Agent based modelling and visualisation of the causes and consequences of knock-on delays; amount: £80K

2018; Principal Investigator; Funder: internal; Title: How the movement of cattle is affected by policy and how it affects Bovine Tuberculosis; amount: £3K

2016; Co-Investigator; Funder: ESRC; Title: AddResponse: non-response in surveys; amount: £320K

2015; Co-Investigator; Funder: InnovateUK; Title: FareVis; amount £120K

Education

Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London

September 2002 - October 2006

Postgraduate Degree: PhD in Geography.

My project was entitled "feature based mapping in three-dimensional space: geometry, features and access". It was funded by an ESRC CASE award with Ordnance Survey as the industrial sponsor. I am interested in data modelling; specifically digital representations of space and how "real-world" features can be defined in a geographical database. In the context of digital national mapping, I am looking at: a) how 3D geometry can be stored, b) pedestrian accessibility can be stored and c) how more flexible "feature" definitions can be added. In particular, I am interested in buildings, and how they are composed of different units; for example shop units in a shopping centre, flats in a block of flats or spaces within buildings used for different purposes at different times of the day. I have designed a data model with the above three concerns in mind and have built a proof-of-concept implementation using Ozone (an open-source object-oriented database), Java and ArcGIS 8. I have presented work in progress throughout the time of the project at internal seminars, Ordnance Survey and a number of national and international conferences.

Prizes and Awards: Winner of the "AGI student of the year 2006" award

The University of Edinburgh

September 2001 - September 2002

Postgraduate Degree: MSc in Geographical Information Science (with distinction).

Part of the course was taught, with modules in GIS principles, spatial analysis, databases and programming. Practical group work exercises were an integral part of the course which help develop teamwork skills.

The final part of the course was devoted to an individual research project. My project was entitled "an object-oriented approach to hydrological modelling based on a triangular irregular network". It was concerned with the design and use of object-oriented data structures and irregular spatial units for hydrological modelling. The model was implemented in Object Pascal.

Prizes and Awards: Joint winner of the MSc departmental prize, winner of the "RICS Geomatics Faculty prize" and winner of the "AGI student of the year 2002" award.

September 1997 - June 2001

Undergraduate Degree: BSc (Hons) Geology (upper second class)

Four year course, which included a number of outside courses in the first and second years, regular field tips and a geological mapping project. The course is assessed through project work, examinations and various exercises throughout the year.

My final degree mapping project was undertaken in North Donegal, Republic of Ireland.