CV
Professional History
| Years | Position |
|---|---|
| 2024–2026 | Secondment to University of Dundee, at the Dundee International Institute at Central South University, China |
| 2023–2024 | Visiting Professor, Central South University, Changsha, China |
| 2022–present | Professor, University of St Andrews |
| 2018–2022 | Reader, University of St Andrews |
| 2013–2021 | Royal Society University Research Fellowship (and Extension), St Andrews |
| 2013 | Temporary Lecturer, St Andrews |
| 2009–2013 | Senior Research Fellow, St Andrews |
| 2006–2009 | Research Assistant, Oxford University Computing Laboratory |
| 2005–2006 | Research Assistant, University of St Andrews |
Education
- PhD, “Representations in Constraint Programming”, University of York, 2002–2007. Supervised by Dr Alan Frisch. Best Thesis award at CP 2009.
- M.A. First Class, Maths and Computer Science, Cambridge University, 1998–2002.
Royal Society University Research Fellowship
I held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship from 2013 to 2021 (including extension). The Royal Society URF scheme supports outstanding early-career scientists; in the year I was awarded, there were two fellowships in computer science across the UK.
My fellowship research focused on the intersection of constraint programming and computational group theory, leading to the development of graph backtracking algorithms and the Vole package for GAP.
Grants
| Years | Title | Funder | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–2021 | Systems of Reversible Rules | Royal Society (URF Extension) | £313,721 |
| 2018–2021 | A Learning, Optimising Compiler for Computational Group Theory | Royal Society | £250,000 |
| 2017 | A Constraint Modelling Pipeline | EPSRC (co-I) | £886,923 |
| 2017 | Modelling and Optimisation with Graphs | EPSRC | £662,789 |
| 2016 | Advancing Partition Backtracking in Computational Group Theory | DFG | £5,546 |
| 2014–2017 | Combining Constraints and Verification | EPSRC | £237,768 |
| 2013–2018 | Constraints Between Solutions | Royal Society (URF) | £517,721 |
Total funding as PI or co-PI: approximately £2.87 million.
PhD Students
See the students page for full details and thesis links.
- Özgür Akgün (2014, co-supervisor) — automated constraint modelling
- Saad Attieh (2021) — high-level local search solvers (Athanor)
- Mun See Chang (2021, co-supervisor) — normalisers of permutation groups
- Alice Lynch (2024, co-supervisor) — player guidance in logic puzzles
Teaching
- 2018–2020: Junior Honours full-year group project (100+ students)
- 2009–2017: C and Systems Programming (CS2002), University of St Andrews
- 2012–2013: Java and Object-Oriented Design (MSc module)
Awards and Recognition
- 2013: Royal Society University Research Fellowship
- 2009: Best Thesis award at CP (International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming)
- 2006: Minion paper selected as one of ten best papers at ECAI
- 2005: Best paper at CP for “Symmetry Definitions for Constraint Programming”
- 2017: n-Queens Completion research featured on 50+ news sites including BBC World Service and Sky News
Service
- Editor-in-chief of csplib.org (the main constraint programming benchmark repository)
- Programme committees: IJCAI, ECAI, AAAI, CP, CPAIOR, and numerous workshops
- Workshop co-chair: TRICS (CP 2010, 2013), Constraint Modelling (CP 2012), Doctoral Programme (CP 2011)
- Reviewer for the Royal Society International Exchanges Panel (3 years)
- Member of the BSI British Standards Panel for C++ and the ISO C++ Standards Committee (C++11, C++14)
Software
See the software page for details. Key projects:
- Minion — fast, scalable constraint solver
- GAP — lead developer of the GAP computational algebra system; author of packages including GraphBacktracking and Vole
- Conjure — automated constraint modelling from Essence specifications
- Demystify — AI explanation tool for pen and paper puzzles
- Athanor — local search over abstract constraint specifications
- Contributor to g++ and clang (open-source C++ compilers)
Outreach
- Performed comedy routines about research at “Bright Club” (Edinburgh Fringe and British Science Festival)
- Created an exhibit on AI in games for the Dundee Sensation Science Museum
- Talk on the history of AI at the Belladrum Music Festival
- University of St Andrews Beacon Lecture
- Pecha Kucha lecture series
- Organised “First Chances” CS outreach course at St Andrews (2016–2019)