Callum Evans | PhD Student

I am currently a 3^rd year PhD student at TU Delft in the Netherlands, studying traffic management with reinforcement learning. My project involves designing reinforcement learning-based integrated traffic control systems for large-scale motorway networks, combining measures such as ramp metering, variable speed limits and dynamic route guidance. In 2022, I graduated with a first-class MSci Computer Science degree at the University of Exeter where I worked in many different fields including data science, evolutionary computation, artificial intelligence and machine learning. However, my main research interests surround Computer Science applications within urban, environmental and social sciences.

For example, my third-year project at Exeter involved creating a traffic and emissions simulation of the centre of Manchester with the goal of showing how digital twins and data visualisation can be incredibly useful in conveying complex and data-rich problems, like climate change. Then, for my master’s dissertation, I developed a new reinforcement learning algorithm for electoral redistricting, applied to the UK. The algorithm aimed to optimise the parliamentary constituency boundaries of the UK, prioritising their ability to represent the electorate through a new measure of electoral fairness, the "Seats-Votes difference," which was designed to work in parliamentary systems. The UK redistricter project was ultimately successful, with the resulting paper to be published as part of the proceedings of "SoGood 2022: The 7^th Workshop on Data Science for Social Good," which took place in Grenoble in September 2022. The source code and reports for these projects, as well as others done alongside my degree, are available here, on GitHub.

Outside of study, I also love surfing and sailing which I have been doing at my local reservoir since 2010, even achieving my RYA instructor qualifications in 2015. I also really enjoy learning languages, particularly Dutch which I started to learn before moving to Delft and French, for which I was able to pass the DALF C1 exam in December 2021.

Previous Experience

Research Intern University of Exeter July - September 2021	Research Intern University of Exeter July - September 2021 In the summer of 2021, I helped with an ongoing project into the adoption of EV public transportation in Exeter under the EPSRC vacation internship scheme. The goal of the project was to use multi-objective optimisation techniques to find the best way to completely transition Exeter’s bus network to use electric vehicles, with my part being to look at how the model could be expanded. I was able to research a lot into the problem itself and learned a great deal about public transportation planning and nature-inspired algorithms whilst gaining some valuable experience in PhD research.
IT Technician Chapel-en-le-Frith High School July - September 2019	IT Technician Chapel-en-le-Frith High School July - September 2019 During the school’s summer holidays, I worked with the network manager of the school to help deal with technical issues and upgraded the hardware of all the school’s staff computers. This greatly helped my technical knowledge of computer hardware as well as my problem-solving skills and attention to detail and allowed me to gain a greater understanding of how larger organisations function on a technical level.
Web Developer IT Telemarketing Services June - July 2019	Web Developer IT Telemarketing Services June - July 2019 I took a large role in fixing and redesigning elements of the company’s website before the launch of a new service, as well as creating some additional branding to be used by other employees. I also created and sent out e-communications for various clients, helping my ability to deliver the highest quality and service I could whilst following their specifications, although this also generally gave me a lot more confidence in my web development and graphic design skills.
Sailing Instructor Toddbrook Sailing Club 2015 - 2022	Sailing Instructor Toddbrook Sailing Club 2015 - 2022 Outside of my interests within Computer Science, I am also a fully qualified sailing instructor and helped to run training at my local reservoir and compete in national competitions for many years. I also became the club’s junior coordinator for some time, helping to organise extra social events for younger members as well as helping with some of the administrative elements of training.