Personal statement

I am a Professor of Data Analytics in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences.

Much of my research takes place at the intersection of informatics and the life sciences; in particular I have worked extensively with data-driven models of disease and host-parasite dynamics in both human and animal populations. I have interests in novel methods to collect, manage and make statistical inferences from large and heterogeneous data sets. The application of such methods for passive (or syndromic) surveillance of disease is an on-going area of research interest.

I returned to the UK in 2018 having spent a decade at the Atlantic Veterinary College, UPEI, where I held a Canada Research Chair in Population Health: Epi-Informatics. During much of my time in Canada a key focus of my work was on understanding fish health and the requirements for sustainable salmon aquaculture - in particular my research group's work on sea lice modelling is widely acknowledged as world leading.

One of my research passions at present concerns the use of mobile technology to deliver differential disease diagnostic support to rural communities in LMICs. My group is building on earlier successful pilot studies to develop the use of domain-agnostic design approaches, based on machine learning and semantic models, to deliver such support tools at scale and in a manner that effectively mitigates geographic and species-specific limitations.

In 2023, I moved to a joint position as Senior Expert: Early Warning Information Systems at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), where I provide advice to the FAO's Chief Veterinary Officer and leadership on a number of global information systems designed to support early warning of animal disease outbreaks.