Living in a Digital World

This project will develop a multi-layered security framework that leverages advanced machine learning algorithms with the state-of-the-art cryptographic algorithms, and adaptive threat detection systems to enhance the overall grid security.

A wealth of community heritage assets are hidden; they belong to individuals, to families, tucked away in attics or cupboards and their wider cultural value is often not fully appreciated.

The aim of this project is to is to develop robust defence mechanisms against adversarial attacks on image vision systems in autonomous vehicles. This involves creating and implementing algorithms that can detect and mitigate adversarial alterations in real-time, ensuring the AI systems accurately classify objects and maintain safe driving behaviours.

This research aims to advance in energy system modelling to support scalable, resilient hydrogen infrastructure in Scotland by developing predictive analytics, enhanced scenario planning, and optimisation capabilities tailored to hydrogen production, storage, and grid integration requirements.

This research explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be applied to software vulnerability mitigation while ensuring compliance with data privacy laws and ethical standards. The study focuses on building AI-driven security techniques that are technically robust, resistant to adversarial attacks and compliant with legal frameworks like GDPR to preserve end users’ security.

This research investigates the restorative benefits of natural environments by comparing real-world nature experiences with simulated ones using immersive spaces and VR headsets. By analysing participants' psychological responses, it aims to identify key environmental features that promote calm and mental recovery, offering insights into the potential of virtual nature for enhancing well-being.

This project will develop an AI enabled autonomous subsea robotic system for inspection and maintenance of subsea infrastructure.

Construction delays are expensive, time-consuming, prevalent worldwide and a leading and persistent cause of disputes in the sector. They affect end users in all countries across the world in more than one way. For example, delays to public projects are funded by taxpayers. This is problematic as they are unnecessary and avoidable.

Previous research into independent bookshops in Scotland has found that in relatively isolated communities, they provide more than a place to buy books; they can also be a gathering space, a place of safety and at times a hub for the local community (Laing 2020).

This research explores enhancing Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) using high-resolution LiDAR data from RGU and Scotland-wide surveys. It evaluates the impact of data resolution on usability and assesses how visualisation platforms-immersive displays, interactive theatres, and VR headsets- affect perception and interpretation of landscape features, aiming to improve LCA tools and applications.

Exploring barriers to Game Design, Production, and the industry with community-driven design research.

The analysis of designers’ engagement with digital tools is fascinating and complex, this project aims to help solve a few issues around the extension of the mind into the digital realm.

It is common with many university buildings that energy consumption is not monitored. There is a significant lack of framework and tools implemented to: identify where energy is being consumed, detect faults, or determine where energy saving measures could be implemented to greatest effect.

Charities are increasingly under scrutiny to demonstrate genuine public benefit, yet existing definitions and regulatory frameworks often lag behind modern expectations. This research aims to reconceptualise "public benefit" in charity law by investigating governance practices that enhance transparency and accountability, particularly around purposes like religion, social welfare and health.

This project will develop data-driven tools and techniques to control complex networks and interconnected systems where precise modelling of the dynamics, and their interconnection becomes challenging. This problem will be studied in the context of robotics, autonomous and multi-agent systems, power distribution and other complex networks.

An invitation to build business simulation and augmented reality learning and teaching tools in a collaboration between Aberdeen Business School, the School of Computing, Engineering and Technology, and Gray's School of Art.

In the context of Higher Education, digital competencies are increasingly recognised as a necessary skillset that students should continuously develop to navigate an evolving digital learning and professional landscape. However, the existence of digital divides in students creates significant challenges, even at the level of baseline digital literacy.

This research will investigate interactive Explainable AI (XAI) to enhance care robotics by improving multimodal disambiguation in triaging tasks. By exploring novel XAI methods for multimodal data in context-aware human-robot interactions, this study aims to advance responsive, trustworthy AI systems that effectively support patient needs in complex care environments.

Digital platforms like Instagram and TikTok are significant in shaping visual culture and are recognised as simulated physical spaces, which provide opportunities for connection, self-expression and reflective nostalgia. Qualitative research exploring how communities engage with nostalgia in digital spaces would provide valuable insights into how these platforms are used to shape identity.

This project proposes a gamified platform for university students to track and enhance employability skills, integrating skill visualization with RGU’s Akari system. Through interactive "skill trees," students proactively engage with skill-building, improve their employability, and showcase their competencies to employers, bridging gaps in skill recognition and articulation.

Many antimicrobial compounds effectively kill bacteria and fungi, but assessing their toxicity to humans is essential. Traditionally, this requires labour-intensive and ethically contentious tests on human cells and animals. This project will use machine learning to predict toxicity of drugs, reducing cost, time and animal use while accelerating drug development.

The project would focus on young men’s interactions with the manosphere: a coalition of online communities in which anti-feminist/ male hegemonic masculinities are constructed and affirmed via alpha and beta masculine identities.

This research aims to develop novel 4D printing techniques to fabricate self-assembling metal/polymer composites for aerospace and automotive applications, addressing critical challenges in efficient, adaptable, and sustainable manufacturing processes.

Over the past decade, Instagram has become increasingly significant as a visual social media platform that has revolutionised visual culture.

As offshore wind energy development expands, conflicts with other marine users and critical ecological areas important to the marine environment are becoming more frequent. This PhD aims to address these challenges by using Evolutionary-Computing inspired methods of offshore wind farm layout design that balance energy production with ecological and marine user needs.

This project explores the impact of generative AI on student and teacher practices, examining early adoption to identify effective use patterns that enhance student learning and support educators in integrating AI into pedagogy.

Climate change poses two types of risk for the corporate sector: physical and transition risks.

Solid oxide steam electrolysers (SOSE) are a promising type of technology of hydrogen production with the potential to be a part of the sustainable future of the energy sector. The research proposes to improve the efficiency of SOSE by modelling, manufacturing and testing the electrolysis cell using a tubular design.

The goal of this project is to develop an effective in-silico model for dynamic social networks, aimed at simulating interactions and dependencies within social groups and individuals. This model will help identify role-risk relationships and highlight key individuals and communities, particularly in the context of Netizens' security.

This research investigates the push toward standardisation in international contracts, examining the roles of the CISG, AfCFTA, and other emerging trade frameworks. It explores how these international agreements, alongside the efforts of non-governmental organisations, attempt to harmonise contract standards to improve enforceability, dispute resolution, and trust in cross-border transactions.

This research investigates the evolving role of NGOs within global governance frameworks, focusing on how digitalisation and shifting global priorities impact their influence and accountability.

This project will investigate optimization techniques using mathematical graph theory and computational methods to model transport networks across the UK. Combining urban planning data, business intelligence, and vehicle tracking with spatio-temporal modelling and metaheuristic optimization, it aims to enhance both urban mobility and commercial transport efficiency through evidence-based solutions

This project will develop a passive cooling technique to mitigate against heat stress in climate change impacted vulnerable communities through modelling and experimentation.

The proposed research aims to develop innovative catalyst materials and photoelectrochemical (PEC) system for CO2 conversion into practical fuels and value-added chemical commodities production using sunlight. This project will directly address the UN SDGs: 7 Affordable and Clean Energy, 13 Climate Action and 3 Good Health and Well-Being.

This project will develop a next-generation content filtering system specifically designed for children’s smart device interactions, integrating state-of-the-art federated learning, Large Language Models (LLMs), blockchain, and Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) to enhance privacy, security, and interpretability.

The study would use a mixed-methods approach of content and discourse analysis of Scottish local, regional and national newspapers and interviews with journalists, Gender-Based Violence service providers, and organisations such as Zero Tolerance.

Children are future urban managers. Sustainability inevitably means fair resource allocation so that the future generation would not encounter resource depletion due to improper urban management and decisions.

The prevalence of misinformation, disinformation and malinformation in society has been described by experts as an ‘infodemic’. Dark knowledge may be hidden or forbidden knowledge used to produce these forms of disnormative information. These forms are particularly prevalent within political contexts and may adversely influence democratic processes.

This project will focus on enhancing threat correlation, response, and mitigation workflows in Security Operations Management by introducing a novel knowledge graph-based solution aimed at optimizing decision-making processes.

Generative AI can produce beautiful and useful image content for a variety of applications. The identification of AI-produced content is important for both humans and future generative AI models. This project seeks to create a hyper-robust way of actively watermarking generated content by creating visible yet commonly imperceivable watermarks.

This research aims to enhance autonomous underwater navigation by integrating vision-based sensor fusion and AI control. Focusing on complex marine environments, it will develop high-resolution environmental models using camera and sonar data, ultimately promoting efficient and sustainable exploration of underwater ecosystems through improved navigation and data collection methods.