THEIA: THE visIon and Analytics lab

Welcome to the THEIA: THE visIon and Analytics lab. The THEIA lab is based in the School of Computer Science, University College Dublin. Our group’s research is funded by University College Dublin, Science Foundation Ireland, EU Horizon 2020, and Google.


THEIA Lab group members (dt. Sept 2023)


Our research interests are in the area of computer vision, image processing, and remote sensing. We use techniques from statistical machine learning and deep learning, to solve interdisciplinary computational problems in various fields of digital multimedia, atmospheric research, and solar and renewable energy.


We always look for (independent!) postdoctoral researchers, (hard-working!) PhD students, and (ambitious!) interns to join us, contact us for more details.

Academic Leader

Soumyabrata Dev is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computer Science, University College Dublin (UCD), since Fall 2019 session.

Research Leads

Murhaf Hossari is a Technical Program Manager at Apple, based at San Francisco Bay Area, United States. His main interests and expertise are in natural language processing, machine learning and deep learning.

Fabrizio Orlandi is a Senior Knowledge and Data Engineer at Inter IKEA Systems. His research interests are focused on Knowledge Graphs, Semantic Web, Web of Data, Knowledge Representation and the application of semantic technologies to different domains, such as Social Media, Personalisation and Open Government Data.

Postdoc Fellows

None at this moment.

PhD Students

Md Yearat Hossain is pursuing his PhD in the School of Computer Science at University College Dublin, where his research focuses on image-to-image translation and computational imaging for earth observations. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering from North South University, Bangladesh, where he also served as a research assistant in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In addition to his academic pursuits, Yearat worked as a software engineer in the machine learning team at a software company, where he specialized in applied natural language processing (NLP). His research and professional interests span computer vision, computational imaging, applied machine learning and ML system design.

Sicheng Zhao is a PhD student at University College Dublin under the supervision of Dr Soumyabrata Dev. He completed his Masters degree in Data Science at University Collge Dublin, Ireland, focusing on AI-Driven 3D reconstruction. His research interests include 3D reconstruction, SLAM, and AI-driven geographic modeling.

Sushma Kumari is currently working on her PhD at the School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, under the supervision of Dr Soumyabrata Dev. She is deeply interested in remote sensing and uses machine learning to analyse and classify hyperspectral images. Her focus is on evaluating water quality in inland areas using these methods. She earned a postgraduate diploma in Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, ISRO, in 2018, where she specialized in Satellite Image Processing. With a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering, Sushma has nearly five years of experience in both academia and industrial research. She recently worked as a Senior Research Engineer at Valeo India Private Limited, focusing on Lidar data processing for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Previously, she conducted research on foggy image enhancement and satellite image processing for defence projects at institutions like CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research. Sushma also interned at the Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO) in Ahmedabad in 2018. Her expertise lies in digital image processing, remote sensing, and machine learning, reflecting her dedication to advancing scientific knowledge in these areas.

Ifran Rahman Nijhum is currently a PhD student at University College Dublin, specializing in solar power forecasting and estimation using artificial intelligence techniques. Before this current role, Ifran served as a Lecturer at RTM Al-Kabir Technical University, Bangladesh and worked as a Research Assistant at TnR Lab, North South University, Bangladesh. His academic and research journey began with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Engineering from North South University, Bangladesh. His primary research interest lies in deep learning, computer vision, and their applications in various fields.

Priscilla Adong is a PhD student at University College Dublin. Her research areas include machine learning, remote sensing and air quality. She holds a Masters in Data Communications and Software Engineering and a Bachelors in Computer Science from Makerere University. Prior to starting her PhD, she worked as a data scientist at AirQo-Makerere University, where she focused on building, validating and maintaining predictive air quality models. Her work directly contributed to addressing environmental challenges and improving the well-being of the community.

Yue Li (Lychee) is a PhD student at UCD under the supervision of Dr Soumyabrata Dev. She completed her Masters degree in Computer Technology in Xi'an Shiyou University, China, majoring in natural language processing. Her research interests include computer vision, deep learning and machine learning.

Yiteng Zhang is pursuing his PhD at the School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, under the supervision of Dr Soumyabrata Dev. He received his BSc degree in Software Engineering from Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, as well as B.Eng degree from University College Dublin, Ireland. His research interests include machine learning and computer image recognition applied to atmospheric science and green energy.

Yao Wendong (Isaac) is pursuing his PhD at the School of Computer Science, University College Dublin. He completed his B Eng degree from Beijing-Dublin International College (BDIC), Beijing, China, majoring in Internet of Things. His research interests include remote sensing and machine learning, researching on object detection and classification in remote sensing satellite images.

Menatallah Abdel Azeem is a PhD student at University College Dublin researching in the area of climate analytics. She is also an Azure Data & AI Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft, covering multiple regions. She has 15+ years of experience in data-related roles in various sectors such as telecom, banking, and government. Menatallah holds a Master of Software Engineering from Nile University and a Master of Business Administration from ESLSCA University. Her research interests include big data, machine learning, and cloud computing.

Conor O'Sullivan is a PhD student at UCD under the supervision of Dr Soumyabrata Dev. His research interests include deep learning and XAI - with a focus on applying these methods to monitor Ireland's coastline. Prior to his PhD, he worked in the banking industry where he built models used to automate lending on a large scale. In his spare time, Conor enjoys surfing and rock climbing. He is also an avid blogger on medium.

Sukriti Dhang is a PhD student under the supervision of Dr Soumyabrata Dev and Dr Mimi Zhang (Trinity College Dublin). Prior to this, she worked as a project employee at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur to develop an online laboratory environment for an undergraduate programme in Electronics and Communication Engineering. She completed her M.S. from the Advanced Technology Development Centre, IIT Kharagpur, and she worked to introduce hybrid system modeling of digital circuits for parameter optimization. She completed her B.Tech. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, West Bengal, India. Her research interest includes computer vision and deep learning.

Prasanjit Dey is pursuing his PhD at the School of Computer Science, Technological University Dublin, under the supervision of Dr Bianca Schoen-Phelan and Dr Soumyabrata Dev. His research project title is on monitoring and short-term forecasting of atmospheric air pollutants using deep neural networks. He completed his MTech degree from the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, West Bengal, India. After that, he worked as a Project Associate at CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, India. His research interest includes predicting time-series data using deep learning and machine learning algorithms.

Riju Das is pursuing her PhD at the School of Computer Science, University College Dublin. Prior to this, she worked as an Assistant Professor for 3+ years in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Jorhat Engineering College, recruited under the TEQIP-III project, implemented by the National Project Implementation Unit (NPIU), India. She did her Masters from the National Institute of Technology Meghalaya, India in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and her Bachelors from the Gauhati University, India in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Her research interests are computational art, computer vision, and artificial intelligence.

Grad Students

Shane Smyth is pursuing a MSc (Research) at the School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, under the supervision of Dr Soumyabrata Dev. Shane has completed his BSc at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dún Laoghaire. His research interests include machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision. He is currently researching nearshore wave prediction using deep learning.

Undergrad Students

None at this moment.

Interns

None at this moment.

Alumni

Postdoctoral researchers

  • Muhammad Salman Pathan, Postdoc, AY 2021-23 (Next stop: Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, Maynooth University, Ireland, Next-next stop: Assistant Professor at the School of Computing, Dublin City University)

PhD

  • Jiantao Wu (Ivan), PhD, Aug 2020 till Aug 2024 (Next stop: Research Assistant, University College Dublin, Ireland)
  • Mayank Jain, PhD, Jan 2020 till Dec 2023 (Next stop: Research Assistant, University College Dublin, Ireland, Next-next stop: Engineer, EirGrid)
  • Alexia Larchen COSTUCHEN, Erasmus PhD Visitor, AY 2021-22 (Next stop: Associate Lecturer, Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Spain)

Masters

  • Zachary Yahn, UCD MS, AY 2023-24 (Next stop: PhD student at Georgia Tech, United States)
  • Zixiang Xu (Dante), UCD MS (Research), AY 2020-22 (Next stop: PhD student at Kyoto University, Japan)
  • Yuan Liang (Nick), UCD MS (Research), AY 2020-22 (Next stop: PhD student at University College Dublin, Ireland)
  • Mark Crowley, UCD MS Electrical and Electronic (EEE), AY 2022-23
  • Nicholas Danesi, UCD MS, AY 2020-21 (Next stop: Project Officer, Energy Demand and Efficiency Policy at Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, Australia)
  • Jason Walsh, UCD MS, AY 2020-21 (Next stop: PhD student at University College Dublin, Ireland)
  • Barry McNicholl, UCD MS Electrical and Electronic (EEE), AY 2020-21 (Next stop: Design Engineer at Microchip Technology, Ireland)
  • Ankur Patil, NCI MSc, AY 2018-19
  • Jyotsna Patel, NCI MSc, AY 2018-19 (Next stop: Engineering Doctorate at Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands)
  • Chidozie Shamrock Nwosu, NCI MSc, AY 2018-19 (Next stop: Data Analyst at Monaghan Electrical Ltd, Ireland)

Undergrads

  • Toluwabori Akinola, UCD FYP, AY 2023-24
  • Evin O’Sullivan, UCD FYP, AY 2023-24
  • Jason Lok, UCD FYP, AY 2023-24
  • Tom Higgins, UCD FYP, AY 2022-23
  • Atseosi Idogho, UCD FYP, AY 2022-23
  • Nan Wu, UCD FYP, AY 2022-23
  • Ammar Abdalla, UCD FYP, AY 2022-23
  • Loghlen Rickard, UCD FYP, AY 2022-23
  • Killian Callaghan, UCD FYP, AY 2021-22 (Next stop: Graduate Software Engineer at Citi, Ireland)
  • Andra Antal-Berbecaru, UCD FYP, AY 2021-22 (Next stop: Software Engineer at HubSpot, Ireland)
  • Jarrett Pierse, UCD FYP, AY 2021-22 (Next stop: Systems Development Engineer at Amazon Web Services, Ireland)
  • Shane Cooke, UCD FYP, AY 2021-22
  • Robert Collins, UCD FYP, AY 2020-21
  • Oisin Hourican, UCD FYP, AY 2020-21
  • Aleksandar Dimitrov, UCD FYP, AY 2020-21
  • Wang He, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Sun Jingxiang, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Wang Zihao, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Meichen Lu, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Wang Zhenhao, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Zhang Lei , UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Rongze Tian, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Fu Zixin, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Conor Meegan, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Fangben Zheng, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Yiou Zhao, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Hao Chen, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Ze Song, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Chao Han, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Yuefan Liu, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Jinkai Cui, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Weiting Zhang, UCD FYP, AY 2019-20
  • Sharon Chia, NTU FYP 2016-17 (Supervised by A/P Lee Yee Hui and Dr. Stefan Winkler)
  • Joanne Lim, NTU FYP 2016-17 (Supervised by A/P Lee Yee Hui and Dr. Stefan Winkler)
  • Chong Kai, NTU FYP 2016-17 (Supervised by A/P Lee Yee Hui and Dr. Stefan Winkler)
  • Chen Danning, NTU FYP 2016-17 (Supervised by Prof. Lu Yilong)
  • Wang Jiaqi, NTU FYP 2016-17 (Supervised by Prof. Lu Yilong)
  • Ng Ai Jing Felicia, NTU FYP 2015-16 (Supervised by A/P Lee Yee Hui and Dr. Stefan Winkler)
  • Kristabel Khoo Shi Min, NTU FYP 2015-16 (Supervised by A/P Lee Yee Hui and Dr. Stefan Winkler)
  • Wong Chee Leong Charles, NTU FYP 2014-15 (Supervised by A/P Lee Yee Hui and Dr. Stefan Winkler)
  • Lim Sze Zheng, NTU FYP 2013-14 (Supervised by A/P Lee Yee Hui and Dr. Stefan Winkler)
  • Guan Zhao Ting, NTU FYP 2012-13 (Supervised by A/P Lee Yee Hui and Dr. Stefan Winkler)

Interns

  • Alejandro Mayagoitia (Yale University, United States), UCD Intern, AY 2023–24
  • Hayden Wilson (Southern Methodist University, Dallas, United States), UCD Intern, AY 2023–24
  • Priyanshu Mishra (Indian Institute of Technology, Jammu, India), UCD Intern, AY 2023–24
  • Pardhu Nadella (GRIET, India), UCD Intern, AY 2023–24
  • Mohsin Imam (University of Delhi, India), UCD Intern, AY 2023–24
  • Lucian Fairbrother (Brandeis University, United States), UCD Intern, AY 2022–23
  • Tejasri Nampally ( Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, India), UCD Intern, AY 2022–23
  • Ansh Lodhi (Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India), UCD Intern, AY 2022–23
  • Ambrish Kashyap (Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India), UCD Intern, AY 2022–23
  • Girievasan Manivannan (National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, India), UCD Intern, AY 2022–23
  • Deepak Joel Yericherla (International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Naya Raipur, India), UCD Intern, AY 2022–23
  • Navya Jain (Ram Lal Anand College, University of Delhi), UCD Intern, AY 2022–23
  • Nitin Sai Bommi (International Institute of Information Technology Naya Raipur, India), UCD Intern, AY 2021–22
  • Prathistith Raj Medi (International Institute of Information Technology Naya Raipur, India), UCD Intern, AY 2021–22
  • Bibhash Pran Das (National Institute of Technology Rourkela, India), UCD Intern, AY 2021–22 (Next stop: Software Engineer at Microsoft, India)
  • Pierre Berjon (Ecole Normal Supérieur of Electrotechnique Electronique Informatique Hydraulique and Telecommunication (ENSEEIHT) Toulouse France), UCD Intern, AY 2019–20, AY 2020-21 (Next stop: R&D Satellite Image Machine Learning Expert at Airbus Defence and Space, France)
  • Ho Zheng Yi (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), UCD Intern, Summer 2021 (Next stop: Associate AI Engineer at Seventh Sense, Singapore)
  • Bugra Alparslan (Middle East Technical University, Turkey), UCD Intern, Summer 2020 (Next stop: Software Developer at Aurvis, Türkiye)
  • Guillaume Tran (ENSEEIHT Toulouse France), UCD Intern, AY 2019-20
  • Dewansh Kaloni (Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India), UCD Intern, AY 2019-20 (Next stop: Data Scientist at AiDash, India)
  • Sarthak Batra (Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India), UCD Intern, AY 2019-20
  • Sarah Omer, NTU NRP 2016-17 (Supervised by A/P Lee Yee Hui and Dr. Stefan Winkler)
  • Megan Soo, NTU NRP 2016-17 (Supervised by A/P Lee Yee Hui and Dr. Stefan Winkler)
  • Loh Yi Chang, NTU NRP 2015 (Supervised by A/P Lee Yee Hui and Dr. Stefan Winkler)
  • Wenqing Fan, NTU NRP 2012-13 (Supervised by A/P Lee Yee Hui and Dr. Stefan Winkler)

Why THEIA?

All great research starts with a story. Our group’s name THEIA lab is derived from the Greek goddess Theia, also referred as the Titan goddess of sight (thea), and the bright blue sky (aithre). Also, Theia’s brother is Hyperion, who is a god of the sun. Quite interestingly, our group’s research is focused on computer vision, solar and renewable energy etc. Credits to Murhaf and Fabrizio for this wonderful idea.