Crina Grosan

"I am an academic working in computer science, in particular in artificial intelligence (machine learning) and optimisation. This field has nowadays applications in many areas. One of the qualities one working in this domain needs is intuitiveness, which also includes creativity. This applies to intuitively design and develop new algorithms and methods that can be applied in practice to solve real problems.I do both teaching and research, and, many a times, my research inspires my teaching and the projects I do with my students. I always manage to attract competitive and energetic students to work with artificial intelligence and machine learning, even though the domain sounds difficult to approach. In the end, my students get high recognition for their efforts, and, not only that, but they end up in enjoying the field and wanting to do more in the future. "

"To put it simple, I teach students. I teach them computer science, which includes programming languages and machine learning methods for data analysis, business intelligence. I also do research, which means, I am trying to develop methods and algorithms that work better for some particular problems (at least) than other existing methods. I participate in scientific conferences, symposiums and meetings to present my results. I also apply my findings and knowledge to real-world problems, with the scope of improving the life of other people. I mainly work with healthcare, business and pharmaceutical stakeholders, but artificial intelligence could be included in a large number of interdisciplinary applications. As long as there is data to analyse and make sense of, there is room for artificial intelligence to be applied to.The academic career is something I always wanted. I like working with students. Most of the times they inspire me and contribute to expanding my research horizons. It gives me flexibility and freedom to do what I like. The starting salary is somewhere just below £50,000. As you progress in your career, the rewards are really worth. "

"I graduated Mathematics and Computer Science at Babes-Bolyai University in Romania, one of the top universities. I always loved Maths, I used to compete in Olympiads and I fully enjoyed it. When I first studied computer science in my high school, I didn’t like it. I went to University and I again studied programming languages. I cannot say I was in love with computer science at that time either. I went on to do an MSc in Optimisation and Complex Analysis, but at the same time I started intensive programming languages courses, which I fully loved. I did it so intense and with such a passion that, during my MSc I wrote my first programming languages book (the second one was about 2 years later). I was convinced I will do a PhD and my first option was Statistics. A friend of mine asked me if I would be interested in exploring genetic algorithms (a type of artificial intelligence methods) and I said yes, more from curiosity. I explored them and learned that they could be very well applied to optimisation problems, and I ended up in doing a PhD in artificial intelligence. I love the field so much and I still work on it. It seems endless in ideas and opportunities as well as interdisciplinary applications."

"Family life and academic life match perfectly, I always encourage girls to become an academic or a researcher.I like travelling and discovering new things, places, people, food, nature. I live in London and I try to escape in nature as many times as I can, at the end of the week. "

"I spend time at my computer and in meetings with students, teaching, department meetings or meeting of other various nature at the university. Most of the time is in from of my computer where I prepare my lectures, I write scientific papers or research projects, respond to emails."

"BCs in Mathematics and Computer ScienceMSc in Complex Analysis and OptimisationPhD I Artificial IntelligenceI've received all my degrees from Babes-Bolyai University in Romania. They followed one after the other, with no breaks. I have never had a job in industry, but I have collaborated with various companies for my research, including Nokia, AstraZeneca, and the NHS among other. My first job was an academic position in Romania, just before finalising my PhD. I have quickly advanced to Associate Professor when I decided I would apply for a research only position in the UK, mostly for experience. I have started as research fellow at Brunel University and then continued as lecturer and senior lecturer. "