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Dr Ahmed Kheiri, B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc., PhD., FHEA, PGCert, MIEEE, MACM

• Please contact me by email if you are interested in doing a PhD in heuristics and optimisation. A number of Studentships may be available here, here and here. These studentships are allocated on a competitive basis.

• The Centre for Global Eco-Innovation is offering exciting, fully funded research opportunities. Apply here now for a funded PhD or Masters by Research. Please check our project here. [This post has now closed to applications]
• Following substantial recent investment in Mathematical Sciences at Lancaster University, we invite applications for up to 14 fully funded PhD studentships in Pure Mathematics, Statistics and Operational Research, for entry October 2020 (Given the ongoing challenges created by COVID-19, supervision may be provided remotely for an initial period where necessary, with IT support from Lancaster University) apply here. [This post has now closed to applications]
• SPECIES offers a number of scholarships in its areas of interest: details here. A list of hosts, including Lancaster University, can be found here - apply by 15th March. [This post has now closed to applications]
• Two positions to develop a decision support system to enhance the decision-making capabilities of disaster preparedness and response organisations in Sudan and Indonesia: details here - apply by 19th November. [This post has now closed to applications]
• Exciting 2 year position in meta/hyper-heuristics for vehicle routing @Optrak to work on a KTP project with Dr Ender Ozcan from the University of Nottingham and myself: details here - apply by 6th August. [This post has now closed to applications]

Dr Ahmed Kheiri is a Senior Lecturer (equivalent to Associate Professor) in Management Science at Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester. He was previously at Lancaster University Management School for seven years, where he was actively involved in two of its research groups: Optimisation Research Group and Health Systems Research Group. During this time, he was also actively involved in Lancaster's multidisciplinary Data Science Institute (DSI), the Centre for Transport and Logistics (CENTRAL), Lancaster Intelligent, Robotic and Autonomous Systems Centre (LIRA), Centre for Health Futures, Security Lancaster, and STOR-i, an EPSRC-funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Statistics and Operational Research with significant industrial engagement. Dr Kheiri took up the role of Fundamentals Theme Co-Lead for LIRA in April 2022 during his time at Lancaster University.

Dr Kheiri received his B.Sc. (Hons - First Class) from the University of Khartoum, Sudan, and completed his M.Sc. (Distinction) and PhD. at the University of Nottingham, UK. The external examiner, Prof. Greet Vanden Berghe, referred to the doctoral thesis as "an outstanding and should be distinguished". Since completing his PhD, Dr Kheiri has continued to carry out research in the area of heuristics and broadened his research interests and published key papers on real-world optimisation problems. He held research positions at the University of Exeter, and the Cardiff School of Mathematics in Wales. He participated in an EPSRC funded project (EP/K000519/1) focusing on selection hyper-heuristics and in a Health and Care Research Wales funded project entitled Prudent Elective Surgery Scheduling: A Whole Systems Approach, which involved the investigation of how scheduling and modelling techniques can be used to help improve the throughput of patients in operating theatres in Wales. He also maintains strong academic ties with the University of Khartoum, frequently visiting to engage in teaching and research activities.

His research interests lie at the intersection of operational research and computer science, investigating flexible and general cross domain optimisation methods to solve NP-hard optimisation problems. He has designed and implemented intelligent, flexible, ready-to-use high level hyper-heuristic methods for decision support and applied them to a wide range of real-world problems, the results of which have been published in high-ranking journals and conferences. Dr Kheiri's research is inherently impactful, as he prefers to work on real problems, presented by clients outside academia.

Dr Kheiri has undergone PGCAP training, and is now a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). He is a Member of the IEEE (MIEEE), a Member of the ACM (MACM) and a Member of the EPSRC Peer Review College.

Dr Kheiri has been successful in winning research funding from a variety of sources including EPSRC, Innovate UK and industry. To date he has been involved in more than 5 grants amounting to more than eight hundred thousand pounds. His research has made important contributions to the field of hyper-heuristics and their applications in Transportation and Healthcare. He has published over 50 refereed papers in reputable journals, with the vast majority indexed in SCI/SCI-Expanded, and has also presented at highly respected international conferences. Additionally, he has authored two invited review papers on selection hyper-heuristics and metaheuristics in the European Journal of Operational Research (EJOR).

His work is highly cited, with his seminal paper "Recent Advances in Selection Hyper-heuristics" garnering over 300 citations on Google Scholar. This paper ranks among the top 1% most cited papers on the ISI Web of Science, with over 160 citations. Published in the leading journal in the field, the European Journal of Operational Research, which has an impact factor of 6 and is ranked 14th out of 106 in the ISI category of Operations Research and Management Science, it stands as a significant contribution.

He has an h-index of 19 and 1,424 citations on Google Scholar. Dr Kheiri has made significant contributions through collaborative projects with esteemed organisations and institutions, publishing papers with 92 co-authors across 18 countries. This showcases his ability to work effectively in diverse, international teams. Throughout his career, he has received several academic awards some are awarded from participation in international optimisation challenges. He was recently awarded a prize by EURO/ROADEF for work in inventory routing. In 2020, he received the Lancaster University Management School Dean's Award for his excellent achievements across the board in research, teaching and engagement.

Dr Kheiri is active in the Evolutionary Computation field, being a member of the organising committee of GECCO since 2020. Notably, in 2022, Dr. Kheiri co-founded and assumed the role of the first Hybrid Scheduling Chair, a position he continues to hold as of 2024. He has co-chaired several workshops, edited several books, given many invited talks, organised several international conferences, reviewed numerous academic journal articles and has served on many program/technical committees in major international conferences. He was Keynote Editor for the OR Society Annual Conference (OR60). Dr Kheiri is recognised internationally as an expert in hyper-heuristics, and he is currently ranked at position 10 out of over 1,467 researchers on the hyper-heuristic bibliography.

Dr Kheiri engages and inspires students, as evidenced by commendations on his clarity, helpfulness, and innovative module structures. His high student feedback scores, particularly in modules like Python Programming, reflect his ability to motivate and inspire learners. Dr Kheiri employs innovative teaching methods and real-world applications to make learning both effective and exciting. His coursework projects, inspired by practical industry scenarios, ensure that his teaching remains relevant to current practices. In his leadership role as Project Lead for the Masters Programmes in Management Science at Lancaster University, Dr Kheiri oversees project generation and allocation, demonstrating his expertise in programme management.

He leads a dynamic research team, currently comprising seven PhD students and two postdoctoral researchers. His PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and visiting students have achieved notable success in their careers, securing positions such as Lecturers, Postdoctoral Research Fellows, and Data Scientists. These successes highlight his role in supporting and mentoring emerging scholars.

Dr Kheiri's consultancy work involves direct engagement with industry practitioners to provide actionable solutions. He has also worked with policymakers and practitioners on various projects, actively participating in executive education and development. Notably, he has delivered training sessions and workshops to industry professionals and policymakers from organisations such as Amazon, EDF Energy, Schlumberger, and DSTL, focusing on the practical applications of his research in computational optimisation. He has contributed to industry webinars, such as those organised by TESCO and ORTEC, sharing research findings and practical applications with a broader audience. His research on the inventory routing problem was featured in Impact Magazine by the Operational Research Society. Additionally, Dr Kheiri regularly presents his research at international webinars, including the IEEE Taskforce on Evolutionary Scheduling and Combinatorial Optimisation Webinar. Dr Kheiri is committed to knowledge transfer and external engagement through impactful initiatives and collaborations. He developed a scheduling tool for conferences used successfully in GECCO conferencesThe code for this tool, along with other open-source initiatives, is available on his GitHub page (https://github.com/ahmedkheiri). Additionally, he created a software system for generating certificates at the University of Khartoum, streamlining the process and reducing errors, showcasing his ability to address administrative challenges within academic environments.

In his spare time he enjoys playing and watching football.