Personal statement
Kerem Akartunali is a Reader in the Department of Management Science at Strathclyde Business School, where he joined as John Anderson Research Lecturer (JARL) in Optimization in 2010, and also a Visiting Professor at Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science (ICMC-USP) of University of São Paulo since 2017. After completing his Ph.D. in 2007 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a specialization in optimization, he worked on airline planning and scheduling problems as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne in collaboration with Constraint Technologies International, an Australian software company. Kerem’s research expertise lies primarily in integer programming, robust and network optimization, and their applications, in particular in lot-sizing/production planning, transportation scheduling/planning, health applications such as radiation treatment planning and nurse rostering, and energy applications such as offshore windfarm installation.
Kerem's research has been funded by various bodies/organizations including Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Capita and US Air Force Office of Scientific Research. He has been an active member of Mathematical Optimization Society and INFORMS since 2003. He was the elected chair of the OR Group of Scotland (the regional branch of OR Society) betwen 2012-2016. He is currently a Full Member of the EPSRC Peer Review College, and also a member of the OR Society Research Panel, and EURO Working Group in Lotsizing Board. Kerem regularly reviews articles for many prestigious journals such as European Journal of Operational Research, IIE Transactions, INFORMS Journal on Computing, Naval Research Logistics and Operations Research.
Kerem has worked with many organizations, including First Milk, Glasgow City Council, NHS, Scottish Power, Scottish Southern Energy and Technip, in a variety of projects ranging from short-term consultancy/knowledge exchange to long-term research partnerships.
In his current role as Faculty Digital Education Director, Kerem is overseeing and strategically planning various online and blended learning activities in the Strathclyde Business School.
In his spare time, Kerem likes to play ultimate frisbee and go hiking.
You can also visit his personal website or check his Google Scholar profile.
Teaching
I have been extensively involved with teaching activities in various levels from undergraduate to Masters since I was a PhD student. I was exposed to course development as early as the last year of my PhD studies, and I have received extensive teaching training during my PhD studies as well as during my employments. I have used my research in a number of teaching activities, and have employed a range of state-of-the-art technologies (such as access grid and virtual workspace) in various courses.
I like to teach classes in the broad area of operational research/management science, in particular in optimization techniques and software, OR modelling and applying these theories to real world problems.
In light of my current role as SBS Faculty Digital Education Director, I have a passion to strategically plan, design and develop the next generation of online learning, including MOOCs, distance learning degrees and blended learning courses.
Research interests
My broad research area is operations research, with a focus in integer and combinatorial optimization, and their applications in practice. Since my PhD thesis, I have been working on production planning and lot-sizing problems, as well as a number of integer optimization applications, in particular large-scale transportation problems (such as airline scheduling and vessel crew scheduling), and health applications (such as radiation treatment planning and nurse rostering).
Professional activities
- External PhD examiner
- Examiner
- 9/6/2020
- OR in Action: Two Applications of Maritime Logistics
- Speaker
- 28/11/2019
- Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen
- Visiting researcher
- 27/11/2019
- Air Force Institute of Technology
- Visiting researcher
- 23/10/2019
- International Workshop on Lot-Sizing (IWLS) 2019
- Participant
- 21/8/2019
- Pesquisa Operacional (Journal)
- Guest editor
- 8/2019
More professional activities
Projects
- Assessment of the current practices and local needs for developing smart antifouling strategies towards energy-efficient fishing boats in Turkey
- Demirel, Yigit Kemal (Principal Investigator) Tezdogan, Tahsin (Co-investigator) Turan, Osman (Co-investigator) Akartunali, Kerem (Principal Investigator) Song, Soonseok (Researcher)
- In Turkey, there are 13,000 artisanal fishing boats contributing to the income of at least 40,000 low-income fishermen and their families living in vulnerable communities. Typically, these fishing boats are of traditional design and inefficient in terms of fuel consumption. They may waste up to 44% of their fuel due to biofouling (organisms growing on boats), which also requires costly hull cleaning and antifouling procedures. Inadequate design and antifouling strategies aggravate the profitability and cause environmental problems such as increased Green-House Gas emissions and transportation of harmful non-indigenous species, while negatively affecting the expected growth in the fisheries sector as opposed to Turkey’s Vision 2023 targets for fisheries.
This project aims to investigate the current antifouling practices and identify the local needs for developing smart antifouling strategies towards energy-efficient fishing boats. This will be achieved by carrying out a joint inter-disciplinary pilot work with partners in Turkey with a focus on the technical feasibility, economic viability and environmental perspectives.
This will help the local fisheries to understand the importance of the optimum antifouling strategies, and hence to reduce unnecessary expenses and increase the profitability while reducing the environmental footprint. This project will establish partnerships for future GCRF calls. - 01-Jan-2019 - 31-Jan-2020
- Initial studies towards an innovative Floating Wind-Hydrokinetic Power Station (FWHPS) for Upper Egypt Villages
- Tezdogan, Tahsin (Principal Investigator) Yuan, Zhiming (Co-investigator) Demirel, Yigit Kemal (Co-investigator) Akartunali, Kerem (Co-investigator) Arslan, Volkan (Researcher)
- The majority of Egyptians live either in the Nile delta, which is located north of Cairo and is known as Lower Egypt, or in the narrow strip of agricultural land south of Cairo on either side of the River Nile, known as Upper Egypt (UE). A report by the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics states that the poorest region in Egypt is the rural upper region (poverty rate of 49.4%). The number of villages in Egypt is 4655; around 22% of them suffer a continuous interruption of electricity. In its 2030 vision, Egypt is aiming to boost its renewable energy generation from 8% to 20%, specifically in UE. According to the Egyptian wind and current atlas, the wind and current have a high potential around the Nile which can be utilised for sustainable energy.
This project aims to investigate the concept of a floating hybrid system which will combine wind and hydropower generation for river applications, from technical feasibility, economic viability and environmental perspectives. The platform will offer a mobile, low emission and economically viable means of power generation for the poor population in UG villages. The ultimate aim is to establish partnerships for future GCRF calls. - 01-Jan-2018 - 30-Jan-2019
- Multi-Level Robust Optimization: Theory, Algorithms and Practice
- Akartunali, Kerem (Principal Investigator) Barlow, Euan (Co-investigator)
- 20-Jan-2018 - 19-Jan-2021
- Threshold Concepts across Knowledge Levels – Insights from How These Occur within Autistic People
- Dorfler, Viktor (Principal Investigator) Harrington, Susan (Post Grad Student) Akartunali, Kerem (Research Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2018
- Uncertainty Treatment and OPtimisation in Aerospace Engineering (UTOPIAE) (H2020 MCSA ETN)
- Vasile, Massimiliano (Principal Investigator) Akartunali, Kerem (Co-investigator) Maddock, Christie (Co-investigator) Minisci, Edmondo (Co-investigator) Revie, Matthew (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2017 - 31-Jan-2020
- INDUSTRIAL DOCTORATE CENTRE IN ADVANCED FORMING AND MANUFACTURE | Rasheed, Aamir
- Ion, William (Principal Investigator) Rentizelas, Athanasios (Principal Investigator) van der Meer, Robert (Principal Investigator) Akartunali, Kerem (Co-investigator) Thomson, Avril (Co-investigator) Rasheed, Aamir (Research Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2014 - 01-Jan-2018
More projects
Address
Management Science
Duncan Wing
Duncan Wing
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