Prof. Mike Hinchey

IEEE UK & Ireland Section Chair

Lero - The Irish Software Research Centre

About our keynote speaker

Professor Mike Hinchey is Chair of IEEE UK & Ireland Section for 2018-2019. He is President of IFIP, the International Federation for Information Processing (www.ifip.org) and is Emeritus Director of Lero-the Irish Software Research Centre and Professor of Software Engineering at University of Limerick, Ireland. Prior to joining Lero, Professor Hinchey was the Director of the NASA Software Engineering Laboratory. In 2009, he was awarded NASA’s Kerley Award as Innovator of the Year and is recognized in the NASA Inventors Hall of Fame. Professor Hinchey holds a B.Sc. in Computer Systems from University of Limerick, an M.Sc. in Computation from University of Oxford and a PhD in Computer Science from University of Cambridge. Professor Hinchey is a Chartered Engineer, Chartered Engineering Professional, Chartered Mathematician and Charted Information Technology Professional, as well as a Fellow of the IET, British Computer Society and Irish Computer Society. He is Editor-in-Chief of Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering: a NASA Journal and Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society. In January 2018, he became an Honorary Fellow of the Computer Society of India.

Prof. Nigel John

University of Chester

Senior Research Professor, Department of Computer Science

Nigel will lead the Securing Funds and Publishing workshop

Prof Nigel W. John holds a chair in Computer Science at the University of Chester since 2015. Previously he was director of research within the School of Computer Science (and was acting head of School 2006-7) at Bangor University. He was a co-Director and founder of the Welsh Assembly Government funded Research Institute of Visual Computing, and Director and founder of the Biomedical Research Unit for Advanced Medical Imaging and Visualization.

Nigel’s primary research interests are in the application of computer graphics, haptics, and virtual environments to medical applications, and he has an international reputation in this field. Recent projects have included creating simulators for training interventional radiology, and the use of augmented reality for anatomy education. He has been successful in gaining over £10 Million of funding for his research.

Dr Cyril Onwubiko

IEEE UK & Ireland

Director, Cyber Security and Intelligence at Research Series Limited

Cyril will lead the Research to Enterprise workshop

Dr Cyril Onwubiko is the Secretary – IEEE UK & Ireland, and Director, Cyber Security and Intelligence at Research Series Limited, where he is responsible for directing strategy, IA governance and cyber security. Prior to Research Series, he had worked in the Financial Services, Telecommunication, Health sector and Government and Public services Sectors. He is a leading scholar in Cyber Situation Awarenes (Cyber SA), Cyber Security, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), Data Fusion, Intrusion Detection Systems and Computer Network Security; and vastly knowledgeable in Information Assurance, HMG Security Policy Framework (SPF) and Risk Assessment and Management.

Cyril holds a PhD in Computer Network Security from Kingston University, London, UK; MSc in Internet Engineering, from University of East London, London, UK, and BSc, first class honours, in Computer Science and Mathematics.

He is a passionate volunteer; hence he is a reviewer, keynote speakers, presenter, programme and steering committee member to over 30 academic conferences and journals. He is an invited guest lecturer to a number of universities in the UK, a PhD assessor and examiner to a number of universities, including Aalborg University, Denmark, and University of Derby, in the UK. He is also a Trustee of the Citizens Advice Bureau, Redbridge, Essex, UK.

His research interests are in the areas of Cyber Security, Computer Network Security, Cyber-Threat Analysis, Graph Theory, Intelligence and Security Informatics, Intrusion Detection Systems, Risk Management, Data Fusion, Security Operations Centre and CERT management. Also, he is interested in the mathematical analysis of security and the application of mathematics in solving real-life problems.

Dr Shirley John

University of Chester

Maths Skills Advisor, Learning and Teaching Institute

Shirley will lead the Research Methods and Tools workshop

Dr Shirley John is one of three Maths Skills Advisers on the University of Chester’s Study Skills Advisory team. The team is part of the Learning and Teaching Institute and gained the award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning from Professional Services at the recent staff conference.

After studying Mathematics as an undergraduate, Dr John specialised in Statistics for her doctorate then worked as a statistician for Shell Research Ltd at what is now the University of Chester’s Thornton Science Park. After a career break to bring up her family, she moved into education and has more than twenty years’ experience supporting students learning maths and statistics. A significant part of this has been gained as a tutor for the Open University.

Thomas Day

University of Chester

Research Assistant and PhD Student

Thomas will lead the Introduction to LaTeX workshop

Thomas W. Day is a Research Assistant and Ph.D. Student in the department of Computer Science at the University of Chester. He previously studied a B.Sc. (Hons) at Bangor University and received a first class degree. He interned at the Advanced Medical Imaging and Visualization group at Bangor and is currently part of the Medical Graphics and Visualization, Interaction and Graphics research groups at the University of Chester.

Tom’s primary research interests are in the application of virtual and mixed reality in medical applications, and received various funding grants to carry out the research. Recent projects have included creating training simulators for wheelchair usage, stroke rehabilitation, and paramedic procedures.

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Mike Horne

Chartered Engineer

Professional Registration Advisor, IET

Mike Horne BEng CEng FIET is a Chartered Engineer, and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. For the last few years he has had a volunteer role as a Professional Registration Advisor for the IET, and has overseen several successful applications for Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer and EngTech status.

After qualifying from the University of Bradford with an honors degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 1983, he worked extensively in video camera systems for extreme harsh environments from missile guidance and fire control, to pipe inspection and commercial security. His work has included image intensified and thermal imaging systems.

Mike has worked for both major international companies and SME’s rising to Group Board Director and subsidiary Managing Director level. He currently works for his own company as a consultant engineer, project manager and business developer for several avionics companies working worldwide in the commercial aerospace sector.

Mike has worked on and chaired various international working groups and has spoken at many technical conferences and symposia, both in this country and abroad.

In his spare time he has managed Church Conservation and Re-ordering projects and is developing a taste for Heritage and history in his local village.

Dr Keeley Crockett

Manchester Metropolitan University

Reader in Computational Intelligence in the School of Computing, Mathematics and Digital Technology

Keeley Crockett is a Reader in Computational Intelligence in the School of Computing, Mathematics and Digital Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK. She gained a BSc Degree (Hons) in Computation from UMIST in 1993, and a PhD in the field of machine learning from the Manchester Metropolitan University in 1998 entitled "Fuzzy Rule Induction from Data Domains". She is A Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is a knowledge engineer and has worked with companies to provide business rule automation with natural language interfaces using conversational agents. She is Senior Artificial Intelligence Scientist consultant for Silent Talker Ltd. She leads the Intelligent Systems Group (Computational Intelligence Lab – launch in 2018) that has established a strong international presence in its research into Conversational Agents and Adaptive Psychological Profiling including an international patent on "Silent Talker". She is currently a member of the IEEE Task Force on Ethical and Social Implications of Computational Intelligence and has a strong focus on ethically aligned design in the context of intelligent systems development. Her main research interests include fuzzy decision trees, semantic text based clustering, conversational agents, fuzzy natural language processing, semantic similarity measures, and AI for psychological profiling. Currently the Principal Investigator (MMU) on the H2020 funded project iBorderCtrl – Intelligent Smart Border Control and CI a UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Service Power. She is the currently Chair of IEEE WIE UKI, Chair of the IEEE CIS Webinars, Vice-Chair of the IEEE Women into Computational Intelligence Society. She s also a IEEE WCCI Tutorials 2018 Co-chair. She has authored over 120 peer reviewed publications and is currently an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computational Intelligence.​

Dr Patryk Kot

Liverpool John Moores University

Senior Lecturer, Civil Engineering

Dr Patryk Kot graduated from Liverpool John Moores University with a BSc (Hons) in Computer Technology, MSc (Eng) in Microelectronic Systems Design and a PhD entitled “The feasibility of using EM waves in determining the moisture content and factors effecting measurements in building fabrics”, completed in 2017. From 2016, he worked as a Research Assistant with the Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies (BEST) Research Institute working on Healthcare sensor technologies. In 2017, he became a Senior Lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University within the Civil Engineering department whilst leading multiple research projects in sensor technology, structural health monitoring and energy from waste funded by external grants.

His area of expertise also involves: electromagnetic fine elements modelling; non- destructive testing; electronics hardware; PCB design, development and manufacture; embedded software development; industrial software development; 3D Visualisation; sensor development; machine learning; industrial collaboration; external engagement.

Dr Magomed Muradov

Sensor City, Liverpool

Industrial Software Specialist

Dr Magomed Muradov obtained his BSc (Hons) in Computer Technology from Liverpool John Moores University in 2012, followed by an MSc in Microelectronic System Design in 2013 and a PhD entitled “Prediction of Water Activity in Cured Meat using Microwave Spectroscopy” in 2017. Magomed remains actively involved in academic research that mainly focuses on non-destructive measurements based on microwave sensing systems within the Engineering and Technology Research Institute in LJMU.

Magomed is currently an Industrial Software Specialist at Sensor City Liverpool Limited, delivering LCR4.0 Programme that intends to help Liverpool City Region SMEs explore the potential of Industry 4.0 technologies by providing support ranging from research and development, knowledge transfer and the acceleration of ideas from concept through to commercialisation.

Opeyemi Ajibola

University of Leeds

Volunteer, IEEE UK & Ireland Young Professionals

Opeyemi graduated with a B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Eastern Mediterranean University in 2011 and later completed an M.Sc. in Digital Communications Networks at the University of Leeds in 2015. He is presently a PhD student at the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering of the University of Leeds conducting research in energy efficient communication networks for next generation data centers. Since completing an undergraduate degree, Opeyemi has held professional roles in telecommunication equipment product management and higher education teaching in between his academic pursuit. Opeyemi is a student member of IEEE and a volunteer with IEEE UK & Ireland Young Professionals affinity group.

Dr Helen Southall

University of Chester

Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Science and Engineering

Helen will lead the talk: Time Travel by the Riverside: Using digital techniques to bring Chester's past back to life

Helen Southall graduated with a B.Sc. in Physics and Music from the University of Keele, later followed by an M.Sc in Computation from the University of Manchester. She worked in the energy and insurance industries for 10 years before joining the University of Chester Computer Science department in 1998. Helen gained her Ph.D for research on the live music industry in the Chester area in 2015, and since then has been developing research interests in the fields of Digital Humanities and Digital Heritage.