International partnership pays off for robotics expert Safaa Shwail

Postgraduate student Safaa H Shwail, who studied at both the University of Babylon and University of Northampton, has recently defended his PhD thesis. His work investigated robot pathfinding – how to make robots move at the same time, going to different places, without crashing into each other.

Safaa undertook his PhD through the University of Babylon in Iraq, which has a partnership with the University of Northampton. As part of his studies, he spent six months in Northampton as a visiting researcher, where his work was supported by Dr Scott Turner. While in Northampton in 2013, Safaa’s work focussed on looking at two path-finding techniques within a multi-robot simulation.

Safaa’s PhD work was rated ‘excellent’ and was supervised in Iraq by Dr Alia Karim.

The University of Northampton and the University of Babylon signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2013, which allows staff and students to collaborate across a wide range of subject areas. Computing students at both institutions have the opportunity to take part in a study twinning exchange, which enables them to split their course between the two universities.  For more information regarding the University of Northampton’s computing courses, visit the course page​.