- Centre for Parallel Computing
About me
I am a Professor of Distributed Computing at the School of Computer Science and Engineering, Director of the Research Centre for Parallel Computing and Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange at the School of Computer Science and Engineering. Since 2020, I am serving as Editor in Chief at the Journal of Grid Computing published by Springer Nature. I hold a PhD in Distributed Computing, and MSc Degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering.
I have attracted over £65 Million research funding and have been leading national and European research projects related to enterprise applications of cloud computing technologies. I have been involved in more than 20 European and UK funded research projects as principal investigator or co-investigator (a detailed list of projects can be found below).
The leading research outputs of my team (in collaboration with various research groups in Europe) in the past few years have been the MiCADO cloud orchestrator solution that enables the automated deployment and run-time management of microservices-based applications in heterogeneous cloud infrastructures, the CloudSME, CloudiFacturing and DIGITbrain platforms that support manufacturing and engineering companies to utilise cloud-based high-performance computing services to run simulation and optimisation applications, and the PITHIA e-Science Centre that enables space physicists to disciver and access models, workflows and datasets based on an standardised metadata and an ontology. These solutions have already been utilised by over 100 companies and generated significant economic impact.
I have co-authored over 150 scientific publications in peer reviewed journals, high profile conference proceedings and as chapters of edited books.
Research grants
STEP-UP - a Strategic TEchnical Platform for University technical Professionals, UKRI EPSRC, 1 January 2024 - 31 December 2027. Grant Value: £1,998,297, Grant value for UoW: £155,910, Role: CO-PI.
Swarmchestrate - Application-level Swarm-based Orchestration Across the Cloud-to-Edge Continuum, European Commission H-Europe, 1 January 2024 - 31 December 2026, Grant Value: EUR 4,331,726 Grant value for UoW: £580,968, Role: Project Scientific Coordinator.
ARCAFF - Active Region Classification and Flare Forecasting - European Commission H-Europe, 1 December 2022 - 30 November 2025, Grant Value: EUR 782,832 Grant value for UoW: £160,916, Role: CO-Principal Investigator and Work Package Leader.
HARPOCRATES - Federated Data Sharing and Analysis for Social Utility - European Commission H-Europe, 1 October 2022 - 30 September 2025, Grant Value: EUR 4,408,800 Grant value for UoW: £338,905, Role: Principal Investigator and Work Package Leader.
PITHIA-NRF - Plasmasphere Ionosphere Thermosphere Integrated Research Environment and Access services: a Network of Research Facilities - European Commission H2020, 1 April 2021 - 31 March 2025, Grant Value: EUR 5,384,541, Grant value for UoW: EUR 489,250, Role: Co-Investigator and UoW Local Coordinator
CO-VERSATILE - Adaptive and resilient production and supply chain methods and solutions for urgent need of vital medical supplies and equipment - European Commission H2020, 1 November 2020 - 31 October 2022, Grant Value: EUR 5,374,140, Grant value for UoW: EUR 322,812, Role: Co-Principal Investigator and Work Package Leader
DIGITbrain - Digital twins bringing agility and innovation to manufacturing SMEs, by empowering a network of DIHs with an integrated digital platform that enables Manufacturing as a Service - European Commission H2020, 1 July 2020 - 31 December 2023, Grant Value: EUR 8,340,511, Grant value for UoW: EUR 394,500, Role: Co-Principal Investigator and Work Package Leader
ASCLEPIOS - Advanced Secure Cloud Encrypted Platform for Internationally Orchestrated Solutions in Healthcare - European Commission H2020, 1 December 2018 - 30 November 2021, Grant Value: EUR 4,840,000, Grant value for UoW: EUR 559,375, Role: Project Coordinator, Principal Investigator and Work Package Leader
CyberASAP - Consumer smart devices security solution - Innovate UK, 1 April 2021 - 31 August 2021, Grant Value: £15,292, Role: Co-investigator
CloudiFacturing - Cloudification of Production Engineering for Predictive Digital Manufacturing - European Commission H2020, 1 October 2017 – 30 September 2021, Grant Value: EUR 8,712,520, Grant value for UoW: EUR 745,000, Role: Co-Principal Investigator, Work Package Leader, Member of the Executive Board
COLA - Cloud Orchestration at the Level of Application - European Commission H2020, 01 January 2017 - 30 June 2019, Grant value: EUR 3,535,000, Grant value for UoW: EUR 822,000, Role: Project Scientific Coordinator and Principal Investigator
CloudSME - Cloud based Simulation Platform for Manufacturing and Engineering - European Commission FP7 Capacities, 01 July 2013 – 31 March 2016, Grant value: EUR 4,500,000, Grant value for UoW: EUR 642,000, Role: Project Scientific Coordinator and Principal Investigator
IDGF-SP - International Desktop Grid Federation - Support Project, European Commission FP7 Capacities, 01 December 2012 - 28 February 2015, Grant value: EUR 860,000, Grant value for UoW: EUR 133,000, Role: Co-Principal Investigator and Work Package Leader
ER-FLOW - Building an European Research Community through Interoperable Workflows and Data, European Commission FP7 Capacities, 01 October 2012 - 30 September 2014, Grant value: EUR 910,000, Grant value for UoW: EUR 137,000, Role: Co-Investigator
SCI-BUS - Scientific Gateway based User Support, European Commission FP7 Capacities, 01 October 2011 - 30 September 2014, Grant value: EUR 3,750,000, Grant value for UoW: EUR 334,000, Role: Co-Principal Investigator and Work Package Leader
VENUS-C - Virtual multidisciplinary EnviroNments USing Cloud Infrastructures, European Commission FP7 Capacities, 01 June 2011 - 31 May 2012, Grant Value: EUR 26,650, Grant value for UoW: EUR 27,000, Role: Subcontractor, Principal Investigator
Optimal Scheduling of Scientific Application Workflows for Cloud-augmented Grid Infrastructures, EPSRC JISC, 01 February 2011 - 30 July 2011, Grant Value: £57,000, Grant value for UoW: £57,000, Role: Co-Investigator
EDGI - European Desktop Grid Initiative, European Commission FP7 Capacities, 01 June 2010 - 31 May 2012, Grant Value: EUR 2,150,000, Grant value for UoW: EUR 273,000, Role: Co-Principal Investigator and Work Package Leader
DEGISCO - Desktop Grids for International Scientific Collaboration, European Commission FP7 Capacities, 01 June 2010 - 31 May, Grant Value: EUR 799,925, Grant value for UoW: EUR 85,000, Role: Co-Principal Investigator and Work Package Leader
SHIWA - Sharing Interoperable Workflows for Large-Scale Scientific Simulations on Available DCIs, European Commission FP7 Capacities, 01 July 2010 - 30 June 2012, EUR, 1,800,000, Grant value for UoW: EUR 313,000, Role: Co-Principal Investigator and Work Package Leader
EDGeS - Enabling Desktop Grids for e-Science, European Commission FP7 Capacities, 01 January 2008 - 31 March EUR 2,450,000, Grant value for UoW: EUR 307,000, Role: Co-Principal Investigator and Work Package Leader
ProSim - Protein Molecule Simulation on the Grid, JISC 01 October 2008 - 31 March 2009, Grant Value: £50,000, Grant value for UoW: £50,000, Role:Co-Investigator
CoreGrid - European Research Network on Foundations, Software Infrastructures and Applications for Large-Scale Distributed, Grid and P2P Technologies, European Commission FP6, 2004 – 2008, Grant Value: EUR 9,200,000, Grant value for UoW: EUR 48,000, Role: Researcher
ePerSpace - Towards the Era of Personalisation at Home and Everywhere, European Commission FP6, 2004 – 2006, Grant Value: EUR 8,689,000, Grant value for UoW: EUR 375,000, Role: Researcher
GT3 OGSA Testbed - Evaluation of GT3/OGSA on a UK Multi-Site Testbed, EPSRC, 2003 – 2004, Grant Value: £119,272, Grant value for UoW: £15,000, Role: Work Package Leader, Researcher
Teaching
Undergraduate and postgraduate teaching
I have 25 years experience in teaching computer science and mathematics at all levels of education. The areas of my current teaching interest are focused around cloud/distributed computing, business computing, and information systems. I have extended experience in teaching modules related to the following areas:
- Cloud computing
- Electronic commerce
- Enterprise information systems
- Service oriented architectures
- Distributed systems - Database systems
- Information modelling and requirements analysis
- Information systems development methodologies
I am currently module leader of the following modules:
- 6BUIS018W - Information Driven Entrepreneurship and Enterprise: This module will support major developments and issues in entrepreneurship and enterprise, underpinned and supported by information communication technologies. It will also encourage a mind set in creative thinking in seeking opportunities for newinformation driven start-ups and provide a critical assessment of their impact.
- 7BUIS027 - Cloud Computing Applications: The module focuses on the principles of cloud computing and the opportunities this new computing paradigm can deliver for modern enterprises. It gives an overview of the underlying concepts and technologies of clouds, such as its business and service provisioning models, outsourcing, and virtualization. It covers cloud deployment models, cloud application areas, and new challenges that are raised regarding quality of service, security, and trust.
PhD Supervision
I supervise(d) the following PhD students:
Nipuna Senanayake - Active, Topic: Privacy preserving Federated Learning, Role: Second Supervisor
Jose Maria Alonso India - Active, Topic: NFC implementation in IIoT/Cloud, Role: Second Supervisor
Deepika Dua - Completed in 2022, Topic: Disruptive Technologies Implementation Framework: An innovative approach leading a business towards competitive edge, Role: Director of Study
Dr Damjan Temelkovski - Completed in 2019, Thesis:Conceptual Framework and Methodology for Analysing Previous Molecular Docking Results, Role: Director of Study
Dr Faye Bowker - Completed in 2015, Thesis: Molecular docking and geographical information systems as tools to assess the potential impact of veterinary medicines in the environment, Role: Second Supervisor
I am interested in supervising PhD students in the following areas:
- cloud computing
- application level orchestration of cloud computing services
- cloud application description templates and approaches
- academic and industry applications of cloud computing
- cloud-based high performance computing
- big-data processing in the cloud
- cloud-based business models
Research
My main areas of interest
- Cloud orchestration at the level of applications
- Cloud native application development
- Edge-fog-cloud systems and their management and orchestration
- Cloud computing solutions for science and industry, especially for the manufacturing sector
- Big data analytics and AI applications on containerised cloud infrastructures
- Graphical user interfaces for distributed computing infrastructures, especially for clouds
- Porting computation and data intensive applications onto clouds
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.