There are puzzles that we engage in for fun, such as Candy Crush. But there are also serious puzzles that we encounter in modern industry, including scheduling, intelligent control of technical systems such as power grids and biological data analysis. Invariably, puzzles have rules that define legitimate solutions and objectives that the solver tries to achieve.

Research in planning and optimisation aims to build systems that can generate solutions to these real-world puzzles—following the rules and achieving the best outcomes within given constraints. Planning is the branch of Artificial Intelligence that addresses automation of the reasoning required for formulating, implementing and revising plans of action. Optimisation is the science of making better use of limited resources, such as material, energy or time, and reducing waste.  

Explore our available student research projects below and if you’d like to discuss opportunities for collaboration or funding, please email us.