Profile | Working with natural systems for sustainable futures

Dr Markus Mueller

Associate Professor in Applied Mathematics

M.Mueller@exeter.ac.uk

01326 259483

Environment and Sustainability Institute 1.27c

Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK

Overview

My research is grounded in mathematical systems and control theory and finds application in marine engineering, renewable energy, built infrastructure, systems biology, and human health and well-being.

I am the programme director for the university's Applied Data Science MSc programmes in Penryn, and I am currently leading several modules for undergraduate and postgradutate students. My teaching has a strong focus on the interdisciplinarity of mathematics and data science, and I am particularly including application examples from renewable energy engineering, environmental and earth sciences, ecology and conservation and sustainability science.

I am a member of the Departmetn of Earht and Environmental Science at Penryn Campus..

You can view my Google Scholar account here.

You can find out more by watching a two-minute video of me explaining my work.

Qualifications

2014 Fellow of the Higher Eduction Academy
2009 Dr. rer. nat. in Mathematics (Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany)
2005 Diploma in Mathematics (Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany)

Career

since 2023 Assoicate Professor, University of Exeter
2017-2023 Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter
2012-2017 Lecturer, University of Exeter
2010-2012 Associate Research Fellow, University of Exeter
2009-2010 Associate Research Fellow, University of Melbourne, Australia
2006-2009 DFG PhD Research Fellow, Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany
2005-2006 Research Assistant, University of Southampton

Research group links

Research

Research interests

Systems theory: time-varying linear systems, nonlinear systems, systems with multi-dimensional inputs/outputs (e.g. vector relative degree), stability analysis
Robust control: adaptive and funnel control, robustness analysis using operator theoretical approaches (e.g. gap metric)
Optimal control: linear programming, model predictive control
Data and signal processing, in particular time-series analysis
Applications of control theory and machine learning:
- Wave Energy Converters: point absorbers, oscillating water columns
- Population ecology: species-species interactions, pest management, invasive species
- Built invironment: facilities portfolio management
- Human health and wellbeing: human-buildings interactions

Research projects

Current projects and responsibilities:

"Using high temporal resolution sensor data to support independent living" (EPSRC, PI), responsibilities: project lead, research to understand the links between patterns of sensor data within the home and health patterns of vulnerable residents.

Previous projects:

Smart Facilities Management (2015 - 2017, InnovateUK KTP with NJW Limited (now part of Causeway Technologies Limited), Academic Supervisor), responsibilities: development and implementation of a smart facilities management tool to deliver scenario planning capability.
OPERA: Open Sea Operating Experience to Reduce Wave Energy Cost (2016 - 2019, H2020, CoI) responsibilites: control strategies for oscillating water column wave energy converters.
The Magnetic Open to Closed Characterisation of Magnetic Materials and 3D Magnets at elevated temperatures (2017 - 2019, InnovateUK KTP with Hirst Magnetic Instruments Ltd., Lead Academic), responsibilities: modelling and simulations to make open magnetic circuit characterisation techniques more acceptable to the magnetics market.
Marine-i (2018 - 2020, ERDF, CoI), responsibilities: research, development and innovation support for the marine technology sector in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Tevi (2018 - 2021, ERDF, CoI), responsibilities: modelling for ecosystem services and circular economics approaches.
“Demain, l’école de toutes les réussites!” ("Tomorrow, the school of all successes!") (2019 - 2022, ERASMUS+, Exeter PI, collaboration with College Kerzourat (France), Scoala Gimnaziala "Aurel Decei" Gura Raului (Romania), Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change Ltd.), responsibilities: development of educational games to prevent early-school dropouts.
Smartline: Smart wellbeing inspired by the community (ERDF, CoI), responsibilities: research, development and innovation into technologies for "smart houses" to support human health and well-being.

Publications

Journal articles

Wilkinson R, Mleczko M, Brewin RJ, Gaston KJ, Mueller M, Shutler J, Yan X, Anderson K (In Press). Environmental impacts of Earth observation data in the constellation and cloud computing era. Science of the Total Environment Abstract.

Maier M, Mueller M, Yan X (In Press). Introducing a Localised Spatio-temporal LCI Method with wheat production as exploratory case study. Journal of Cleaner Production

Zheng L, Mueller M, Luo C, Yan X (2024). Predicting whole-life carbon emissions for buildings using different machine learning algorithms: a case study on typical residential properties in Cornwall, UK. Applied Energy, 357, 122472-122472.

Anderson K, Brewin RJW, Mleczko MM, Mueller M, Shutler JD, Wilkinson R, Yan X, Gaston KJ (2024). The dark side of Earth observation. Nature Sustainability, 7(3), 224-227.

Menneer T, Mueller M, Townley S (2023). A cluster analysis approach to sampling domestic properties for sensor deployment. Building and Environment, 231, 110032-110032.

Robayo M, Mueller M, sharkh S, Abusara M (2023). Assessment of Supercapacitor performance in a hybrid energy storage system with an energy management based on the discrete wavelet transform. Journal of Energy Storage

Correa-Cano ME, Burton K, Mueller M, Kouloumpis V, Yan X (2023). Quantification of Plastics in Agriculture and Fisheries at a Regional Scale: a Case Study of South West England. Recycling, 8(6), 99-99. Abstract.

Zheng L, Mueller M, Luo C, Menneer T, Yan X (2023). Variations in whole-life carbon emissions of similar buildings in proximity: an analysis of 145 residential properties in Cornwall, UK. Energy and Buildings, 296, 113387-113387.

Menneer T, Qi Z, Taylor T, Paterson C, Tu G, Elliott LR, Morrissey K, Mueller M (2021). Changes in Domestic Energy and Water Usage during the UK COVID-19 Lockdown Using High-Resolution Temporal Data. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(13), 6818-6818. Abstract.

Williams AJ, Menneer T, Sidana M, Walker T, Maguire K, Mueller M, Paterson C, Leyshon M, Leyshon C, Seymour E, et al (2021). Fostering Engagement with Health and Housing Innovation: Development of Participant Personas in a Social Housing Cohort. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 7(2), e25037-e25037. Abstract.

Menneer T, Mueller M, Sharpe RA, Townley S (2021). Modelling mould growth in domestic environments using relative humidity and temperature. Building and Environment Abstract.

Walker T, Menneer T, Leyshon C, Leyshon M, Williams AJ, Mueller M, Taylor T (2020). Determinants of Volunteering Within a Social Housing Community. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 33(1), 188-200. Abstract.

Williams AJ, Menneer T, Sidana M, Walker T, Maguire K, Mueller M, Paterson C, Leyshon M, Leyshon C, Seymour E, et al (2020). Fostering Engagement with Health and Housing Innovation: Development of Participant Personas in a Social Housing Cohort (Preprint). Abstract.

Faÿ F-X, Henriques JC, Kelly J, Mueller M, Abusara M, Sheng W, Marcos M (2019). Comparative assessment of control strategies for the biradial turbine in the Mutriku OWC plant. Renewable Energy, 146, 2766-2784.

Nicol‑Harper A, Dooley C, Packman D, Mueller M, Bijak J, Hodgson D, Townley S, Ezard T (2018). Inferring transient dynamics of human populations from matrix non-normality. Population Ecology

Guiver C, Mueller M, Hodgson D, Townley S (2016). Robust set-point regulation for ecological models with multiple management goals. J Math Biol, 72(6), 1467-1529. Abstract. Author URL.

Guiver C, Edholm C, Jin Y, Mueller M, Powell J, Rebarber R, Tenhumberg B, Townley S (2016). Simple Adaptive Control for Positive Linear Systems with Applications to Pest Management. SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, 76(1), 238-275.

Rüffer BS, Van De Wouw N, Mueller M (2013). Convergent systems vs. incremental stability. Systems and Control Letters, 62(3), 277-285. Abstract.

Hackl CM, Hopfe N, Ilchmann A, Mueller M, Trenn S (2013). FUNNEL CONTROL FOR SYSTEMS WITH RELATIVE DEGREE TWO. SIAM JOURNAL ON CONTROL AND OPTIMIZATION, 51(2), 965-995. Author URL.

Ruffer BS, Van De Wouw N, Mueller M (2012). From convergent dynamics to incremental stability. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2958-2963.

Li G, Weiss G, Mueller M, Townley S, Belmont MR (2012). Wave energy converter control by wave prediction and dynamic programming. Renewable Energy, 48, 392-403. Abstract.

Mueller M (2009). Normal form for linear systems with respect to its vector relative degree. Linear Algebra and its Applications, 430(4), 1292-1312. Abstract.

French M, Ilchmann A, Mueller M (2009). Robust stabilization by linear output delay feedback. SIAM J. Control Optim., 48(4), 2533-2561. Abstract.

Ilchmann A, Mueller M (2009). Robustness of funnel control in the gap metric. SIAM J. Control Optim., 48(5), 3169-3190. Abstract.

Ilchmann A, Mueller M (2008). Robustness of λ-tracking in the gap metric. SIAM J. Control Optim., 47(5), 2724-2744. Abstract.

Ilchmann A, Mueller M (2007). Time-varying linear systems: relative degree and normal form. IEEE Trans. Aut. Control, 52(5), 840-851. Abstract.

Chapters

Jones O, Ezard THG, Dooley C, Healy K, Hodgson D, Mueller M, Townley S, Salguero-Gómez R (2020). My family and other animals: Human demography under a comparative cross-species lens. In Burger O, Lee R, Sear R (Eds.) Human Evolutionary Demography, Open Science Framework. Abstract.

Conferences

Alharthi M, Hughes T, Mueller M (2022). Optimal Control of Volterra Difference Equations of the First Kind. Abstract.

Walker T, Menneer T, Tu G, Mueller M, Leyshon C, Leyshon M, Morrissey K, Bland E, Buckingham S (2022). P44 Smarter social housing: user perspectives on technology adoption for healthy homes. Society for Social Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts.

Walker T, Menneer T, Tu G, Mueller M, Leyshon C, Leyshon M, Morrissey K, Bland E (2022). Smarter social housing: user perspectives on technology adoption for healthy homes and health equity. European Health Economics Association: Health economics for sustainable welfare systems. 5th - 8th Jul 2022. Abstract.

Zheng L, Mueller M, Luo C, Yan X (2020). A Review of Data-driven Approaches for Occupant’s Behaviour in Building Energy Conservation. Applied Energy Symposium 2020: Low carbon cities and urban energy systems. 10th - 17th Oct 2020. Abstract.

Robayo M, Abusara M, Mueller M, Sharkh S (2020). A Smart Energy Management System for Battery-Supercapacitor in Electric Vehicles based on the Discrete Wavelet Transform and Deep Learning. Abstract.

Williams A, Menneer T, Sidani M, Walker T, Maguire K, Mueller M, Paterson C, Leyshon M, Leyshon C, Seymour E, et al (2020). Using machine learning clustering techniques to support the understanding of populations and inform action. Public Health England Research and Science Conference - Application of scientific methods to improve and protect health. Abstract.

Faÿ F-X, Kelly J, Henriques J, Pujana A, Abusara M, Mueller M, Touzon I, Ruiz-Minguela P (2018). Numerical Simulation of Control Strategies at Mutriku Wave Power Plant. ASME 2018 37th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering. 17th - 22nd Jun 2018. Abstract.

Maier M, Mueller M, Yan X (2017). Introduction of a spatiotemporal Life Cycle Inventory method using a wind energy example. Abstract.

Mueller M, Cantoni M (2010). Normalized coprime representations for time-varying linear systems. appears: Proc. 49th IEEE Conf. Decis. Control. Abstract.

Ilchmann A, Mueller M (2010). Robustness of funnel control in the gap metric. appears: Proc. 49th IEEE Conf. Decis. Control. Abstract.

Ilchmann A, Mueller M (2009). Robustness of λ-tracking and funnel control in the gap metric. Proc. Joint 48th IEEE Conf. Decis. Control and 28th Chinese Contr. Conf. Abstract.

Teaching

I am the Department of Earth and Environmental Science's Co-Director of Education and Student Engagement for Environmental Mathematics. From 2019-2024 I had the opportunity to support the ESI as Associate Director for Education and Engagement.

I am interested in sharing pure and applied mathematics knowledge with students in our Mathematical Sciences and any other degree programmes. Since 2021, I am also Programme Director for a suite of Applied Data Science postgraduate taught programmes:

I am particularly interested in Calculus and Analysis, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations and Dynamical System, System and Control Theory, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and interdisciplinary, enquiry-led teaching.