Dr Huanfa Chen

Research summary

My research draws on GIS, machine learning, and spatio-temporal optimisation to address contemporary challenges in the planning and operations of urban services, incl. police, healthcare, and transport.

• Theme 1: Spatial optimisation – I develop new models, algorithms, and software for spatial optimisation problems, incl. routing, districting, and location selection.

• Theme 2: Agent-based simulation for public security – I develop ABMs to simulate police patrol in urban areas, aiming to develop an efficient strategy for patrol. I am developing ABMs that simulate unmanned aerial vehicles for maritime patrol.

• Theme 3: Multi-modal human mobility – I seek to understand how (mode) and why (purpose) people travel in urban areas, leveraging travel surveys and GPS data and using statistical/machine learning methods.

• Theme 4: Accessibility to health services – I evaluate the accessibility to health services and link it to the usage of health services, using the case of Covid-19 vaccination network. Then, I seek to optimise the location and provision of health services in order to achieve more equal accessibility and better coverage.

Teaching summary

I currently teach several graduate modules at CASA, including CASA0007 (Quantitative Methods), CASA0006 (Data Science for Spatial Systems), and CASA0009 (Spatial Data Capture, Storage and Analysis). 

Publications

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