This website is intended to serve not only as a portfolio of my work, but also as a database of resources which may be useful for other people working in related fields.
Experience
My current work as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Malta involves research in quantum communications, namely Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). Protocols designed for QKD are essentially a way to transmit the keys used for data encryption in such a way that any attempt of eavesdropping can be detected, thanks to the fundamental laws of physics. This also allows information-theoretic security such that security is not dependent on the available computational power (as is the case with currently-used encryption schemes).
I am also involved in the management of 5 EU-funded projects within which the University of Malta is involved, responsible for setting the tasks which need to be completed and ensuring their timely completion, attending international events, collaborating with various consortia, seeking new funding, supervising other researchers, and ensuring a serene working environment.
As of April 2024, I am also a co-supervisor of a PhD student working in quantum communications.
I am also a research consultant for computer vision and machine learning, focusing on their application to tourism-based projects (particularly those designed to be used in and by museums). An example is the MAtics project, exploring how data science and computer vision techniques can provide audience analytics in museums.
I am also an assistant producer of a Maltese TV show, assisting in the content and technical infrastructure of a daily television programme, including setting up of guest sheets, creation of running orders, selecting and editing clips to be shown during the programme or posted on social media (along with setting the post captions), and brainstorming ideas for topics and guests to be featured in the programme.
Lastly, I am also an IT consultant for an education institute, where I created a system using Microsoft Power Automate for collection of marks submitted by examiners, mark approvals, and sending PDF reports to the administration and to students.
My past experience includes:
- Data Scientist with Actable AI, an AI-based low-code Advanced Analytics SaaS, offering an easy way to analyse data and extract actionable insights with AutoML, Causal AI and Explainable AI. I was responsible for a number of tasks, including:
- Data analysis and feature engineering
- Implementation of new machine learning (ML) algorithms
- Maintaining the core ML library
- Overhauling the user documentation
- Planning of the commercial strategy and future vision of the company
- Preparing demos for prospective clients
- Fostering an environment where colleagues can work serenely and effectively.
Post-doctoral researcher at the University of Malta, working on the Deep-FIR project, with the aim of implementing deep learning-based algorithms that can improve the quality of low-resolution images (a field known as super-resolution). Apart from being involved in the research work, I was also tasked with:
- Ensuring timely completion of project deliverables
- Dissemination activities such as presentations and updating of the project website and social media accounts on Facebook and LinkedIn
- As the senior researcher in the team, I also guided the other researchers in their work and especially when any problems were encountered
- Post-doctoral researcher at INRIA (Rennes, Bretagne-Atlantique) working on the generation 3D point clouds from light fields, and developing tools to process these point clouds such as denoising.
- Researcher at the University of Malta working on the Objective Quality of Experience Metrics for television Services (O-QoE4TV) project, with the aim of evaluating methods for objective assessment of image and video quality.
- Teaching Assistant and Technical Demonstrator for tutorial and lab practical sessions for several study units at the University of Malta’s Faculty of ICT
- Teacher of Computing at a secondary school.
Education
My PhD research, conducted at the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the University of Malta, included the automatic identification of suspects depicted in hand-drawn or software-generated sketches through comparison with traditional photos taken in visible light. A number of techniques were considered, namely new intra- and inter-modality methods using engineered features, and deep learning. Fusion of these methods was also investigated. 5 papers on this topic have been published, including one which describes a new database containing sketches created with the EFIT-V software program as used by numerous law enforcement agencies worldwide. More information may be found here.
My Master’s degree focused on Telecommunications, where my dissertation focused on the implementation of objective no-reference image and video quality assessment methods. The aim of these algorithms was to judge the quality of images and videos as perceived by humans, without using any information from the original high-quality source.
Lastly, my undergraduate degree focused on Communications and Computer Engineering, where my dissertation focused on person identification using fingerprints.
Other Interests
Apart from carrying out research in the fields of computer vision, image/video processing, and machine learning, I also have several other interests and hobbies – notably a fascination for cars (especially with regards to automotive safety and autonomous vehicles), art, media (i.e. creation of articles and videos), and experimentation with electronic devices. I also enjoy reading, watching a good television series, and gaming.
In my (limited) free time, I also work on personal side-projects, particularly those related to vehicles and traffic management, health, and gaming.
I hope you will find your visit helpful; if you have any queries or general comments, please feel free to post a message here or contact me by sending a message on the Contact page.
To get started, you may visit the Site-map to get a quick overview of the pages on this website.
Thanks,
CG 🙂
P.S. The site is still under construction, so some things may not look or work as well as they should – please be patient!
Christian Galea 