Dr Ammar Al-Bazi is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor equivalent) in Operations and Supply Chain Simulation at Aston Business School. He received a PhD in Simulation and Optimisation from Teesside University, UK and a master’s degree in Statistics and Operational Research from the University of Baghdad. He completed his BSc in Operational Research from Al-Mansour University College in Iraq.
He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), with a first-class BSc (Hons) in Operational Research and a PhD in Simulation and Optimisation. He has led a number of funded projects, including Knowledge Exchange & Enterprise Network (KEEN), partially funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and two Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), partially funded by Innovate UK. 
Before joining Aston University, he was an Assistant Professor in Business Information Systems at the Faculty of Engineering, Environment and Computing, Coventry University, responsible for leading, developing and delivering specialised simulation modules over different programmes of studies. He was also seconded as a research associate at the Institute of Future Transport and Cities (IFTC) at the same University. 

Al-Bazi is mainly interested in applying business simulation technology, optimisation techniques, Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning, Blockchain, digital technologies and AI to solve a wide range of real-life problems, including but not limited to Scheduling, Resource Selection and Allocation, Demand Forecasting, Inventory Control and Warehouse Management, Disruption and Risk Mitigation, Productivity Improvement, Transportation Selection and Management, Operation Performance and Capacity Management, Smart Mobility Solutions, Sustainable Transport, Traffic Management, Energy Effeciency and Management.  

• SFHEA - Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy, Coventry University, UK
• PGCert - Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education, Coventry University, UK
• PhD in Simulation and Optimisation, School of Engineering, Teesside University, UK
• UCAPD - University Certificate in Advanced Professional Development (UCAPD), School of Computing, Teesside University,
• UCPD - University Certificate in Professional Development (UCPD), School of Computing, Teesside University.
• HEMC - Development Programme in Higher Education Management Course, University of Birmingham, UK.
• MSc in Statistics and Operational Research, University of Baghdad, Iraq.
• BSc (Hon) in Operational Research, Al-Mansour College University, Iraq.

Undergraduate Modules:

• BN1157  Principles of Operations Management
• BN2236  Virtual Business Simulation

Postgraduate Modules:

• BOM099 Simulation for Project Management (New Module)
• XXXXXX Project Cost Analysis and Optimisation (New Module)
• BNM802  Simulation for Managerial Decision Making 
• BNM863  Business Analytics in Practrice 
• BNM854J Descriptive Analytics 
• BNM867  Research Project Design Practice and Ethics

Previous Teaching Activity

Postgraduate Modules including Supply Chain Simulation and Optimisation, Simulation for Global Logistics, Logistics Business Simulation, Optimisation and Simulation, Advanced Manufacturing Simulation, Logistics Business Simulation, Air Transport Business Simulation, Digital Manufacturing Engineering, Teaching Methods, Manufacturing Simulation, Manufacturing Simulation.

Undergraduate Modules including Airline Operations Scheduling, Aviation and Logistics Simulation, Business Simulation, Manufacturing and Management Simulation.

• £39,751, Innovate UK funded project, Project Title: Dynamic Wind-Responsive Barrier System for Railway Contaminant Control, Competition: Contracts for Innovation: International Rail Innovation Challenges, Project# 10145946. Smart Roundabout Ltd., Jan 2025 – Mar 2025. External Consultant.
• £30,000, Innovate UK funded project, Project Title: Canvas-of-Hope: Holistic Intervention for Survivors of Abuse and Addiction. DCMS Create Growth Programme Competition 3. Nov 2024 – May 2025. This funding is from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). Project# INNOV00123. External Consultant.
• £202,308, KTP partially funded by Innovate UK. Collaboration between Aston University and The Birmingham Assay Office (BAO), May 2023 - May 2025. Lead Academic/Co-Principal Investigator. 
• £202,955, KTP partially funded by Innovate UK. Collaboration between Aston University and Protaform Springs and Pressings Ltd., Sept 2023 - Sept 2025. Lead Academic/Co-Principal Investigator.
• £162,465, KTP partially funded by Innovate UK. Collaboration between Coventry University and Wolf Systems Ltd., Mar 2020 - Apr 2022. Academic Supervisor/Principal Investigator.   
• £250,000, KTP, partially funded by Innovate UK. Collaboration between Coventry University and GKN Aerospace Ltd., Jan 2019 - Feb 2022. Lead Academic/Co-Principal Investigator.   
• £31,026, KEEN Brief project partially funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)with ANT Industries Ltd., 17 Jan – 18 Nov 2019. Principal Investigator.   
• £3,724, Extended KEEN project partially funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)with the Exact Logistics Ltd., 2013-2015. Active Project Group Member.   
• £50,000, Consultancy project funded by GKN Aerospace Ltd., 2013-2015. My contribution was £9600 Nov-Jan 2016. This project aimed to predict the performance of future aircraft wing assembly facilities and for the quantification of key assets using simulation. The used scenarios analyses participated in £2M savings by applying the ARENA Rockwell Software.
• £50,000, Performance Improvement Initiative (PII) Project partial funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (2013-2015). This project provided £10K funding for 20-day consultancy work in business performance improvement of manufacturing and logistics companies based in the Midlands. Under this funding scheme, and as an active Project Group Member, I provided simulation consultancy work for 5 SME local companies to improve their business performance.
• £5500, the Sustainable Building Futures (SBF) Project. A CPD delivered in a Logistics Simulation Workshop, Feb 2015.
• £4500, the Sustainable Building Futures (SBF) Project, A CPD delivered in a Dealing with Uncertainties in Business Using Spreadsheet Modelling workshop, Oct 2013.
• £1,200,000, funded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB). Collaboration between Coventry University and Truck Train Brokerage Ltd, Rockshore Ltd, GB Railfreight Ltd, John Russell Transport Ltd, 2011-2013. Coventry University's contribution was £133k. I was involved as an active Project Group Member in deploying a Discrete Event Simulation developer to justify many concepts proposed in the project.   
• £3000, Consultancy project funded by Schmitz Cargo Bull, 2009. A simulation modelling using ARENA was deployed to improve assembly operations. Workflow and logical diagrams were required as a part of the technical report. 
• £600,000, Enterprise Simulation for Precast Concrete Operations (ESPCO), funded by DTI, with collaboration between Teesside University and University of Nottingham, Buchen, Tarmac, Aggregate Industries, and British Precast Federation, 2006-2008. Teesside University's contribution is £100k. Project Group Member, I modelled shopfloors Workflow by Developing Process Maps.  

As Main supervisor:

• Mahmood Al-Alusi, 2020-2024. Developing Agent-Based Heuristics Model for Transporters Selection in Supply Chain Management Under COVID-19 Disruption (Aston University, UK).
• Sarfraz Ahmad, 2018-2023. Artificial Intelligence for Safe and Efficient Self-driving Vehicles, (Coventry University, UK).
• Anees Abu-Monshar, 2018-2022. Agent-Based Optimisation Approaches for Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problems Under Random Breakdowns, (Coventry University, UK). 
• Alya Al Farsi, 2017-2022. Development and application of new reasoning mechanisms for rule-based fuzzy cognitive maps, (Coventry University, UK)
• Ali Abbas, 2015-2019. Development of a Constrained Fuzzy Knowledge-Based Optimisation System for the Management of Container Yard Operations in the Logistics Industry, (Coventry University, UK).
• Tunde Adediran, 2015-2019. Development of Agent-Based Heuristic Optimisation System for Complex OEM Flow-Shop under Customer-Imposed Production Disruptions, (Coventry University, UK).

As Associate supervisor:

• Hussien Mostapha Alkadri, 2020-2024.  Energy Reduction and Decarbonization in UK SMEs, School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, (Teesside University, UK)
• Samar Yousif, 2019-Present. Development and Implementation of Intelligent Monitoring Systems for Gas Power Plant Turbines, (Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), Malaysia).
• Magdalena Ronge, 2016-2020. Integrated Supply Chain Planning and Scheduling in an Uncertain Environment, (Coventry University, UK).
• Nooria Mahmood, 2015-2019. Modelling and Optimisation Planning of the Dynamic System of Energy Supply – Integrating Demand-Side Management and Forecasting. Awarded by (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany).
• Pawel Zdanowicz, 2014-2016. Development and application of new reasoning mechanisms for rule based fuzzy cognitive maps, (Coventry University, UK).
• Simon Rollinson, 2013-2016. Developing Cyber-Physical Systems and Intelligent Networks for Self-Adaptive, Flexible Production Environments, (MRes Coventry University, UK)
• Andrew Bell, 2010-2015. The Development of a Conceptual Framework for Simulations in Project Management Education, (Coventry University, UK).

MPhil/PhD External Examiner

• Khalid Alofi, Award date: 2020. Development and Validation of a Total Quality Management Model in the Manufacturing Sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – Jeddah. (Teesside University, UK)
• Nooriya Mohammed, Award date: 2019. Modelling and Optimisation Planning of the Dynamic System of Energy Supply - Integrating Demand-Side Management and Forecasting. (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany)

PhD Internal Examiner

• Shirine El Zaatari, Award date: 2022. Generic Learning from Demonstration Approaches for Programming Collaborative Robots. (Coventry University, UK)
• Bello Aliyu Muhammad, Award date: 2020. Text and Data Mining to Support Systematic Reviews in Software Engineering. (Coventry University, UK)

• Guest Editor, Supply Chain Analytics | Journal | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier, March - July 2023. 
• Editorial board member, Journal of Information and Communication Technology (JICT), University Utara Malaysia (Q1).
• Editorial board member, International Journal of Business Research and Management (IJBRM) from 2015-Present,
• Editorial Advisory, Cihan University-Erbil Scientific Journal.  
• Reviewer for Journals of Applied Soft Computing, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Scheduling, Systems Science: Operations & Logistics, Healthcare, Fuzzy Systems, and International Journal of Production Research.

Chair

• May 2021 .. 5th International Conference on Innovation in Business, Economics & Marketing Research (IBEM - 2021), Tunisia
• Apr 2019 .. International Conference on Innovation in Business, Economics & Marketing Research (IBEM–2019), Tunisia

Track/Stream Organiser

• Sept 2023 .. International Workshop on Simulation for Energy, Sustainable Development & Environment (SESDE 2023), Italy 
• May 2023 .. The Fourth International Conference on Administrative and Financial Sciences. Joint Conference with Warsaw University of Life Sciences – Poland, Cihan University, Erbil, Iraq. 
• Sept 2022 .. International Workshop on Simulation for Energy, Sustainable Development & Environment (SESDE), Italy
• Sept 2021 .. International Multidisciplinary Modeling & Simulation Multiconference (IMMSM 2021), Italy
• June 2020 .. The 8th Simulation for Energy, Sustainable Development and Environment (SESDE 2020), Lisbon, Portugal

Technical Committee

• July 2022 .. The 11th International Conference on Pure and Applied Mathematics (ICPAM 2022), Slovakia 
• June 2022 .. The 5th International Conference on Mathematics and Statistics (ICoMS 2022), France
• Feb 2021 .. Asia-Pacific Conference on Control Theory and Computer Modelling (CCTCM 2021), China
• Jan 2021 .. International Conference on Frontiers of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence (CFMAI 2021), China
• Aug 2020 .. International Conference on Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing, Italy
• Nov 2020 .. The 2nd International Conference on Frontiers of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence (CFMAI 2020), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• July 2020 .. International Conference on Pure and Applied Mathematics (ICPAM2020), Athens-Greece
• June 2020 .. Asia-Pacific Conference on Control Theory and Computer Modelling (CCTCM 2020), Sydney-Australia
• May 2020 .. World Congress on World Congress on Business and Economics, Paris, France