About the Group
Prof Voicu Ion Sucala
I'm interested in looking at a wide range of topics all revolving around digital technology innovation, manufacturing processes, industrial development, and on how the required skills and abilities are developed through innovative engineering education. I'm working closely with industrial and academic partners to develop and apply these innovations in a sustainable manner.
For further details, please see my staff profile.
Feel free to reach out if you want to chat about a PhD.
Dr Baris Yuce
Baris Yuce is a Lecturer at the Engineering department, University of Exeter since March 2017. Prior to this, he worked as a Research Associate at Cardiff University between 2012 and 2017. Baris has a large variety of research interests that focus on intelligent systems and their applications in the fields of smart grids, smart city, industry 4.0 framework, digital twins, robotics and smart logistic systems, further, he has also wide range of expertise in forecasting systems, energy modelling, mathematical and simulation modelling, stochastic optimisation algorithms like the Bees Algorithm, Genetic Algorithm, Ant Colony Optimisation, Hill Climbing, and Simulated Annealing. Baris has also participated in several EU-FP6 and7, EU-H2020; Innovate-UK; KTP funded projects such as KnoHolEM, SPORTE2, MASTERING, WANDA, he has also conducted a collaborative project between University of Exeter and University of British Columbia on Smart Energy Forecasting Systems and funded by Global Partnership. He has also published more than 40 papers in the fields of intelligent systems, robotics, digital twins and their applications in smart buildings, smart energy management systems, smart factory and supply chain management.
Dr Xijin Hua
Xijin is a Lecturer in Biomechanics in the Engineering Management Group. His research interests encompass musculoskeletal and tissue biomechanics, human movement sciences, biomaterials, 3D printing and medical devices (including joint replacements, ankle-foot orthotics and lower-limb exoskeletons). Specifically, his researches focus on developing advanced computational modelling and simulation, and integrating the simulation with 3D printing technology for investigating the biomechanics and biotribology of the musculoskeletal system, soft tissue, muscle function and dysfunction, and for supporting the design, development and manufacturing of medical devices for musculoskeletal disorders prevention and rehabilitation.
Prior to joining the University of Exeter, he obtained his PhD in the Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (iMBE) at Univesity of Leeds, and worked as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie (MSCA) Individual Fellow firstly in the Institute for Biomechanics (IfB) at ETH Zurich in Switzerland and then in the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) at University of Cambridge.
Dr Allen He
I am a lecturer in Engineering Management. My research topics mainly cover production planning and scheduling, multi-project management, agent-based modelling and simulation, digital tools development and applications for smart manufacturing.
I am currently leading the research of an EU Interreg project (CoRoT) with regard to smart manufacturing. Liaising with several French partners, our aims are to develop a reconfigurable mobile robot hardware platform and a dynamic supervision, control and simulation platform to facilitate digital applications in SMEs. A lightweight web-based application for dynamic supervision and simulation will be released by March 2021. Please contact me if you would like to know more information about CoRoT. I am also interested in ROS (Robot Operating System) application development and looking forward to collaborations.
Dr Martino Luis
Martino is interested in optimisation, meta-heuristic, hybrid methods and simulations to design sustainable operations and supply chain network, as well as, to construct integrated scheduling of production and distribution models.
His research assists companies to optimise and integrate production, supply chain network and operations, to be more environmentally and socially sustainable.
Dr Jingchao Jiang
I am a Lecturer in Production and Manufacturing Systems (E&R) in Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy at The University of Exeter. I obtained my PhD from The University of Auckland in New Zealand. Before joining Exeter, I was a Postdoc at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. My research interests and expertise lie in the fields of additive manufacturing, sustainable manufacturing, biomedical applications of additive manufacturing, and AI/machine learning for manufacturing.
Dr Shuang Dai
Dr. Shuang Dai is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Exeter. Her research integrates cutting-edge AI technologies to enhance efficiency and sustainability in engineering systems, with a focus on real-time data processing and predictive modelling. Her interests encompass data mining, time-series forecasting, and distributed learning, with a current emphasis on applying Industry 4.0 technologies to engineering challenges.
Dr Wei Zhang
Wei is an academic staff in Engineering Science. Before moving to Exeter, he held several research posts at some of the UK’s most prestigious universities, including Oxford, Bath, and Queen’s Belfast.
Wei’s research vision is to investigate and deliver advanced computational technologies to address challenges in the field of Engineering Design for Sustainability and to provide innovative solutions that benefit our industry, society, and environment in a net-zero emissions future. His research contributions aim to advance scientific knowledge in human-centred digital technologies for sustainability and hold promising practical applications across various industries. His research interests are:
- Human-centred sustainable design, manufacturing, and management in alignment with Industry 5.0
- Advanced digital twinning technologies and bio-inspired intelligence applications within systems engineering
- Computational inverse technologies under uncertainty for understanding behaviours of materials and structures
Dr Natalia Hartono
Natalia received her doctoral degree and Ratcliffe Prize (engineering) from the University of Birmingham. Dr. Hartono is well-known as the co-chair of the International Workshop Series on the Bees Algorithm and Its Applications and the co-editor of the Springer books “Intelligent Production and Manufacturing Optimisation—The Bees Algorithm Approach” and "Intelligent Engineering Optimisation with the Bees Algorithm." She is co-author of a chapter on "Teaching decision-making models and techniques" in the Handbook on Teaching and Learning in Operations Management.
Her research interests include operations research, supply chain management, meta-heuristics, digital twins, intelligent systems, remanufacturing, sustainability modelling, simulations, robotic applications, ergonomics, and multi-criteria decision-making. Her passion lies in resolving intricate issues that companies encounter in order to enhance their operational efficiency and environmental impact.
Dr Lavanya Meherishi
I am currently a Lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain Optimization at the ExDes Lab. I obtained my PhD in Operations and Supply Chain Management from IIM, Mumbai, India. Before joining the University of Exeter, I worked as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), the Netherlands.
My research interests lie in the field of Maritime Logistics and Port Operations, Smart and Green Supply Chain Management, and application of large scale optimization models to real world Operations and Supply Chain Management Problems.
Dr Asela Kulatunga
Dr. Asela Kulatunga is lecturer in Industrial Systems (R&S) at the Department of Engineering, Faculty of Environment, Science and Economics, University of Exeter, UK. He holds two decades of academic and research experience in working at different parts of the world. His research focuses on the sustainability aspects of manufacturing systems and Supply Chain Engineering problems and how to adapt digitalization towards sustainability. He prefers to work on transdisciplinary complex problems pertaining to supply chains and industrial problems, which requires systems thinking. I have been involved in several foreign funded (UNIDO, UNEP, UNDP, IGES-Japan, AgResearch – New Zealand) projects in sustainable supply chain management of agri-food sector and construction materials sectors in the past.
Research students
I am Abdulaziz Alageel, an Engineering PhD candidate in the University of Exeter, focusing on optimising sustainable supply chain network designs.
I hold a Master of Science degree in International Supply Chain Management from the College of Engineering, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter. Prior to that, I graduated from Jouf University with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering.
I worked for many years in an electrical engineering and retail supply chain. Currently, I’m delivering the ENGM027 Engineering Management Science lab sessions in the Exeter Digital Enterprise Systems lab.
Ahmad is a Ph.D. candidate in Engineering, focusing on the simulation and optimisation of sustainable and cost-efficient supply chains in offshore wind farms. Before joining the University of Exeter in 2022, he received the top student award for his M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees in Industrial Engineering from IAU-STB, Iran. He also holds a certificate in Systems Design for Supply Chain Management & Logistics from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden (2021).
Bringing about a decade of experience from the industry, Ahmad enjoys exploring different areas of the operations research world. He has worked on practical projects in supply chain design, airport simulation-optimisation, smart manufacturing lines, and simulation-based line balancing. He reviews for and has published papers in well-known Q1 journals such as Transportation Research Part A (Elsevier), Reliability Engineering and System Safety (Elsevier), Simulation (Sage), and Systems (MDPI).
Since joining Exeter, Ahmad has also been teaching System Modelling, Discrete Event Simulation, and Mathematical Programming.
I’m Lama Soliman Khaled, a second year PhD student in Engineering department at Exeter. I have joined University of Exeter in 2019, as an MSc student in International Supply Chain Management. Prior to Exeter, I have obtained my bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.
My PhD research aims to Integrate Simulation-Optimisation approach to solve Bi-objective Blood Supply Chain Network Design with uncertainty and disruption. My research outcome will aim to develop a novel mathematical model that will identify an ideal supply chain location, taking into consideration other vital elements such as cost, and environmental aspects. A simulation approach using AnyLogic software, and a metaheuristic approach will be hybridized to create a novel solution method.
I am a postgraduate researcher at University of Exeter. I have a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Design, Manufacture and Automation from Southwest Jiaotong University, and a master's degree in Engineering Business Management from the University of Exeter. My current research is focused on developing digital twinning solutions for the maintenance of machine-tools.
I am postgraduate researcher at the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences. I graduated from the University College London (UK) in 2021 with an MSc in Digital Innovation in Built Asset Management. During my master's degree, I investigated whether big data and artificial intelligence can help improve service quality. I am currently focused on Industry4.0 technologies applied to project management.
I am currently a PhD student in the Department of Engineering at the University of Exeter. I completed my MSc Engineering Business Management at the University of Exeter in 2022. My PhD research focuses on the development of fault prediction and predictive maintenance in intelligent manufacturing, utilizing technologies such as digital twins and machine learning to improve the reliability of manufacturing processes and products.
I am also highly interested in the application of IoT technologies, sensor systems, and automated decision-making, particularly in the areas of equipment optimisation and energy efficiency
I graduated Sichuan University (China) in 2016 with a MEng degree. During my previous studies I investigated two main research areas: plasma enhanced magnetron sputtering coating and electroless plating technology. In my current research programme (funded by China Scholarship Council), I am studying modelling and implementation of digital twin based on physics simulation for intelligent manufacturing factory.
I am currently a PhD student at the Engineering, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences College at the University of Exeter. My research focuses on modelling sustainable closed-loop supply chain network designs using mathematical formulations. The models take into consideration elements of uncertainties, risks, and disruptions that may affect the performance of the entire closed-loop supply chain. Meta-heuristics based method is applied to solve the aforementioned closed-loop models.
I hold a Master of Science degree with distinction in International Supply Chain Management from the University of Exeter and a Master of Science degree in Engineering and Management from Coventry University.
I am Xingyue Wu, a PhD student at the University of Exeter (funded by China Scholarship Council), with a dual bachelor's degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) and the University of Glasgow, as well as a master's degree in Engineering Business Management from the University of Exeter.
My PhD research focuses on developing a sensor-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) microtome, with a focus on designing an ultrasonic transducer system. This system is intended to integrate with technologies such as numerical analysis, automation control, and digital image processing, enabling a fully automated cutting process to contribute to precision medicine.