Welcome to the Data Science research using new topological methods for Materials Science, Computer Vision, Climate. If you are a potential postdoc, PhD student or intern with C++ or Python skills, please e-mail vitaliy.kurlin(at)gmail.com.
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Topological data analysis: tools and applications
Videos of talks explaining key ideas, basic examples and various applications of Topological Data Analysis :
- 1-hour video of the talk "Skeletonization algorithms with theoretical guarantees for unorganized point clouds" at the online seminar of the Applied Algebraic Topology Research Network, May 2018.
- Topological methods for a faster materials discovery (47 min) at Applied Topology, Bedlewo (Poland), June 2017.
- 1-min video spotlight at CVPR 2014 (Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition), Columbus, Ohio (USA), June 2014.
- Applications of Topological Data Analysis to Computer Vision (1h), Microsoft Research, Cambridge (UK), February 2014.
- Reconstruction of plane graphs from noisy samples (1 hour), Informatics Forum, Edinburgh University, April 2013.
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Affiliations: current positions and connections
- Data Scientist at the Materials Innovation Factory (University of Liverpool) funded by Unilever, HEFCE, Leverhulme, ERC. MIF is a new £68 million institute spun out from the 1st Chemistry department in the UK for 4*/3* research (2nd overall).
- Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the 1st Computer Science department in the UK for 4*/3* research (10th overall).
- Leader of the Intel Parallel Computing Center funded via the Big Data Centre at the Lawrence Berkeley laboratory, US.
- Main organiser of the LMS-funded network Applied Algebraic Topology including Liverpool, Southampton and Queen Mary.
- Management team member of the Topological Data Analysis centre between Universities of Oxford, Liverpool, Swansea.
- See other past and current admin posts.
Many thanks to the following research sponsors and collaborators:
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News: success stories in the TDA group
- September 2018 : The 23-page paper "Development of a Reconstruction Method for Major Vortex Structure around Tandem Flapping Wing Object via Vortex Trajectory Method" (joint with Naohiko Ban and Yamazaki) has been accepted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Science and Technology Forum and Exposition 2019.
- September 2018 : Postdoctoral Assistant Dr Ana Garcia has started her 5-year position in the Topological Data Analysis group, funded until August 2023 by the EPSRC grant "Application-driven Topological Data Analysis" (EP/R018472/1).
- August 2018 : Our group has organised the Topological Data Analysis workshop combined with the 11th meeting of the Applied Algebraic Topology network meeting in the MIF, where Phil has given a good talk on skeletonisation algorithms.
- Since March 2013 : previous news stories are in the news archive.
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Awards (larger than 10K GBP in value), see also smaller grants
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EPSRC grant awarded under the call New Approaches to Data Science jointly with Principal Investigators Prof Ulrike Tillmann and Dr Heather Harrington from Oxford and a team from Swansea.
The 100% budget is more than £3.5M over 2018 - 2022.
I've led the Computer Science team at Liverpool with a budget over 715K GBP including Prof Andrew Cooper,
Paul Spirakis,
Igor Potapov.
The success has led to the creation of the Centre for Topological Data Analysis and was higlighted in the University of Liverpool news. Title : Application-driven Topological Data Analysis (ref. EP/R018472/1). |
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The Royal Society International Exchanges grant (12K GBP until December 2019) for bilateral visits between the TDA group at Liverpool (UK) and Prof Herbert Edelsbrunner's group at IST Austria. |
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Intel gift (80K USD) for the first 2 years of Grzegorz Muszynski's PhD "Topological analysis of the Climate System" funded through the Berkeley lab (US) from April 2017 at the University of Liverpool, UK. |
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Knowledge Transfer Secondments at Microsoft Research Cambridge with Dr Andrew Fitzgibbon. 2014 - 2016 : EPSRC gave about 24K GBP, Microsoft Research provided 75K GBP in-kind contribution. Title : Applications of Topological Data Analysis to Computer Vision. Covered visits to Prof Carlsson at Stanford University (US) and Ayasdi, to Prabhat at Lawrence National Laboratory in Berkeley (2016). |
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EPSRC first grant (100K GBP) with post-doctoral assistant
Dr Alexey Chernov, 2011 - 2013 Title : Persistent Topological Structures in Noisy Images (ref. EP/I030328/1), which continued as Knowledge Transefer Secondments at Microsoft Research Cambridge in 2014-2016. |
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Marie Curie International Incoming Postdoctoral Fellowship (142K Euros) Combinatorial Knot Theory. University of Liverpool (UK), September 2005 - May 2007. |
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Postdoctoral Fellowship (22K Euros) on Combinatorial Group Theory at University of Burgundy, Dijon (France), December 2003 - November 2004. |
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Group in Topological Data Analysis
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Postdoctoral Assistant Dr Ana Garcia (September 2018 - August 2023) working on mathematics of crystals in the MIF, funded by the EPSRC grant "Application-driven Topological Data Analysis" (EP/R018472/1). |
Graduate students who I help as the first supervisor (ordered by their start date)
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PhD student Mr Grzegorz Muszynski (since April 2017) is supervised by Dr Vitaliy Kurlin (80%) and the Senior Staff Scientist Michael Wehner, funded by the Intel Parallel Computing Center.
Grzegorz has a split-site supervision agreement and spends July-December every year at the NERSC in the Berkeley lab (US). Project : Topological Analysis of the Climate System. |
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PhD student Mr Philip Smith (since October 2017) is supervised by Dr Vitaliy Kurlin (80%) and Dr Igor Potapov, funded by the Leverhulme Centre at the Materials Innovation Factory in Liverpool. Project : New Computational Methods for a Faster Materials Discovery. |
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PhD student Mr Yury Elkin (since November 2017) is supervised by Dr Vitaliy Kurlin (80%) and Dr Marja Kankaanrinta, funded by the school of EEE&CS at Liverpool.
Yury has a split-site supervision agreement and spends 6 months every year (mostly summer and winter vacations) at the University of Helsinki.
Project : Topological methods in shape recognition. |
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PhD student Mr Marco Mosca (since October 2018) is supervised by Dr Vitaliy Kurlin (80%) and Prof Andy Cooper, funded by the school of EEE&CS at Liverpool for developing an impact case study with the CCDC. Project : Discovering hidden patterns in high-dimensional data for materials science. |
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PhD student Mr Thomas Welsch (since autumn 2018) is supervised by Dr Vitaliy Kurlin (80%) and Dr Shan Luo, funded by the school of EEE&CS as the university support for the EPSRC grant EP/R018472/1. Project : New Topological and Geometric Methods for Computer Vision problems in Materials Science. |
Graduate students who I help as a 2nd or 3rd supervisor (ordered by their start date)
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PhD student Mr Fraser Holloway (since October 2017) is supervised by Dr Laura Harkness-Brennan and Dr Vitaliy Kurlin (50%), funded by the Big Data Science Centre for Doctoral Training in Physics at Liverpool. Project : Topological Data Analysis methods for AGATA (a gamma-ray detector). |
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PhD student Mr Krasen Samardzhiev (since October 2017) is supervised by Dr Daniel Arribas-Bel, Dr Vitaliy Kurlin (40%) and Prof Alex Singleton, funded by the Data Analytics and Society CDT at Liverpool. Project : A Topological Data Analysis of Big Spatio-Temporal Urban Data. |
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PhD student Ms Katerina Vriza (since October 2018) is supervised by Dr Matthew Dyer and Dr Vitaliy Kurlin, funded by the CCDC and the Leverhulme Research Centre at the Materials Innovation Factory. Project : Data Driven Discovery of Functional Molecular Co-crystals. |
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PhD student Mr Cameron Hargreaves (since October 2018) is supervised by Dr Matthew Dyer and Dr Vitaliy Kurlin, funded by the Faraday Battery Challenge (part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund). Project : Data Science and Machine Learning Applied to the Discovery of Solid Lithium Ion Conductors. |
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PhD student Mr Miloslav Torda (since October 2018) is supervised by Dr Yannis Goulermas, Dr Vitaliy Kurlin (40%) and Prof Graeme Day, funded by the Leverhulme Centre at the Materials Innovation Factory. Project : Analysis of energy landscapes of molecular crystal structures employing combinatorial and topological methodologies. |
Temporary students in 2017-18 (from 8 weeks to 8 months): Abid Abdul (2nd year), Alex Bagnall (3rd year), Naohiko Ban (visiting PhD), Jacob Bracken (3rd year), Matthew Bright (MSc), Gemma Cook (MSc), Jack Gee (2nd year), Cameron Hargreaves (MSc), Di Liu (2nd year), Jingyi Lu (3rd year), Asim Munshi (graduate intern), Andrew Parry (3rd year), Antoine Rohmer (2nd year), Arshad Siddiqui (self-funded intern), Eris Tricker (graduate intern), Thomas Welsch (MSc).
Photo in Feb 2018: Naohiko Ban, Asim Munshi, Eris Tricker, Krasen Samardzhiev, VK, Grzegorz Muszynski, Phil Smith.
The group offers the opportunity to give informal talks at the regular TDA seminar.
You could also explore the former students and postdocs of the TDA group.
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Join the group in Topological Data Analysis
- If you know C++ or Python, and wish to join as an intern, PhD or postdoc, e-mail vitaliy(dot)kurlin(at)gmail(dot)com.
- The note for non-EU candidates: unfortunately all available PhD positions are funded up to £20K per year covering tuition fees only for EU/UK students (£4260 per year) and a bursary (minimum £14777 per year, in practice 20000-4260=15740), which is tax free. However the tuition fees for international students are much higher (almost £20K per year). If you have external funds for your living expenses in Liverpool (much cheaper than in London), e-mail me, also see the scholarships.
- For students from a country, where a non-English language is spoken, the typical English language requirement is IELTS (6.5 overall, min 6 in each component). However, you need to pass the test only before starting a PhD, not necessarily before applying, because you could get an offer conditional on IELTS.
- We may support your application for a PhD studentship or a postdoctoral fellowship listed below.
- PhD scholarships at the University of Liverpool (different deadlines depending on your country and case).
- Commonwealth PhD Scholarships (for low and middle income countries, deadlines in February/March).
- AXA postdoctoral fellowships (deadlines in early April/October).
- Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships (deadlines in February-March).
- EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowships (no deadline, best submitted in January or July).
- Royal Society Newton International Fellowships (deadlines in February-March, extra fellowships for candidates from Israel, China, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey).
- Newton Bhabha PhD Placements Programme for Indian PhD students (deadlines in August). Eligibility : strong C++ skills. Time of internship : 3 months at the University of Liverpool.
- For summer internships, e.g. for top students from India or China, we can host you for 10-12 weeks if you have funds from your university (about 2K GBP for accommodation plus visa and travel costs).
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Career highlights : achievements since 2005
- Mentoring : Dr Alexey Chernov
(postdoc in 2011-2012) is a Senior Lecturer in Statistics at Brighton University, UK.
Dr Marjan Safi-Samghabadi (PhD student in 2009-2013) is a lecturer at International Imam Khomeini University, Iran. - Major collaboration with Prabhat leading the Big Data Centre funded by Intel at the Berkeley lab, US.
- Most prestigious grant : Marie Curie International Incoming Postdoctoral Fellowship (2005 - 2007).
- Keynote applied talk : Topological Computer Vision at Prospects in Data Science (January 2016).
- Best applied paper introducing the skeleton HoPeS in Computer Graphics Forum (August 2015).
- Best conference paper : V. Kurlin, Proceedings of Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (2014), a top 3 conference in entire Computer Science and the highest h-index conference in any field.
- Teaching award : one of 3 final nominees in the Science Faculty for a Lecturer of the Year award (2013).
- Best pure maths talk : 20-min oral at International Congress of Mathematicians 2006, Madrid.
- Best pure maths paper : V. Kurlin, Compressed Drinfeld associators, Journal of Algebra (2005).
- Best public talk : What can Deep Learning do with Big Data? at the Pint of Science festival in Liverpool on 17 May 2017.
- Largest admin success : as the MSc course director in 2011-2013, I doubled the enrolment by asking candidates to solve maths problems as an entrance exam, which brought extra 100K+ GBP to university.
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Education : PhD (2003), MSc×2 and PGCert
- PGCert : Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (2008 - 2009) and full membership of the Higher Education Academy, UK.
- PhD in Geometry and Topology,
Moscow State University (Russia),
November 2000 - October 2003
Thesis : Basic embeddings of graphs and 3-page embeddings of graphs.
Supervisors : Prof Victor Buchstaber and Prof Arkady Skopenkov. - MSc in Mathematics,
Independent University of Moscow (Russia), 1995 - 2002 (part-time)
Thesis : Turaev-Viro invariants of compact 3-dimensional manifolds. - MSc in Mathematics (grade point average 5.0/5),
Moscow State University (Russia),
September 1995 - June 2000
Thesis : 3-page diagrams of spatial 3-valent graphs. - Gold medal (top grades 5/5 in all subjects), Physical-Mathematical School N146, Perm (Russia), June 1995.
- Top grades in mathematics and physics in the 2-year distance course by Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (September 1993 - May 1995) whose famous graduates include recent Nobel laureates A. Geim and K. Novoselov.
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Experience : CV and job history since 2000
- Vitaliy Kurlin's curriculum vitae (pdf, 4 pages, 345K, last updated in September 2016)
- Current research : Topological Data Analysis for Materials Science, Computer Vision, Climate
- Past research : geometric topology, graph theory, singularity theory, non-commutative algebra
- Programming skills : C/C++ (industry level), Java, PHP, HTML5, CSS3, Matlab, Python, Javascript
- Since 2016 : senior lecturer (associate professor), Computer Science and Materials Innovation Factory, Liverpool
- 2014 - 2016 : visiting scientist in the Computer Vision group at Microsoft Research, Cambridge (UK)
- 2007 - 2013 : university lecturer (assistant professor) in Mathematics, United Kingdom
- June - September 2007 : research postdoc in Sensor Networks, University of Lancaster, UK
- September 2005 - May 2007 : research postdoc in Knot Theory, University of Liverpool, UK
- February - May 2005 : teaching postdoc in Knot Theory, Independent University of Moscow, Russia
- December 2003 - November 2004 : research postdoc in Combinatorial Group Theory, University of Burgundy, France
- November 2000 - October 2003 : PhD student in Geometry and Topology at Moscow State University, Russia
- October 2000 - June 2001 : C++ programmer in traffic recognition, TochMash Module, Moscow, Russia.
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