Amit Chattopadhyay

RESEARCH EXPERTISE – THEORETICAL PHYSICS & INTERDISCIPLINARY

I am an interdisciplinary theoretical physicist and modeller with a unique specialisation in Data Assisted Applied Mathematics, which I acronym DAAM. DAAM is a unique interface that unifies techniques from stochastic mathematics and statistical physics, thereby layering up an additional filtering kernel between raw (unsupervised) data and the eventual statistical (and/or Machine Learning) adaptor to extract hidden stochastic signals and embedded patterns and nonlinearities. DAAM tracks individualised uncertainties during data modelling, especially in human-centric problems, like cardiovascular risk validation, drug repurposing, and econometric inequality evaluation, as also in low carbon & e-waste management. My domain-hogging expertise thus lies in the holistic association of Computational Life Sciences and Econometrics, targeting Human-centric applications, together with application-oriented Discrete & Probabilistic Mathematics, delivering in three key domains – Artificial Intelligence guided epidemiological biology & bioinformatics, econometrics & supply chains, and non-equilibrium systems. I collaborate through an extensive interdisciplinary network of scientific leaders based in the UK, Europe, India, and the US, successfully combining physics, mathematics, and computer science to solve real-life research problems in healthcare, epidemiology, low carbon, smart materials, and soft matter.

RESEARCH LEADERSHIP

DAAM is a key instrument of my scientific leadership that is inherently interdisciplinary, consciously domain-hogging, and transnational in its research remit and network. Both as a former Deputy Head of Mathematics at Aston as also a senior academic in the department, my academic leadership is established through intellectual capacity building of early career researchers (5 qualified/submitted PhDs) and experienced scientists (research mentorship), prestigious national (Royal Society, ERDF, UKIERI) and international (Marie Curie IIF, Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, Horizon2020-RISE) research grant capture, prestigious Adjunct Professorship (GIET) and Advisory positions (Aristotle University), visionary cross-domain research across Physical Sciences, Engineering, Life Sciences, and Business Schools, leading from the front with 80+ publications in top peer-reviewed journals including Nature and APS groups, editorial leaderships of prestigious journals (Nature, Frontiers), and invited fellowships of international repute (FIMA, SFHEA). My research domain is structured under three topical remits:

1. Mathematical Biology & Bioinformatics

a. Healthy Ageing - Cardiovascular health Modelling

b. Epidemiology - Infection Kinetics

c. Bioinformatics – Proteomic/Genomic Sequencing & Drug Repurposing

2. Mathematical Econometrics & Finance

a. Developmental econometrics – Inequality dynamics

b. Behavioural Network – Opinion Dynamics in criminality and voting

c. Supply chain modelling –Electronic Waste & Low Carbon Networks

3. Nonequilibrium Systems and Soft Condensed Matter

a. Materials – Nanocomposite materials’ modelling

b. Alternative Energy – Biogas modelling

c. Liquid Crystals – Stochastic modelling

HIGH LEVEL PEER ESTEEM INDICATORS

Scholarship: Knowledge pathway building in complex systems theory and computational stochastic mathematics.

Esteem summary – 1) First Marie Curie Individual Fellowship holder in Physics from India; 2)

Alexander von Humboldt Fellow; 3) First Invited Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics (IMA) UK; 4) Secretary of the Midlands IMA; 5) Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Authority UK, first from the Mathematics at Aston University; 6) Former member of the American Physical Society; 7) nominated for an Adjunct Faculty position at the university of Delhi by DST, India

Publications: 83 papers - 66 published, 6 submitted, 9 ‘under preparation’ (PRE/PRL/Nature/EPL/EPJ), 90% corresponding/lead authorship; 4 Nature group articles (lead author in all); 45 published/accepted papers in the First Quartile (Q1); 9 in the Second Quartile (Q2)

Editorial Board membership: 1) Nature; 2) Frontiers in Physics 3) Frontiers in Mathematics

Citation: WIPIMD repository highest cited article in nonequilibrium physics: Non-local Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation with spatially correlated noise; Physical Review E 60, 293-296 (1999)

Book: Co-author of a leading textbook in thermodynamics (UG/PG level) – ISBN: 978-0070700352; 3 editions in 9 years (100k+ copies, Tata McGraw-Hill)

Reviewer: APS group, Europhysics Letters, Elsevier, Springer, Plos, Nature, Bioinformatics Journal

Research Council Reviewer: EPSRC, BBSRC, Wellcome Trust, NIHR, MRC, UKRI

Invited speaker: 18+ international conferences; 10+ keynote presentations

Researchgate: 2000+ publication views, RG score 313.5

Fellowships: 1) First Indian Marie Curie Fellowship (IIF) winner in physics; 2) Alexander von

Humboldt Foundation Fellowship awardee; 3) First Invited Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics

(IMA) UK; 4) Invited Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics (FIMA) UK

Invited Chair & Advisory positions: 1) Advisory Scientist at Aristotle University, Greece; 2)

Research Professorship at GIET University, India; 3) Invited Adjunct Faculty at DST, India

Research Excellence Framework (REF) UK: All 6 papers accepted; also served as one of the 4 key reviewers of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Research Income: Over £3 million career total; ongoing – 1) 3 European (ERDF) projects

totalling ca £1.5 million; 2) 1 European RISE project ca €1.2 million.

PROFESSIONAL & INVITED MEMBERSHIPS

1. Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics (FIMA) (2018-Present)

2. Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2017-present)

3. Marie Curie Foundation (Life membership)

4. Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Life membership)

5. American Physical Society (2006-2007)

6. Invited Research Professor and Research Advisory at GIET University, India

RESEARCH LEADERSHIP & IMPACT THROUGH KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

As a recognised scientist in the field of stochastic mathematics and modelling, I have proven leadership in

1. International Research Visibility

a. Reinforcing five research domains (biology, bioinformatics, econometrics, supply chain, materials) within the linguistic of stochastic mathematics and modelling

b. Institute of Mathematics (IMA) leadership in Midlands as Secretary

c. Keynote speaker in 20+ international conferences in Greece, Italy, Germany, India (5 between 2019-2021)

d. Conference organisation leadership at Max Planck Institute, Warwick, Aston

e. Leadership in extensive networking – EU (RISE, Marie Curie, AvH Fellowship), Indian (UKIERI, Commonwealth), UK (Krebbs, Royal Society, British Council) - grants & papers

f. Leadership in eco-sustainable research - low carbon (ERDF) & stochastic supply chain (UKIERI, Commonwealth funding) research

2. High Impact Intra & Inter-Institutional Research

a. Life & Health Sciences Schools– (i) Aston - 3 PhD students co-supervised (Collaboration with Dr D Flower, Pharmacy), Marie Curie grant under review (Collaboration with Dr D Gherghel, Ophthalmology); (ii) University of Leeds – Covid epidemic modelling; (iii) MPIPKS – Flagellar motion modelling

b. Business Schools – (i) Aston - 3 ERDF (low carbon) & 2 UKIERI (environmental research); (ii) Queen Mary University London – Econometrics; (iii) Rockville Analytics, USA – Developmental Econometrics

c. Physical Sciences Schools – (i) Aston Institute of Photonics Technology – 1 PhD co-studentship, 1 joint Nature group publication; (ii) University of Padua, Italy – Earthquake & complex systems modelling; (iii) Jadavpur University, India – Supply Chain modelling

d. Mathematical Sciences Schools – (i) Aston – 3 internal collaborations and Programme Directorship of PG in Complex Systems; (ii) University of Bozen-Bolzano – Stochastic mathematics in econometrics; (iii) IIT Kanpur, India – AI in epidemic modelling

3. Industrial Research & Academia-Industry leadership

a. Academia-Industry collaboration – (i) Low carbon supply chains for SMEs through 3 ERDF grants; (ii) Global warming and climate change through UKIERI; (iii) Vaccine repurposing with Indian Pharmaceutical leaders Panacea & Vaxfarm (Newton-Bhabha grant under review); (iv) Windmill technology (ESTIA, Greece)

b. Healthcare – (i) Parasitology health predictor app accepted as standard by the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, used also in IITs; (ii) Cardiovascular health checker algorithm – Ongoing discussions with QE for NHS implementation

c. Economic Policy Design – Recent Nature Communications (ref 18 in publication list) discussed as a source of inequality policy maker in the US through Rockville Analytics.

d. Humanistic Science: AI powered drug repurposing towards first MRSA antibiotic; Groundbreaking research on Machine Learning powered cardiovascular health evaluator leading to my second PhD student (Xi He) offered an NHS data analyst job

4. Press Releases

a. AI powered econometrics, a new poverty line - ‘Poverty Line’ Concept Debunked By New Machine Learning Model

b. Why ‘dovish’ voters prefer ‘hawkish’ leaders - https://www.aston.ac.uk/latest-news/aston-university-study-shows-mathematical-model-indicates-voters-are-more-likely-0

ADMINISTRATIVE & ORGANISATIONAL LEADERSHIP

1) International workshop at Aston - “Quantum dynamics with trajectories and classical fluid dynamics: connecting concepts and methods”; one of the 3 organisers, 15-16th January 2015 at Aston.

2) John Smith Prize – Founder of the John Smith Prize for the best Mathematics student at Aston.

3) Introductory Seminars – Scientists joining at the Max Planck Institute in Dresden, Germany (2001-2003) were invited to give presentations to further their internal network; I was the organising lead.

4) International Seminar at Warwick – Co-organiser of an international seminar on Cytoskeletons & Polymer Dynamics at the University of Warwick, UK (2005).

5) Research Strategy Committee - Mathematics Departmental representative in the College of EPS

SUCCESSFUL RESEARCH SUPERVISION

Awarded PhDs (AKC as Single Supervisor)

1) Nhat Phuong Do (Vietnam Government Scholarship) – “Antimicrobial drug repurposing using clinical data – Acquisition, analysis and modelling”; main supervisor; submitted- Drug Repurposing using Molecular Modelling and Machine Learning

2) Xi He (self-funded à NHS Data Analyst job following PhD) – ‘Impact of Lifestyle Factor on atherosclerosis: A Modelling Based Study’ - Awarded on 6th June 2018 - Machine Learning application in Biology

3) Daniel J Bush (Aston Scholarship à Morgan Stanley Data Analyst job following PhD) – ‘Immunological Synapse: A Mathematical Model of the Bond Formation Process’ – Awarded on 8th June 2015 - Mathematical Modelling in Biology

4) Anastasiia Vasylchenkova (Aston Scholarship à STEM Educator job following PhD) - “Application of geometrical concepts in 3D optical communications coding” - Submitted on Feb 2020 - Nonlinear Dynamics in Laser Modelling

5) Ewa Grela (Krebs’ Foundation Fellowship - UK Charity) – “Systems modelling of peptide presentation in immunology and homeostasis, verified by cell surface peptidomes”; duration: 41 months; main supervisor; qualified subject to minor corrections.

Submitted PhDs (AKC as Associate Supervisor)

1) Monsuru Taiye Mustapha (self-funded) - “Repurposing and virtual screening of protein drugs – Data modelling to statistical learning”; main supervisor; submission in June 2022 - Antimicrobial Drug Repurposing using Probabilistic Modelling; major corrections.

Biswajit Debnath (Commonwealth scholarship) – “Supply chain optimisation and statistical data

TEACHING ESTEEM INDICATORS – NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Teaching Prizes: Awarded the best lecturer’s prize by students (3 categories) in 2015.

Teaching Leadership in Financial Mathematics: With outstanding teaching evaluation scores (4.8/5.0 in Financial Mathematics, 4.7/5/0 in Portfolio Analysis), and multiple (3) student prizes, I am the most successful teacher in Aston Mathematics bridging Engineering and Applied Sciences with the Business School teaching portals.

Teaching Degree and HEA Leadership: I was the first Senior Fellow of the HEA (SFHEA) UK from Aston Mathematics and am now a senior mentor of the HEA (2 mentees).

Leadership and Entrepreneurship: I have been the key teaching and scientific lead in establishing 1) exchange partnership with Ecole Normale (ENSIIE) in Paris; 2) Founding Programme Directorship of the MSc by Research in Mathematics at Aston, heralding the hugely successful Data Analytics PG Programme at the Department of Mathematics in Aston; 3) recently nominated for a highly prestigious Adjunct Faculty position at the highest ranked Indian University (University of Delhi) by the Department of Science and Technology, India in recognition of my international scholarship.

Past Teaching: 1) PG (MSc) courses in C/C++ programming; Statistical Mechanics at the University of Delhi, India (class sizes ~ 150). 2) UG Course in Mathematical Biology at the University of Warwick, UK (class size ~ 130).