My career in artificial intelligence

Haider Raza, Senior Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence, School of Computer Science and Electronics Engineering, University of Essex

Haider grew up in the city of Lucknow, India and after studying for a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering he headed to the University of Ulster where he gained a PhD in Computer Science. His early career began at Ulster University followed by a Research Officer position at Swansea University. In 2017 he headed to Colchester, Essex, to take up a position as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Institute for Analytics and Data Science (IADS), the University of Essex and has never looked back.   

“I have just been promoted to the role of Senior Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Essex and am excited to be involved in a number of groundbreaking research projects. My background is in data science and I’m helping local companies integrate AI into their workplaces to innovate, and become more efficient and sustainable.

“I’m really excited to be helping the fight against skin cancer, enabling a Check4Cancer company to develop a mobile laboratory, in which users can upload a picture of a mole and the app will confirm whether the mark is of concern. I’m also working with Mersea Homes, helping them to become more efficient with their working practices and reduce their carbon footprint. Another interesting project, I’m supporting the development of AI to accurately predict age group of living individuals, which would be ideal to detect real age of illegal immigrants. My work is varied, but I really enjoy lecturing, collaborating with others and discovering how AI can bring solutions and make the world a much more sustainable place.

“Moving to Colchester has been great for my family. My daughter has started school and my wife has just had our second child. We’ve bought a home in Colchester and my wife has also found employment with the local hospital, we’re definitely here to stay! Essex is much warmer than anywhere else in the UK, there’s also lots of great places to eat, it’s close to London and people play cricket, so I really like it. 

“Working at the University of Essex is great, it’s very diverse and it’s nice to meet lots of different people. I’ve had great people to work with and support my career, which has enabled me to gain promotion and start up my own enterprise ‘Receipt Minder’, which is an app that provides a more sustainable approach to getting receipts. 

“I’m excited about the future. The University of Essex has the 6th best research power in the UK, so I’m very proud to be a part of it.”