Michael is a Professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems. He is the Co-Director of the Melbourne Centre for Data Science. Michael has made significant contributions to the design of data-driven algorithms for optimisation and decision-making, specifically (a) in the analysis and design of evolutionary algorithms; including exploratory landscape analysis with applications in large-scale, open and dynamic environments, (b) parallel multi-objective optimisation algorithms, explicitly looking at alternative deployment framework, and (c) developing new mechanisms and algorithms, inspired by reinforcement learning and evolutionary game theory, to explore decision-making in complex social-ecological systems.

Michael is the joint lead in the research theme INTEGRATE