Research

Links on specific topics (additional content):

• "Where the Really Hard Quadratic Assignment Problems Are: the QAP-SAT instances", pdf gitlab: sources and, instances at 24th EvoCOP conference, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK, April 2024.
• "Sparse Surrogate Model for Optimization: Example of the Bus Stops Spacing Problem", pdf gitlab: sources and, data at 24th EvoCOP conference, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK, April 2024.
• "Optimization for simulation based problems", pdf Seminar at MODO Lab, Nagano, Japan, July 2022.
• "Optimization for simulation based problems: approaches and examples in mobility, and in nuclear energy systems" (pdf) at SystemX, Paris, France, Fev. 17th, 2022.
• Tutorial (pdf), and code at PPSN 2020, "Fitness Landscape Analysis: Understanding and Predicting Algorithm Performance for Single- and Multi-objective Optimization", with Bilel Derbel, Arnaud Liefooghe, Sept. 2020.
• A game to understand fitness landscape,

Some of my research interests

• Theory of metaheuristics, and evolutionary computation: study of the fitness landscapes of combinatorial problems specialy multiobjective and neutral problems
• Adaptive metaheuristics: design and analyze on-line adaptive metaheuristics for distributed environment of computation
• Automated Metaheuristics Design
• Multiobjective optimization
• Design and optimization based on simulation of multi-physics systems
• Modeling of complex systems: design and analysis of models in economics
• Cellular Genetic Algorithm: Evolutionary algorithms where the population is structured by a grid or a graph
• Complex Systems: where some "global" properties of the system comes from a large number of "local" interactions
• Cognitive science: Design of cognitive models considering together eyes tracking and EEG signal

Book

PhD Studentships

Subject: "Solving quadratic problems with binary variables (QUBO) by combinatorial and numerical methods" pdf, co-direction with S. Tari, N. Dupin, deadline: May 30th, 2024, application on: Adum

PhD students

Actual:

• oct. 2021 - 2024, Valentin Vendi, "Design decision-making system for sustainable mobility in Hauts-de-France region" co-direction with: Cyril Fonlupt
• oct. 2023 - 2026, Martin Desombre, "Optimisation combinatoire multi-objectif par substitution de modèle, application à l'exploitation de réacteurs nucléaires", co-direction with: Jean Fromentin, Laboratoire LMPA, ULCO.

• oct. 2020 - 14 feb. 2024, Baptiste Gasse, "Optimisation du pilotage des réacteurs nucléaires à eau sous pression (REP) dans un réseau électrique dans le contexte de la transition énergétique", CEA, co-direction with: Cheikh DIOP, Jean-Michel DO.
• 2018 - 9 may 2023, Brahim Aboutaib, "Conception automatique de méta-heuristiques parallèles", co-tutelle with Belaïd Ahiod, univ. Mohamed 5 de Rabat (UM5), Marocco, and Cyril Fonlupt, ULCO.
• 2018 - 12/17/2022, Bilal El Ghadyry, "Parallel computing on finite automata in MapReduce", co-tutelle with Faissal Ouardi, univ. Mohamed 5 de Rabat (UM5), Marocco.
• 2019 - 12/07/2022, David Saltiel, "Deep reinforcement learning in inhomogeneous environments", cifre with AI for Alpha company, co-direction with Eric Benhamou.
• fev. 2018 - dec. 2020, Amaury Dubois, "Optimisation et apprentissage de modèles biologiques : application à l’irrigation de pomme de terre", co-direction with Fabien Teytaud, cifre Weenat.
• oct. 2017 - nov. 2020, Florian Leprêtre, "Méta-Modélisation, Simulation et Optimisation de Flux Urbains", co-direction with Virginie Marion, Cyril Fonlupt, PMCO/ULCO.
• oct. 2017 - oct. 2020, Valentin Drouet, "Optimisation multi-objectifs du pilotage des réacteurs nucléaires à eau sous pression en suivi de charge dans le contexte de la transition énergétique à l'aide d'algorithmes évolutionnaires", pdf, IDEX Paris-Saclay/CEA, co-direction with: Cheikh DIOP, Jean-Michel DO.
• oct. 2014 - dec. 2018, Christopher Jankee, "Optimisation par métaheuristique adaptative distribuée en environnement de calcul parallèle", co-encadrement avec Cyril Fonlupt, MESR.
• oct. 2014 - sept. 2017, Mathieu Muniglia, "Méthodologie d'optimisation des réacteurs de la filière REP dans le cadre de l'introduction des ENR (Energie Nouvelle Renouvelable) dans le mix énergétique français", pdf co-encadrement avec Sylvain David, IDEX Paris Saclay/CEA/PS2E. pdf (thesis price of the LabEx P2IO 2018)
• August 2009 - June 2014, Fabio Daolio, "Local Optima Networks of Hard Combinatorial Fitness Landscapes" (price of the university of Lausanne for the excellent quality), Université de Lausanne, co-direction: Marco Tomassini, Gabriela Ochoa,
• 01 septembre 2006 - 15 octobre 2009, David Simoncini, "Sélection Topologique dans les Algorithmes Evolutionnaires Cellulaires : Etude du Compromis Exploration/Exploitation", Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, co-direction: Philippe Collard, Manuel Clergue,
• 01 Septembre 2007 - 20 décembre 2010, Maroun Bercachi, "Algorithme évolutionnaire à états pour l'optimisation difficile", Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, co-direction: Philippe Collard, Manuel Clergue.

• Paul Banse, INSA/Université de Lyon, France, "Evolution beyond substitutions : Computational modeling of the impact of chromosomal rearrangements on evolutionary dynamics", dir. G. Beslon, dec. 2023.
• Naser Ghannad, Université de Strasbourg, France, "Métaheuristiques Guidées par l'Apprentissage pour la Coloration de Graphe", dir. R. De Guio, P. Parrends, dec. 2023.
• Cyril Grelier, Université d'Angers, France, "Métaheuristiques et algorithmes d'apprentissage automatique pour la boucle de résolution des problémes de conception inventive", dir. J.-K. Hao, O. Douget, dec. 2023.
• Sara Riva, Université Côte d'Azur, France, "Factorisation de systèmes dynamiques discrets", dir. E. Formenti, A. Dennunzio, nov. 2022.
• Nicolas Poiron-Guidoni, Université de Corse-Pascal Paoli, "Apports des méthodes d'optimisation et du calcul haute performance à la théorie de la modélisation et de la simulation : application à la gestion des ressources halieutiques", dir. P.-A. Bisgambiglia, dec. 2021.
• Sara Tari, "Stratégies d’exploration de paysages de fitness : application à la résolution approchée de problèmes d’optimisation combinatoire", Univ. Angers, France, July, 3th, 2019, dir. Adrien Goëffon, and Matthieu Basseur.
• Mehdi El Krari, "Adaptation de Métaheuristiques pour résoudre des Problèmes d’Optimisation Combinatoire liés aux Transports", Université Mohammed V de Rabat, Marocco, March, 2nd, 2019.
• MacWan Richard, "Semi-blind Source Extraction Methods. Application to the measurement of non-contact physiological signs", dir. Mansouri Alamin, Benezeth Yannick, Univ. de Bourgogne, Dec. 2018.
• Yi Zhou, "Optimization Algorithms for Clique Problems", Angers University, dir. Jin-Kao Hao and Andrien Goëffon, June 29th, 2017.
• Noel Enrique Rodriguez Maya, "Characterizing the performances of evolutionary algorithmes to solve continuous optimization problems", Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo (Mexico), 2016.
• Katherine Mary Malan, "Characterising Continuous Optimisation Problems for Particle Swarm Optimisation Performance Prediction", University of Pretoria (South Africa), 2014.

• Marc Nabhan, "Models and algorithms for the exploration of the space of scenarios: toward the validation of the autonomous vehicle", Paris Saclay University/Renault, Dec. 23th 2020, dir. Marc Schoenauer, Yves Tourbier and Hiba Hage (president of the jury).
• déc. 2023, Naser Ghannad, Université de Strasbourg, France
• déc. 2021, Jérôme Buisine, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, France, "Méthodes d'apprentissage automatique pour la prise en compte du bruit dans les images de synthèse", dir C. Renaud, S. Delepoulle
• déc. 2021, Simon Caillard, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, "Planification et optimisation de ressources pour la formation en santé", dir.C. Lucet et de L. Brisoux Devendeville.

• déc. 2023, Rapha\"el Cosson, Université de Lille, France, "Multi-Objective Landscape Analysis and Feature-based Algorithm Selection"
• déc. 2023, Paul Banse, INSA/Université de Lyon, France
• déc. 2023, Naser Ghannad, Université de Strasbourg, France,
• déc. 2023, Cyril Grelier, Université d'Angers, France,
• nov. 2022, Sara Riva, Université Côte d'Azur, France, dir. E. Formenti, A. Dennunzio, "Factorisation de systèmes dynamiques discrets"
• sept. 2022, Moncef Garouani, ULCO/UM5, dir. M. Bouneffa, M. Hamlich,
• juil. 2022, Maryam Karimi, IMT Atlantique, dir. Patrick Meyer
• mai 2022, Anna Ouskova Leoteva, dir P. Collet, P. Parrend
• déc. 2021, Jérôme Buisine, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, France
• Marc Nabhan, "Models and algorithms for the exploration of the space of scenarios: toward the validation of the autonomous vehicle", Paris Saclay University/Renault, Dec. 23th 2020, dir. Marc Schoenauer, Yves Tourbier and Hiba Hage (president of the jury).
• Julien Kritter, Sept. 10th, 2020, "On the optimal placement of cameras for the surveillance of urban events : a real-world, human-assisted combinatorial approach for decision support systems", Université de Strasbourg, dir. Lhassane Idoumghar, Mathieu Brévilliers and Julien Lepagnot.
• Sara Tari, "Stratégies d’exploration de paysages de fitness : application à la résolution approchée de problèmes d’optimisation combinatoire", Univ. Angers, France, July, 3th, 2019, dir. Adrien Goëffon, and Matthieu Basseur.
• Mehdi El Krari, "Adaptation de Métaheuristiques pour résoudre des Problèmes d’Optimisation Combinatoire liés aux Transports", Université Mohammed V de Rabat, Marocco, March, 2nd, 2019.
• Nacim Belkir, "Per Instance Algorithm Configuration for Continuous Black Box Optimization", Paris Saclay University, Nov. 20th 2017, dir. Marc Schoenauer and Johann Dréo, (president of the jury).
• Sergio Peignier, "Subspace clustering on static datasets and dynamic data streams using bio-inspired algorithms", Université de Lyon, INSA Lyon, July, 27th, 2017.
• Noel Enrique Rodriguez Maya, "Characterizing the performances of evolutionary algorithmes to solve continuous optimization problems", Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo (Mexico), dir. Juan José Flores Romero and Mario Graff Guerrero, July 15th, 2016.
• Fazia Aiboud, "Méthodes approchées pour la résolution de problèmes inverses : indentification paramétrique et génération de formes", Université Blaise Pascal - Clermont-Ferrand II, dir. S. Norre and N. Grangeon, 29 novembre 2013.
• Marie-Eléonore Marmion, "Local search and combinatorial optimization: from structural analysis of a problem to design efficient algorithms", Université Lille 1 (France), dir. C. Dhaenens and L. Jourdan, décembre 2012.
• Maroun Bercacchi, "Algorithme évolutionnaire à états pour l'optimisation difficile" université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis (France), dir. P. Collard, décembre 2010.
• David Simoncini, "Sélection Topologique dans les Algorithmes Evolutionnaires Cellulaires : Etude du Compromis Exploration/Exploitation", université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis (France), dir. P. Collard, octobre 2009.

Software development

• Member of the ParadisEO development team, a software framework for the design, implementation and analysis of metaheuristics.
• Development of the module on local search algorithms ParadisEO-MO in collaboration with J. Humeaux and A. Liefooghe.
• Development of the tools for fitness landscapes analysis in ParadisEO-MO in collaboration with J. Humeaux and A. Liefooghe.

• Download,
• Documentation,
• tutorials,
• Slides of the new version of MO on single solution-based metaheuristics.
• Slides of the fitness landscapes analysis in the new version of MO.

• MoCObench is a benchmark library for the Multiobjective Combinatorial Optimization.
• MoCObench is a sourceforge project under under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
• Instances of the Multiobjective NK-Landscapes with Correlated Objectives (rhoMNK-landscapes) are available.
• Instance generator of the Multiobjective NK-Landscapes with Correlated Objectives (rhoMNK-landscapes) is available.
• Multiobjective fitness functions (C, C++, java, paradiseo framework) of the Multiobjective NK-Landscapes with Correlated Objectives (rhoMNK-landscapes) are available.

Source code related to publication

• PUBO Importance Benchmark: Instances, and generator of pseudo-boolean problems (QUBO) with tunable variable importance. git
• QAP-SAT: Quadratic Assignemnt problem (QAP) with phase transition, git.
• Source code to extract the local optima network of the Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP). Available here zip. Written in C++. Related to the works:
  
  • Daolio F., Tomassini M., Verel S., Ochoa G. Communities of Minima in Local Optima Networks of Combinatorial Spaces In Journal: Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, vol. , , p. 1300 - 1308, 2011.
  • Daolio F., Verel S., Ochoa G., Tomassini M. Local Optima Networks of the Quadratic Assignment Problem In proceeding of IEEE world conference on computational intelligence (WCCI), p. 3145 - 3152, 2010-07-18, 2010.
  
  

National Projects

• 2023 - 2026 : ANR PRC. Coord. Olivier Goudet (LERIA), "Apprentissage de Distributions de Boltzmann pour l'Optimisation Combinatoire (COMBO)", Partenaires: LERIA (Univ. Angers), LISIC, LISN (Université Paris-Saclay), Responsable du WP : "Hybridation optimisation discret/continu"
• 2023 - 2032 (10 years) EUR MAIA: "Mastering Artificial Intelligence Applications", Projet financement PIA4, Participants : Alliance A2U (Univ. Artois, UPJV, ULCO), coordinateur : Christophe Lecoutre, Etudier, développer et déployer les interactions fortes existant entre l?intelligence artificielle et trois domaines d?applications (santé, chimie, environnement)
• ANR Résilience Hauts-de-France, "Pour une mobilité durable et adaptée à un contexte de pandémie (MURDASP)", Univ. Littoral, P.I. Moez Kilani, 2020 (18 months).
• BQI de l'Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, "ULCO-SHINSHU: développement des relations en recherche et formation avec l'université de Shinshu au Japon", 2016 and 2017.
  • Enhance the relation between universities and define a research program in particular in sustainability developpemnt.
• BQR de l'Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, "Combinatorial Optimization in distributed environnement", 2014.
  • Desing and study combinatorial optimization algorithms for distributed computing environnement.
• Member of the project (ANR) "GAZE and EEG" on the joint treatment of synchronized EEG and eye movements to monitor the spatiotemporal analysis and modeling of neuronal activities.
  Work on the modelization task with T. Baccino, B. Lemaire, and M. Clergue.
  • 2009-2011: ANR-Prog. Blanc (NT09_511856): GAZE and EEG : Traitements conjoints synchronisés de signaux EEG et de suivi de mouvements oculaires pour l'analyse spatiotemporelle et modélisation d'activités neuronales. Responsable: A. Guérin-Dugué (Université de Grenoble).
• Project (2011) supported by the GRD Operational Research (RO) of INS2I institute (CNRS):
  
  • Set-based Multiobjective Combinatorial Optimization; Partners DOLPHIN team of the Université Lille 1 / INRIA, and LERIA of the université Angers, France.

International Projects

• MOCO-SEARCH (2018—20) - Bridging the gap between exact methods and heuristics for multi-objective search
  • International project for scientific cooperation (PICS), funded by CNRS and FCT
  • Partners: Univ Coimbra (PT), Bonus (Univ Lille, FR)
  • Principal Investigators: L Paquete (PT), A Liefooghe (FR)
• "Global Research on the Framework of Evolutionary Solution Search to Accelerate Innovation" :
  • Japanese Government Funded Program 2013 (MEXT Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) : "Strategic Young Researcher Overseas Visits Programm for Accelerating Brain Circulation."
  • From October 1, 2013 to March 31, 2016
  • Parterns : Shinshu University, Nagano, (Japon), Université Lille I, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, INRIA-Sacray, INRIA-Lille (France)
  • Coordinators: Prof. Kiyoshi Tanaka, Dr. Hernan Aguirre.

Awards

PhD price:

• PhD thesis Price of LabEx P2IO 2018, for the thesis of Mathieu Muniglia, "Méthodologie d'optimisation des réacteurs de la filière REP dans le cadre de l'introduction des ENR (Energie Nouvelle Renouvelable) dans le mix énergétique français".

• Best paper GECCO 2023 (EMO track) : Arnaud Liefooghe, Gabriela Ochoa, Sébastien Verel, Bilel Derbel, "Pareto local optimal solutions networks with compression, enhanced visualization and expressiveness".
• 2023 : Best Student Paper Honorable Mention ECTA/IJCCI 2023 : B. Gasse, S. Verel and J.-M. Do, "MOEA/D with Adaptive Mutation Operator Based on Walsh Decomposition: Application to Nuclear Reactor Control Optimization".
• Best student paper award at 10th International Conference on Evolutionary Multi-Criterion Optimization (EMO 2019), East Lansing, MI, USA, 2019, Joint paper presented by Yuri Marca, MSc Student at Shinshu University.
• Best student paper award at 11th International Conference on Simulated Evolution and Learning (SEAL 2017), Shenzhen, China, 2017 (presented by Jialong Shi, PhD Student at CityU, HK):
  Jialong Shi, Qingfu Zhang, Bilel Derbel, Arnaud Liefooghe, Sébastien Verel, "Using Parallel Strategies to Speed Up Pareto Local Search." sumary and pdf
• Best paper award at GECCO 2015 (ECOM track):
  Fabio Daolio, Arnaud Liefooghe, Sébastien Verel, Hernan Aguirre, Kiyoshi Tanaka, "Global vs local search on multi-objective NK-landscapes: contrasting the impact of problem features", sumary and pdf

• 24th European Conference on Evolutionary Computation in Combinatorial Optimisation (EvoCOP 2024), Aberystwyth, Wales, UK, 2024 : Valentin Vendi, Sébastien Verel and Cyril Fonlupt "Sparse Surrogate Model for Optimization: Example of the Bus Stops Spacing Problem".
• 2021 : Best paper nomination at GECCO 2021 (EMO track) : A. Liefooghe, S. Verel, B. Lacroix, A. Zavoianu, John McCall. "Landscape features and automated algorithm selection for multi-objective interpolated continuous optimisation problems".
• 20th European Conference on Evolutionary Computation in Combinatorial Optimisation (EvoCOP 2020), Seville, Spain, 2020, Joint paper presented by Hugo Monzón, PhD Student at Shinshu University
• Best paper nomination at 15th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN 2018), Coimbra, Portugal, 2018:
  Arnaud Liefooghe, Bilel Derbel, Sébastien Verel, Manuel López–Ibáñez, Hernan Aguirre, Kiyoshi Tanaka, "On Pareto local optimal solutions networks." sumary and pdf
• Best paper nomination at EVOCOP (evostar) 2011:
  Verel S., Liefooghe A., Jourdan L., Dhaenens C. Pareto Local Optima of Multiobjective NK-Landscapes with Correlated Objectives, sumary and pdf.
• Best paper nomination at GECCO 2008:
  Ochoa G., Tomassini M., Verel S., Darabos C. A Study of NK Landscapes' Basins and Local Optima Networks, sumary and pdf
• Best paper nomination at GECCO 2006:
  Simoncini D., Verel S., Collard P., Clergue M. Anisotropic selection in cellular genetic algorithms, sumary and pdf
• Price for best results and best paper at EvoNet Summer School, Parma, 2003.

Talks

Some of my talks from seminars and conferences:

• "Where the Really Hard Quadratic Assignment Problems Are: the QAP-SAT instances", pdf gitlab: sources and, instances at 24th EvoCOP conference, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK, April 2024.
• "Sparse Surrogate Model for Optimization: Example of the Bus Stops Spacing Problem", pdf gitlab: sources and, data at 24th EvoCOP conference, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK, April 2024.
• "Optimization for simulation based problems", pdf Seminar at MODO Lab, Nagano, Japan, July 2022.
• "PUBOi: a tunable benchmark with variable importance", pdf gitlab: sources and, instances at EvoCOP conference, Madrid, Spain, April 2022.
• "Optimization for simulation based problems: approaches and examples in mobility, and in nuclear energy systems" (pdf) at SystemX, Paris, France, Fev. 17th, 2022.
• "Fonctions de Walsh pour l'optimisation combinatoire boite noire" (pdf) at Groupe de travail IA, LMPA, Calais, France, Jan. 27th, 2021.
• "Function representation for benchmarking" (pdf) at Benchmarked: Optimization meets Machine Learning workshop, Lorentz Center workshop, Leiden, Nov. 8th, 2020.
• Tutorial (pdf), and code at PPSN 2020, "Fitness Landscape Analysis: Understanding and Predicting Algorithm Performance for Single- and Multi-objective Optimization", with Bilel Derbel, Arnaud Liefooghe, Sept. 2020.
• Tutorial (pdf), and code at GECCO 2020, "Fitness Landscape Analysis to understand and predict algorithm performance for single- and multi-objective optimization.", with Bilel Derbel, July 2020.
• Talk (pdf) at humAIN workshop, "(Méta)-modèle pour l'optimisation combinatoire - Simuler pour optimiser les flux", Lille, France, October, 23th 2019.
• Talk at AI workshop, "Black-box expensive optimization: Learn to optimize", Univ. Artois, Arras, France, August, 30th 2019.
• Talk at Stage de Mathématiques pour les lycéens de Seconde, "L'art de résoudre des problèmes difficiles", Laboratoire de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées, ULCO, Calais, 20 Juin 2019.
• Poster at PPSN 2018, "A surrogate model based on Walsh decomposition for pseudo–boolean functions.", (with Bilel Derbel, Arnaud Liefooghe, Hernan Aguirre, Kiyoshi Tanaka), Sept. 2018.
• Talk at AI Workshop at LISIC, "Machine learning and black-box expensive optimization", June, 18th, 2018.
• Tutorial at CEC 2017, "Fitness Landscape Analysis and Algorithm Performance for Single- and Multi-objective Combinatorial Optimization", with Arnaud Liefooghe, (practice), June, 5th, 2017.
• "Fitness landscape analysis: an overview for single- and multi-objective optimization problems", seminar at Exeter University, May, 18th, 2017,
  
• Tutorial at the 51st CREST Open Workshop, "Fitness landscape analysis for understanding and designing local search heuristics", and material, 27th February, 2017, UCL, London, UK,
  
• Apport à l'analyse des paysages de fitness pour l'optimisation mono-objective et multiobjective -- Science des systèmes complexes pour l'optimisation par méthodes stochastiques, Soutenance HDR, 12 décembre 2016, Calais, France,
  
• Towards Algorithm Portfolio based on Local Optima Network Features, Workshop Landscape-Aware Heuristic Search at PPSN XIV, Sept. 17, 2016, Edinburgh, Scotland.
• Fitness landscape: the metaphor and beyond, Tutorial at LION9, Jan. 12, 2015, Lille, France
• Modélisation et simulation informatique en sciences humaines et sociales Séminaire du TVES, June, 18th, 2015, Dunkerque, France.
• "Firing Squad Synchronization Problem: Optimization methods to synchronize as much as possible", Séminaire MC3, April, 30, 2015, Sophia-Antipolis, France.
• Poster of "Local Optimal Sets and Bounded Archiving on Multi-objective NK-Landscapes with Correlated Objectives", Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN13), September 15th, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
• Poster of "An Analysis on Selection for High-Resolution Approximations in Many-Objective Optimization", Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN13), September 16th, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
• Poster of "On the Impact of Multiobjective Scalarizing Functions", Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN13), September 17th, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
• Multiobjective optimization with evolutionary algorithms and metaheuristics in distributed computing environnement, Séminaire du Service de Etudes de Réacteurs et de Mathématiques Appliquées (SERMA), CEA, Febrary 10th, 2014, Saclay, France.
• Evolutionnary algorithm control in distributed computing environnement, Séminaire du Laboratoire d'Informatique Signal et Image de la Côte d'Opale (LISIC), October 17th, 2013, Calais, France.
• "Fitness Landscapes and Graphs: Multimodularity, Ruggedness and Neutrality", Tutorial at GECCO'13, July 8, 2013, Amsterdam.
• "On Set-based Local Search for Multiobjective Combinatorial Optimization", GECCO'13, July 8, 2013, Amsterdam.
• Design of optimization algorithms: tuning and control of parameters, Séminaire du Laboratoire d'Informatique Signal et Image de la Côte d'Opale (LISIC), Febrary 12, 2013, Calais, France.
• Distributed Adaptive Metaheuristic Selection (DAMS), 23eme Journées Évolutionnaires Thématiques (JET'23), November 23, 2012, Paris.
• "Fitness Landscapes and Graphs: Multimodularity, Ruggedness and Neutrality", GECCO'12, July 8, 2012, Philadelphia, USA.
• "DAMS: Distributed Adaptive Metaheuristic Selection", GECCO'11, July 14, 2011, Dublin, Ireland.
• "The Road to VEGAS: Guiding the Search over Neutral Networks", GECCO'11, July 14, 2011, Dublin, Ireland.
• On the Effect of Connectedness for Biobjective Multiple and Long Path Problems, Learning and Intelligent OptimizatioN (LION5), January 20, 2011, Roma, Italy.
• Analyzing the Effect of Objective Correlation on the Efficient Set of MNK-Landscapes, Learning and Intelligent OptimizatioN (LION5), January 19, 2011, Roma, Italy.
• Pareto set structure of the MNK-Landscapes with correlated objectives, 21eme Journées Évolutionnaires Trimestrielles, January 14, 2011, Paris.
• "State-based Evolutionary Algorithm", Selfstar Workshop at PPSN conference, September 11, 2010, Krakow, Poland.
• "Population-based Fitness Landscapes", Dagstuhl seminar on Theory of Evolutionary Algorithms, September 9, 2010, Warden, Deutchland.
• "Fitness Landscapes and graphs: Multimodularity, ruggedness and Neutrality", Tutorial at WCCI 2010, July 18, 2010, Barcelona, Spain.
• "Set-based Multiobjective Fitness Landscapes: definition and properties", ThRaSH'2010 workshop, The 4th workshop on Theory of Randomized Search Heuristics, Mar 25th, 2010, Paris, Fr.
• "Fitness Landscapes and Local Optima Network", invited talk, LERIA University of Angers, Mar 11th, 2010, Angers, Fr.
• "Fitness Landscapes and graphs in combinatorial optimization", invited talk, ASAP group University of Nottingham, Feb 9, 2010, Nottingham, UK.
• "Fitness Landscapes and graphs: Multimodularity, ruggedness and Neutrality" (new version), Tutorial GECCO'09, July 9, 2009, Montreal.
• "Centric selection: a way to tune the exploration/exploitation trade-off", GECCO'09, July 2009, Montreal.
• The Network Structure of Hard Combinatorial Landscapes, 19eme Journées Évolutionnaires Trimestrielles, april 10, 2009, Paris.
• "Some questions in stochastic optimisation" , journee thematique optimisation laboratoire I3S, July 4, 2008, Sophia Antipolis.
• "Fitness landscapes and problem hardness in evolutionary computation" , Part 1 (new version), Tutorial GECCO 2007, July 7, 2007, UCL London.
• "Fitness landscapes and problem hardness in evolutionary computation" , Short intro and Part 2 (from Leonardo Vanneschi), Tutorial GECCO 2007, July 7, 2007, UCL London.
• "Towards a resolution of the firing squad problem with 5 states by metaheuristics" , FRAC 2007, June 29, 2007, Nice.
• "Anisotropic selection in cellular genetic algorithms" , gecco 2006, July 11, 2006, Seattle.
• "Deceptiveness and neutrality - the nd family of fitness landscapes" , gecco 2006, July 11, 2006, Seattle.
• "Neutralite et Evolvabilite dans les paysages de fitness" (french), Séminaire PRISMa, équipe ALAB, June 14, 2006, INSA, Lyon.
• "Neutralité dans les paysages de fitness" (french), Premiere ecole d'ete de l'association Évolution Artifcielle, June 9, 2006, Latour de Carol.
• "Étude et exploitation des réseaux de neutralité dans les paysages adaptatifs pour l'optimisation difficile" (french), 16eme Journées Évolutionnaires Trimestrielles, April 6, 2006, Paris.
• "Evolutionary Algorithm and Fitness Landscape" (french), Séminaires doctorants, ADSTIC, March 15, 2006, laboratoire I3S, Nice.
• "Scuba search: when selection meets innovation" , cec 2004, June 20, 2004, Portland.
• "From royal road to epistatic road for variable length evolution algorithm", Evolution Artificielle, 6th International Conference, October 27, 2003, Marseilles.
• "Étude de la corrélation de la fitness des parents et la fitness des enfants" (french), 9eme Journées Évolutionnaires Trimestrielles, april 2, 2003, Paris.
• "Paysages de fitness" (french), Séminaire équipe INFORGE, January, 2003, university of Lausannes.

Organization of events

Workshops and special sessions:

• 7th Workshop on Landscape-Aware Heuristic Search, July 2024, Melbourne, Australia. Held in conjunction with the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2024). Co-organizers: Sara Thomson, Nadarajen Veerapen, Arnaud Liefooghe, Sébastien Verel and Gabriela Ochoa.
• 6th Workshop on Landscape-Aware Heuristic Search, July 2023, Lisbon, Portugal. Held in conjunction with the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2023). Co-organizers: Sara Thomson, Nadarajen Veerapen, Arnaud Liefooghe, Sébastien Verel and Gabriela Ochoa.
• 5th Workshop on Landscape-Aware Heuristic Search, July 2021, Lille, France. Held in conjunction with the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2021). Co-organizers: Nadarajen Veerapen, Arnaud Liefooghe, Sébastien Verel and Gabriela Ochoa.
• CIMO 2019 Workshop, 2nd International Workshop on Computational Intelligence for Massive Optimization (CIMO 2019), co-organized /w O. Abdelkafi, H. Aguirre, B. Derbel, K. Tanaka and A. Liefooghe (Lille, France, July 2019)
• 4th Workshop on Landscape-Aware Heuristic Search, 13 or 14 July 2019, Prague, Czech Republic. Held in conjunction with the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2019). Co-organizers: Nadarajen Veerapen, Arnaud Liefooghe, Sébastien Verel and Gabriela Ochoa.
• CIMO 2018 Workshop, 1st International Workshop on Computational Intelligence for Massive Optimization (CIMO 2018), co-organized /w H Aguirre, B Derbel, K Tanaka and S Verel (Nagano, Japan, July 2018)
• 3th Workshop on Landscape-Aware Heuristic Search, 15 July 2018, Kyoto, Japan. Held in conjunction with the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2018). Co-organizers: Nadarajen Veerapen, Arnaud Liefooghe, Sébastien Verel and Gabriela Ochoa.
• Special session at BIOMA 2018: Multi-/many-objective optimization and learning, special session at BIOMA 2018, co-organized /w H Aguirre, B Derbel, B Filipič, T Tušar, S Verel (Paris, France, May 2018).
• Special session at the international conference CEC 2017:
  "Fitness landscape analysis for understanding and designing intelligent optimization algorithms"
  Co-organizers: Hernan Aguirre (Shinshu University, Japan), Kiyoshi Tanaka (Shinshu University, Japan), Arnaud Liefooghe (univ. Lille 1 / INRIA, France).
• Workshop at the international conference GECCO 2017:
  "Landscape-Aware Heuristic Search"
  Co-organizers: Fabio Daolio (Stirling University, UK), Nadarajen Veerapen (Stirling University, UK), Gabriela Ochoa (Stirling University, UK), Arnaud Liefooghe (univ. Lille 1 / INRIA, France).
• Special session at the international conference CEC 2015:
  "Fitness landscape Analysis and Search Space Structure"
  Co-organizers: Hernan Aguirre (Shinshu University, Japan), Kiyoshi Tanaka (Shinshu University, Japan), Arnaud Liefooghe (univ. Lille 1 / INRIA, France).
• Special session at the international conference LION 9:
  "Multiobjective Combinatorial Optimization (LION MoCO)"
  Co-organizers: Hernan Aguirre (Shinshu University, Japan), Kiyoshi Tanaka (Shinshu University, Japan), Arnaud Liefooghe (univ. Lille 1 / INRIA, France).
• Special session at the international conference LION 7:
  "Problem Structure vs. Algorithm Performance in Multiobjective Combinatorial Optimization"
  Co-organizers: Hernan Aguirre (Shinshu University, Japan), Kiyoshi Tanaka (Shinshu University, Japan), Arnaud Liefooghe (univ. Lille 1 / INRIA, France).
• Evolutionary Multiobjective Optimization Session:
  at 22nd International Conference on Multiple Criteria (MCDM'2013)
  Co-organizers: Dimo Brockhoff (INRIA Lille Nord Europe, France), Bilel Derbel (univ. Lille 1 / INRIA, France), Arnaud Liefooghe (univ. Lille 1 / INRIA, France).
• Special session at the international conference LION 6:
  Autonomous Control for Search Algorithms (LION-S*EA)
  Co-organizers: Frederic Lardeux, Frederic Saubion, University of Angers, France.
• Special session at the international conference META 2010:
  Fitness landscapes and metaheuristics
  Co-organizer: Gabriela Ochoa, University of Nottingham, UK.
• Workshop on Nature Inspired Computing NatComp'2010 at ACS/IEEE International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications 2010 (AICCSA)

• Local co-organizer of GECCO 2021 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (Lille, France, 2021), with B. Derbel, O. Abdelkafi, N. Veerapen, and A. Liefooghe.
• Treasurer of the 12th International Conference on Artificial Evolution, Lyon, France, October 2015,
• Treasurer of the 11th International Conference on Artificial Evolution, Bordeaux, France, October 2013,
• Treasurer of the 10th International Conference on Artificial Evolution, Angers, France, October 2011,
• Treasurer of the 9th International Conference on Artificial Evolution, Strasbourg, France, October 2009,

• Co-organisator (with A. Liefooghe, B. Derbel and D. Brockhoff) of 8th Artificial Evolution Summer School, Quiberon, France, juin 2013,
• Co-organisator (with A. Liefooghe and L. Jourdan) de la septième école d'été "artificial evolution", Quiberon, France, juin 2012,
• Co-organisator (with M. Clergue) de la quatrième école d'été "artificial evolution", Porquerolles, France, juin 2009,
• Co-organisator (with M. Clergue) de la troisième école d'été "artificial evolution", Porquerolles, France, juin 2008. Ecole thématique CNRS.

Key words

artificial intelligence, operational research, evolutionary algorithms, metaheuristics, fitness landscapes, economics models, multiobjective problems, neutrality, neutral networks, combinatorial optimization, adaptive methods, complex systems, multi-physic, heavy simulation, cellular automata, eyes tracking, EEG, cognitive science.

Some pictures

Fitness landscapes of a NK-landscapes with N=6 and K=2 with basins of attraction (see tutorial for the explanations)


Standart representations of fitness landscapes
Representation of multimodal fitness landscape


Classical representation of neutral fitness landscape


Representation by neutral networks of neutral fitness landscape

Editorial work and track chair

Co-editor of:

• Dimo Brockhoff, Bilel Derbel, Arnaud Liefooghe, Sébastien Verel, Feature cluster on "evolutionary multiobjective optimization" European Journal of Operational Research, vol. 243, n. 2, pp. 345-346, 2015.

• Tutorials at The Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, GECCO 2019.

• 22th European Conference on Evolutionary Computation in Combinatorial Optimisation (evoCOP 2022), with Leslie Pérez Cáceres.
• 21th European Conference on Evolutionary Computation in Combinatorial Optimisation (evoCOP 2021), with Christine Zarges.

• ECOM track - Evolutionary Combinatorial Optimization and Metaheuristics at international conference GECCO 2018
  with Christian Blum.
• ECOM track - Evolutionary Combinatorial Optimization and Metaheuristics at international conference GECCO 2017
  with Holger Hoos.

• 2019 - 2025: Evolutionnary Computation Journal, MIT Press.

• 2023 - : European Conference on Evolutionary Computation in Combinatorial Optimisation part of evoStar.

Program Commitees

GECCO 2017:

Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, July, 2017, Berlin (Germany), ACM

CEC 2017:

Congress Evolutionary Computation, June, 2017, San Sebastian (Spain)

EVO* 2017:

European Conference on Evolutionary Computation, April, 2017, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Springer Verlag, LNCS

PPSN 2016:

International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature, Sept. 2016, Edinburgh (UK)

GECCO 2016:

Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, July, 2016, Madrid (USA), ACM

CEC 2016:

Congress Evolutionary Computation, July, 2016, Vancouver (Canada)

MOD 2016:

Workshop on Machine Learning, Optimization and Big Data, August, 2016, Volterra, Italy

EVO* 2016:

European Conference on Evolutionary Computation, April, 2016, Porto, Portugal, Springer Verlag, LNCS

EA 2015

Artificial Evolution, 26-28th October 2015, Lyon, France, LNCS

GECCO 2015:

Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, July , 2015, Madrid (Portugal), ACM

CEC 2015:

Congress Evolutionary Computation, July , 2015, (Japan)

LION 9

Learning and Intelligent OptimizatioN, Lille - France, Jan , 2015, LNCS

PPSN 2014

12th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving From Nature (PPSN 2014), September 13-17, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

EVO* 2014:

European Conference on Evolutionary Computation, 23-25 April, 2014, Granada, Spain, Springer Verlag, LNCS

ECAI 2014:

European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, August 18-22, 2014, Prague, Czech Republic.

GECCO 2014:

Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, July 12th-16th, 2014, Vancouver, Canada, ACM

EVO* 2013:

European Conference on Evolutionary Computation, 3-5 April, 2013, Vienna, Austria, Springer Verlag, LNCS

LION 7

Learning and Intelligent OptimizatioN, Catania - Italy, Jan 7-11, 2013, LNCS

ICANNGA'13

11th International Conference on Adaptive and Natural Computing Algorithms, April 4-6 2013, Lausanne, Switzerland, LNCS.

GECCO 2013:

Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, July 06th-10th, 2013, Amsterdam (The Netherlands), ACM

PPSN 2012

11th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving From Nature (PPSN 2012), September 1-5, 2012, Taormina, Italy.

GECCO 2012:

Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, July 07th-11th, 2012, Philadelphia (USA), ACM

EVO* 2012:

European Conference on Evolutionary Computation, April 11th-13th, 2012, Malaga (Spain), Springer Verlag, LNCS

LION 5

Learning and Intelligent OptimizatioN, Rome, Italy, Jan 17-21, 2011, LNCS

EA 2011

Artificial Evolution, 24-26th October 2011, Angers, France, LNCS

GECCO 2011:

Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, July 12th-16th, 2011, Dublin (Ireland), ACM

EVO* 2011:

European Conference on Evolutionary Computation, April 27th-29th, 2010, Turino (Italy), Springer Verlag, LNCS

Workshop on Self-tuning, self-configuring and self-generating search heuristics (Self* 2010)

11th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving From Nature (PPSN 2010), September 11-15, 2010, Krakow, Poland

GECCO 2010:

Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, July 7th-11th, 2010, Portland (Oregon), ACM

EVO* 2010:

European Conference on Evolutionary Computation, April 7th-9th, 2010, Istanbul (Turkey), Springer Verlag, LNCS

EVOPHD 2010:

Second European Graduate Student Workshop on Evolutionary Computation, April 7th-9th, 2010, Istanbul (Turkey)

GECCO 2009:

Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, July 8th-12th, 2009, Montreal (Canada), ACM

EA 2009:

EA'09 : 9th International Conference on Artificial Evolution, October 26th-28th, 2009, Strasbourg (France), Springer Verlag, LNCS

EVO* 2009:

European Conference on Evolutionary Computation, April 15th-17th, 2009, Tubingen (Germany), Springer Verlag, LNCS

EVO* 2008:

European Conference on Evolutionary Computation, March 26th-28th, 2008, Naples (Italy), Springer Verlag, LNCS

GECCO 2007:

Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, July 7th-11th, 2007, London (UK), ACM

EVO* 2007:

European Conference on Evolutionary Computation, April 11th-13th, 2007, Valencia (Spain), Springer Verlag, LNCS

EVOPHD 2007:

Second European Graduate Student Workshop on Evolutionary Computation, April 11th-13th, 2007, Valencia (Spain)

EUROGP 2006:

Nineth European Conference on Genetic Programming, April 10th-12th, 2006, Budapest (Hungary), Springer Verlag, LNCS

EVOPHD 2006:

First European Graduate Student Workshop on Evolutionary Computation, April 10th-12th, 2006, Budapest (Hungary)

Regular reviewer of Journals

• Journal of Heuristics (JoH)
• Journal of Evolutionary Computation (ECJ)
• IEEE transaction on Evolutionary Computation (IEEE TEC)
• Journal of Theoretical Biology (JTB)
• Applied Computational Intelligence and Soft Computing (ACISC)
• IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine
• Journal of Scientific Computing
• Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Algorithms (JMMA)
• Journal of Artificial Evolution and Applications
• Journal of Computer Science and Technology (JCST)

Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches

Title / sub-title:

Contributions to fitness landscapes analysis for single- and multi-objective optimization
--
Science of complex systems for optimization with stochastic methods

Titre / sous-titre:

Apport à l'analyse des paysages de fitness pour l'optimisation mono-objective et multiobjective
--
Science des systèmes complexes pour l'optimisation par méthodes stochastiques


Mémoire (pdf in french on HAL)

Slides présentation (pdf in french)

Date

December 12, 2016

Jury :

Rapporteurs :

• D.R. Evelyne Lutton, INRA-AgroParisTech,
• Pr. Adnan Yassine, Institut Supérieur d'Etudes Logistiques du Havre,
• Pr. Frédéric Saubion, Université d'Angers,

Examinateur :

• Pr. Cyril Fonlupt, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, (président),
• Pr. Philippe Collard, Université Nice Sophia-Antipolis/CNRS,
• Pr. Nouredine Melab, Université Lille 1/CNRS/inria.

Abstract:

The synthesis of my presented works in this talk is in the field of single- and multi-objective combinatorial optimization using stochastic algorithms (metaheuristics such as evolutionary algorithms, local search algorithms, etc.). In particular, my research work focuses on the model of fitness landscapes, originally designed in the field of complex systems theory, which allows to study the dynamics of optimization algorithms. The main motivation of this work is to understand the relationship between an optimization algorithm and the problem to solve in order to explain and to predict the algorithms performance, and to design new more efficient algorithms based on this understanding. This presentation is divided in two main parts. The first one is on the local optima network which is a new model of fitness landscapes for the single-objective optimization. New properties of optimization problems are shown, as well as the prediction capacities of performance based on the estimation of these features. The second one is on the multi-objective optimization. The properties of such fitness landscapes are defined, and precisely analyzed with respect to algorithms performance. New multi-objective optimization methods are also proposed. Finally, the presentation concludes with broad perspectives for the research domain of fitness landscapes and more generally in the field of stochastic optimization.

Résumé:

La synthèse de mes travaux présentés dans cet exposé s'inscrit dans le domaine de l'optimisation mono-objective et multiobjective de problèmes combinatoires par des algorithmes stochastiques du type métaheuristique (algorithmes évolutionnaires, recherches locales, etc.). En particulier, mes travaux portent sur le modèle des paysages de fitness, modèle issu des sciences de la complexité, qui permet étudier la dynamique des algorithmes d'optimisation. La principale motivation de ces travaux est de comprendre la relation entre un algorithme d'optimisation et le problème à résoudre afin d'en expliquer et d'en prédire les performances et de concevoir de nouveaux algorithmes plus efficaces à partir de cette compréhension. La présentation se compose en deux parties principales. L'une porte sur le réseau des optima locaux qui est un nouveau modèle pour les paysages de fitness en optimisation mono-objective. De nouvelles propriétés des problèmes d'optimisation sont montrées, ainsi que les capacités de prédiction de performance à partir de l'estimation de ces propriétés. L'autre partie porte sur l'optimisation multiobjective. Les propriétés des paysages de fitness sont définies et précisément analysées en rapport avec les performances des algorithmes. De nouvelles méthodes d'optimisation multiobjective sont également proposées. Enfin, cette présentation se termine par des perspectives pour le domaine des paysages de fitness et plus généralement en optimisation stochastique.

Ph.D. thesis in computer science

Director:

Philippe Collard

Title:

"Étude et exploitation des réseaux de neutralité dans les paysages adaptatifs pour l'optimisation difficile"

pdf and sumary on HAL
slides pdf (in french)

Date

December 12, 2005

Jury :

Director :

• M. Philippe Collard, Professor at University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis

President :

• M. Enrico Formenti, Professor at University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis

Rapporteurs :

• M. Cyril Fonlupt, Professor at University of Littoral - Côte d'Opale
• M. El-Ghazali Talbi, Professor at University of Lille
• M. Marco Tomassini, Professor at University of Lausanne

Examinateur :

• M. Manuel Clergue, Maître de conférences at University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis

Short summary:

The works of the thesis are in the domain of combinatorial optimization by metaheuristics (evolutionary algorithms, simulated annealing, tabu search, etc). The first part consist in a theoretical work which study redudant optimization problems according to a local search in using the concept of neutral fitness landscape and neutral networks. In second part, new metaheuristics are proposed which are design for this large class of problems.

in french:

Les travaux de doctorat s'inscrivent dans le domaine de l'optimisation combinatoire par métaheuristiques (algorithmes évolutionnaires, recuit simulé, recherche tabou, etc). Ils ont consisté d'une part à l'étude des problèmes d'optimisation redondant du point de vu de la recherche locale à l'aide du concept de paysage adaptatif neutre et de réseaux de neutralité, et d'autres part à concevoir de nouvelles métaheuristiques adaptées à cette large classe de problèmes.