OPTIMA brings together a team of 19 Chief Investigators at different career stages with interdisciplinary expertise in optimisation in mathematics, computer science, statistics, engineering, and economics. Their research portfolios are complemented by three international partners and ten industry partners. Supporting this program are talented PhD candidates and research fellows based at our node universities, Monash University and the University of Melbourne.

Chief Investigators

Professor Kate Smith-Miles

Centre Director
University of Melbourne

Professor Peter Stuckey

Deputy Director
Monash University

Professor Adrian Pearce

Chief Investigator
The University of Melbourne
Uptake Theme Leader

Assoc. Professor Alysson M. Costa

Chief Investigator
The University of Melbourne
Advance Theme Leader

Professor Andreas Ernst

Chief Investigator
Monash University
Advance Theme Leader

Professor Doreen Thomas

Chief Investigator
The University of Melbourne

Assoc. Professor Guido Tack

Chief Investigator
Monash University
Integrate Theme Leader

Assoc. Professor Hamideh Anjomshoa

Chief Investigator
The University of Melbourne
Uptake co-deputy Theme Leader

Professor Howard Bondell

Chief Investigator
The University of Melbourne

Dr Lele (Joyce) Zhang

Chief Investigator
The University of Melbourne

Professor Maria Garcia de la Banda

Chief Investigator
Monash University

Professor Mark Fackrell

Chief Investigator
The University of Melbourne

Professor Michael Kirley

Chief Investigator
The University of Melbourne
Integrate Theme Leader

Professor Peter Taylor

Chief Investigator
The University of Melbourne

Professor Rob J Hyndman

Chief Investigator
Monash University

Professor Tansu Alpcan

Chief Investigator
The University of Melbourne

Professor Uwe Aickelin

Chief Investigator
The University of Melbourne

Professor Ariel Liebman

Monash University

International partners

Professor Manuel Iori

Partner Investigator
UNIMORE, IT

Professor Juergen Branke

Partner Investigator
University of Warwick, UK.

Dr Anna-Lena Sachs

Partner Investigator
The University of Lancaster, UK

Project Team

Dr Charlotte Hurry

Business and Operations Manager
OPTIMA

Helen Allison

Education and Outreach Officer
OPTIMA

Jason Nguyen

Software Developer
OPTIMA

OPTIMA Research Fellows

Dr Jip J. Dekker

Monash University

Dr Mario Andrés Muñoz

University of Melbourne

Associate Investigators

Assoc. Professor Charl Ras

University of Melbourne

Assoc. Professor Gerardo Berbeglia

University of Melbourne

Assoc. Professor Marcus Brazil

University of Melbourne

Assoc. Professor Marcus Gallagher

University of Queensland

Dr Alexander Ek

University of Melbourne

Dr Buser Say

Monash University

Dr Chaitanya Manapragada

University of Melbourne

Dr Christoph Bergmeir

Monash University

Dr Edward Lam

Monash University

Dr Ellie Hajizadeh

University of Melbourne

Dr Estefania Yap

University of Melbourne

Dr Frits de Nijs

Monash University

Dr Gleb Belov

Monash University

Dr Hadi Akbarzadeh Khorshidi

University of Melbourne

Dr Hamid Rezatofighi

Monash University

Dr Hao Wang

Monash University

Dr Ilankaikone Senthooran

Monash University

Dr Jessica Leung

Monash University

Dr John Betts

Monash University

Dr Lachlan Andrew

University of Melbourne

Dr Maria Vrakopoulou

University of Melbourne

Dr Mario Boley

Monash University

Dr Matthew Burns

University of Melbourne

Dr Matthew Tam

University of Melbourne

Dr Michelle Blom

University of Melbourne

Dr Rasul Esmaeilbeigi

Deakin University

Dr Reza Razzaghi

Monash University

Dr Simon Bowly

Monash University

Dr Vera Somers

University of Melbourne

Dr Wathsala Karunarathne

University of Adelaide

Dr William Umboh

Dr William Umboh

University of Melbourne

Dr Xiaoqian Wang

Monash University

Hossein Alipour

University of Melbourne

Markus Wagner

Monash University

Professor Chris Leckie

University of Melbourne

Professor Frank Neumann

University of Adelaide

Prof James Bailey

Professor James Bailey

University of Melbourne

Professor Tim Fletcher

University of Melbourne

Ye Pu

University of Melbourne

Yuan Sun

University of Melbourne

Research Students

Achini Erandi

University of Melbourne

Adalberto S. Michels

University of Melbourne

Ahmad Amiruddin

Monash University

Amin Karimi

University of Melbourne

Anthony Rasulo

University of Melbourne

Arjun Chaudhary

University of Melbourne

Ashley Hanson

University of Melbourne

Behzad Moradi

Behzad Moradi

University of Melbourne

Braden Kidd

Monash University

Caesar Perkasa

Monash University

Canchen Jiang

Monash University

Daniel Bustos

University of Melbourne

Daniel Herring

University of Melbourne

Drew Mitchell

Monash University

Emely Pierau

Monash University

Fotios Mourdoukoutas

Monash University

Gonzalo Hernandez Garzon

Gonzalo Hernandez Garzon

Monash University

Hajar Sadegh Zadeh

University of Melbourne

Hanan Alsouly

University of Melbourne

Helani Wickramaarachchilage

University of Melbourne

Hendrik ‘Henk” Bierlee

Monash University

Hritika Gupta

University of Melbourne

Jae Lee

University of Melbourne

Jalal Abdolahi

University of Melbourne

Jinqiang Yu

Monash University

Kelvin Davis

Monash University

Kelvin Liu

University of Melbourne

Lakshan Bernard

Monash University

Lei Qin

University of Melbourne

Leila Tahouk

University of Melbourne

Liam Timms

University of Melbourne

Luxin Fang

University of Melbourne

Mary Kolyaei

University of Melbourne

Nico Andres Thio

University of Melbourne

Nuwani Palihawadana

Monash University

Pamela Cortez

University of Melbourne

Pengyuan Ding

University of Melbourne

Peter Lusis

Monash University

Peter Wang

University of Melbourne

Qian Wan

Monash University

Qingyang Li

University of Melbourne

Rehan Mendis

Monash University

Sameela Wijesundara

Monash University

Sekar Sakti

University of Melbourne

Septiana Septiana

University of Melbourne

Shiraz (Yi) Zhen

University of Melbourne

Vaughn Grey

University of Melbourne

Vincent Barbosa Vaz

University of Melbourne

Vivek Katial

University of Melbourne

Wenrui Yuan

University of Melbourne

Winton Nathan-Roberts

University of Melbourne

Xia Zhou

Monash University

Zahra Namazian

Monash University

Zhuo Wei

Monash University