Key details
Dr Wim JC J C Melis
Associate Professor of Holistic Design
Dr Melis is an Associate Professor of Holistic Design at the University of Greenwich, where he previously worked as a Senior Lecturer (2011-2019) and also obtained his PGCert in Higher Education.
Before that, he worked at the European Patent Office as a patent examiner (The Hague, The Netherlands, 2005-2011) and was a COE Fellow at Tohoku University (Sendai, Japan, 2008-2009).
He obtained his PhD in Digital Systems – Computing at Imperial College London (Department of EEE, London, UK) for a thesis with title: 'Memory Architectures for Reconfigurable Computers' (2001-2004) after receiving an MSc (Distinction) in Analogue and Digital Integrated Circuit Design from the same institution/department (2000-2001). His first degree was as an industrial engineer in electronics (Option Design Technologies) from KHBO - KIHWV; Oostende; Belgium (MSc) (1996-2000).
Responsibilities within the university
- Programme leader for Machine Intelligence MSc
- Faculty's Disability Named Contact
- Faculty Ethics Panel's Engineering Representative.
- Faculty Research Degree Committee's Engineering Representative
- Elected Research and Teaching Representative at the University's Academic Council
- University's Listening Ear
Recognition
- Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).
- Senior Member of the IEEE (SM IEEE), serves as counsellor for the student branch at the University of Greenwich and is membership development chair for the UK & Ireland Section.
- Member of HiPEAC (European Network of Excellence on High Performance and Embedded Architecture and Compilation) and the Institute of Leadership and Management (MInstLM).
- Dr Melis regularly presents to local branches of the IET about his research.
- STEM Ambassador attending relevant events and/or visits schools to promote Science and Engineering to younger generations, while also serving as a judge for e.g. the Google Science Fair.
- Dr Melis has worked extensively with the EUA (European University Association) around the topic of energy education at post-graduate level, leading to input to a variety of organisations including the European commission as well as produce documents for fellow academics across Europe and the globe.
Research / Scholarly interests
Dr Melis' research interests are around developing new computer architectures that are biologically inspired, deliver human intelligence artificially and overcome some of the problems with the current von-Neumann architectures. These architectures are based on an understanding of how the human brain functions and have already been demonstrated in our labs. They would allow for artificial AI to become available as a low energy and portable technology. Our initial tests have also indicated that there are many other areas of application where significant improvements would become available, such as e.g. hearing implants, audio compression and so on. The developed approach can also easily be transferred across different technologies and so optical and quantum computing implementations that do not suffer from the existing challenges would all become possible.
Additionally, Dr Melis also performs a significant amount of work in the area of sustainable energy generation and management. This includes improving the efficiency of existing technologies as well as looking at alternative methods of generating energy, reducing energy consumption and providing appropriate storage where required. The above interests, feed into Dr Melis' teaching, which focuses on subjects in the area of digital electronic design (VHDL), Artificial Intelligence, machine intelligence, machine learning and robotics. He also teaches more generic modules e.g. around how to do research.
Key funded projects
As a principal investigator, Dr Melis received funding to build a prototype of a system that improves solar panel efficiency of existing panels up to 30% and a project that looks at building an associative memory for real life applications.
Furthermore, he was part of the university team working on the ECOTEC21 project, an InterReg project that looked at the installation, management and use of CHP systems running on biofuel.
Recent publications
Article
Melis, Wim J.C. and , (2024), Turning ad hoc university-local government cooperation into a sustainable long-term relationship. European University Association. In: , , , . European University Association, EUA - Expert Voices (doi: https://www.eua.eu/resources/expert-voices/324-turning-ad-hoc-university-local-government-cooperation-into-a-sustainable-long-term-relationship.html).
Hrisca, Liviu and , Melis, Wim J.C. (2018), Pump speed optimisation for solar thermal system. Elsevier. In: , , , . Elsevier, Solar Energy, 172 (2) . pp. 212-218 ISSN: 0038-092X (Print), 1471-1257 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.03.021) NB Item availability restricted.
Conference item
Elsayed, Mennatallah and , Melis, Wim J.C. (2019), Detecting Change using HTM for a Security Surveillance Application. In: Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Summit 2019, 10-12/06/2019, Osaka, Japan , . , (doi: ) NB Item availability restricted.
Eissa, Hazem , Melis, Wim J. C., Keates, Simeon, Doncheva, Radostinka (2018), Enhancing Robotic Swarms With Fractal Behaviours to Explore Unknown Enclosed Areas. In: 3rd Medway Engineering Conference: Systems: Efficiency, Sustainability and Modelling, 20 June 2018, University of Greenwich, Pembroke Building Central Avenue, Chatham Maritime, United Kingdom , . , . pp. 1-6 (doi: ) NB Item availability restricted.
Kinch, Martin W. , Melis, Wim J.C., Keates, Simeon (2017), Reviewing the current state of machine learning for artificial intelligence with regards to the use of contextual information. University of Greenwich - Faculty of Engineering & Science. In: The Second Medway Engineering Conference on Systems: Efficiency, Sustainability and Modelling, Tuesday, 6th June 2017, University of Greenwich, Chatham Maritime ME4 4TB , The Second Medway Engineering Conference on Systems: Efficiency, Sustainability and Modelling. University of Greenwich - Faculty of Engineering & Science, (doi: ).
Kinkiri, Saritha , Melis, Wim J.C., Keates, Simeon (2017), Machine learning for voice recognition. University of Greenwich - Faculty of Engineering & Science. In: The Second Medway Engineering Conference on Systems: Efficiency, Sustainability and Modelling, Tuesday, 6th June 2017, University of Greenwich, Chatham Maritime ME4 4TB , . University of Greenwich - Faculty of Engineering & Science, (doi: ).
Melis, Wim J.C. and , (2017), Big data for renewable generation. In: 5th UNI-SET Energy Clustering Event - Universities in the Energy Transition: Science & Skills for Renewables Integration, 31st May - 2nd June 2017, KU Leuven, Belgium , . , (doi: ) NB Item availability restricted.
Hrisca, Liviu and , Melis, Wim J.C. (2017), Pump speed optimisation for solar thermal system. In: 1st International Conference on Solar Energy Materials (AEM), 11-13 September 2017, University of Surrey, Guildford, England , 1st International Conference on Solar Energy Materials (AEM). , (doi: ).
Balisson, Dushan , Melis, Wim J.C., Keates, Simeon (2017), Native architecture for artificial intelligence. In: Human Brain Project - First Student Conference, 8-10 February 2017, Vienna, Austria , . , (doi: https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/-/1st-hbp-student-conference-%E2%80%93-transdisciplinary-research-linking-neuroscience-brain-medicine-and-computer-science) NB Item availability restricted.
Melis, Wim J.C. and , (2017), Electrification of transport and carbon capture, bandage on a wound or best solution?. In: 4th UNI-SET Energy Clustering Event - Universities in the Energy Transition: Focus on Sustainable Transport and Carbon Capture, Storage & Use, 27-28 March 2017, Imperial College, London, UK , . , (doi: http://www.eua.be/activities-services/events/event/2017/03/27/default-calendar/4th-uni-set-energy-clustering-event) NB Item availability restricted.
Melis, Wim J.C. and , (2016), What is needed to move towards a sustainable decentralised energy generation model. In: 3rd UNI-SET Energy Clustering Event - Universities in the Energy Transition: Focus on Smart Energy Systems and Communities, 21-23 November 2016, Bucharest, Romania , . , (doi: ) NB Item availability restricted.
Melis, Wim J.C. and , (2016), Beyond Digital. In: ARM Research Summit - Computing for the Next Decade, 15-16 September 2016, Churchill College, Cambridge, UK , . , (doi: https://developer.arm.com/research/summit/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTjJGallqTm1Nek14WVRJNSIsInQiOiJ2Rm5RZ29TdCs1VWlOKzNqTXlQd1wvNnJ1ajNYNWM2RXJcL055NGR0WWlZUVlEQVgrZnBQaUZ2M21QQUNqV2hRU2x3TXN5ZjNuUGdkY2txaHFGNWVXdk5DT2w2M2s3eHhCQzFSbGcrYW50QUhvPSJ9) NB Item availability restricted.
Conference proceedings
Kinch, Martin W. , Melis, Wim J.C., Keates, Simeon (2019), The benefits of contextual information for speech recognition systems. IEEE. In: , , , 2018 10th Computer Science and Electronic Engineering (CEEC). IEEE, . pp. 225-230 . ISBN: 9781538672761 (doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/CEEC.2018.8674204).
Kinch, Martin , Melis, Wim J.C., Keates, Simeon (2018), An evolutionary machine learning algorithm to enhance language processing. Frontiers. In: , , , 1st HBP Student Conference - Transdisciplinary Research Linking Neuroscience, Brain Medicine and Computer Science. Frontiers, . pp. 113-115 . ISBN: 9782889454211 (doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/978-2-88945-421-1) NB Item availability restricted.
Kinkiri, Saritha , Melis, Wim J.C., Keates, Simeon (2018), Creating patterns for machine learning using multiple alignment. Frontiers. In: , , , Book of abstracts: 1st HBP Student Conference, Vienna, 8-10 February 2017. Frontiers, . pp. 116-118 . ISBN: 9782889454211 (doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/978-2-88945-421-1) NB Item availability restricted.
Balisson, Dushan and , Melis, Wim J.C. (2016), Hierarchical neural network model with intrinsic timing. IEEE/Taiwanese Institute of Knowledge Innovation (TIKI), Taiwan. In: , , , International Conference on Applied System Innovation 2016. IEEE/Taiwanese Institute of Knowledge Innovation (TIKI), Taiwan, . pp. 1-4 . ISBN: 9781467398893 (doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICASI.2016.7539787) NB Item availability restricted.
Kinkiri, Saritha and , Melis, Wim J. C. (2016), Reducing data storage requirements for machine learning algorithms using principle component analysis. IEEE/Taiwanese Institute of Knowledge Innovation (TIKI), Taiwan. In: , , , International Conference on Applied System Innovation (ICASI 2016). IEEE/Taiwanese Institute of Knowledge Innovation (TIKI), Taiwan, Okinawa, Japan . ISBN: 9781467398893 (doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICASI.2016.7539804) NB Item availability restricted.
Video
Melis, Wim J.C. and , (2017), How Biological Systems can help to produce better Computers. In: , , , . , (doi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wAmuEZZkM4).
Melis, Wim J.C. and , (2017), Holistic Design - Designing Beyond the Problem. In: , , , . , (doi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSgblnZvpuQ).
Melis, Wim J.C. and , (2016), Energy Consumers and Energy Systems. EUA - Set Plan Conference. In: , , , . EUA - Set Plan Conference, (doi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyENqMUaKAw).
Melis, Wim J.C. and , (2016), Biologically Inspired Computing - The Future ?. In: , , , . , (doi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr7NRaxNDh0).