Personal profile
Biography
James McDermott holds a BSc in Computer Science with Mathematics from the National University ofIreland, Galway, and a PhD in evolutionary computation and computer music from the University ofLimerick. He has also worked on supercomputing in CompaqHP. His post-doctoral work was in evolutionarydesign and genetic programming in University College Dublin and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.He was Associate Professor Senior Lecturer in Management Information Systems in UCD Business School and is now Senior Lecturer in the School of Computer Science, University of Galway. He has chaired EuroGP and EvoMUSARTand is a member of the GPEM editorial board. He is interested in supervisingmentoring researchers at undergrad, MSc, PhD, or post-doc level. See a target=_blank rel=nofollow href=http:www.jmmcd.netresearch.htmlhttp:www.jmmcd.netresearch.html for more.
Research Interests
Dr James McDermotts research interests include: Evolutionary computation, including representations and fitness landscapes. Genetic programming. Program synthesis. Symbolic regression. Artificial intelligence in toy domains such as ARC, Bongard problems, and CopyCat. Deep learning and neural networks for vision, audio, time-series. AI music, AI creativity, and AI aesthetics. Music information retrieval, including Irish traditional music. Applications in sustainability, including forestry and wastewater treatment. See also http://www.jmmcd.net/research.html and https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nKNOv8oAAAAJ.
Teaching Interests
TopicsOptimisation Programming Artificial Intelligence MethodsDesign for learning in the age of AI Anti-plagiarism: design and detection Blended learning Integrated lab and lecture delivery
Research Projects
- Title: Machine Learning for Wastewater Treatment Plant Optimisation
- Project Acronym: ML-WWTP
- Role e.g. Coordinator, Project Partner, Individual Award: Co-PI
- Funder: Ward & Burke Construction Ltd. & Insight
- Project link: http://jmmcd.net/research.html
- SDG: 6, 13, 14
Related documents
Education/Academic qualification
B.Sc., PhD
Keywords
- QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
- Artificial intelligence
- Program synthesis
- Genetic programming
- Optimisation
- M Music
- Artificial creativity
- Irish traditional music
Accepting PhD Students
- Accepting PhD Students
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation -
SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy -
SDG 15 Life on Land
Fingerprint
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Comparative Analysis of Model Selection Criteria for Symbolic Regression Using Genetic Programming
Ramlan, F. W., Kronberger, G., O’Riordan, C. & McDermott, J., 2026, Computational Intelligence - 17th International Joint Conference, IJCCI 2025, Proceedings. Marcelloni, F., Madani, K., van Stein, N. & Filipe, J. (eds.). Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, p. 91-108 18 p. (Communications in Computer and Information Science; vol. 2828 CCIS).Research output: Chapter in Book or Conference Publication/Proceeding › Conference Publication › peer-review
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Higher-order singular-value derivatives of real rectangular matrices
Luo, R., O'Riordan, C. & McDermott, J., 15 Apr 2026, In: Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications. 556, 2, 130236.Research output: Contribution to a Journal (Peer & Non Peer) › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure) -
Can Synthetic Data Improve Symbolic Regression Extrapolation Performance?
Ramlan, F. W., O’Riordan, C., Kronberger, G. & McDermott, J., 11 Aug 2025, GECCO 2025 Companion - Proceedings of the 2025 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion. Ochoa, G. (ed.). Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, p. 2548-2555 8 p. (GECCO 2025 Companion - Proceedings of the 2025 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion).Research output: Chapter in Book or Conference Publication/Proceeding › Conference Publication › peer-review
Open Access2 Citations (Scopus) -
Interpreting Global Perturbation Robustness of Image Models using Axiomatic Spectral Importance Decomposition
Mc Dermott, J., 1 Jul 2024, In: Trans Machine Learning Research.Research output: Contribution to a Journal (Peer & Non Peer) › Article › peer-review
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Polifonia Deliverable D3.6: Music classifier models
Mc Dermott, J., 1 Jan 2024Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned Report › peer-review
Activities
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Beyond Stochastic Parrots
Mc Dermott, J. (Conference Organising Committee Member) & Madden, M. (Conference Organising Committee Member)
10 Apr 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Organising a conference, workshop, ...
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ACM GECCO General Evolutionary Computation and Hybrid - track(External) (External organisation)
Mc Dermott, J. (Member)
1 Nov 2023 → …Activity: Membership › Membership of committee
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College of Science and Engineering Research & Innovation(Internal) (External organisation)
Mc Dermott, J. (Member)
1 Oct 2023 → …Activity: Membership › Membership of committee
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School of Computer Science Research & Graduate Studies(Internal) (External organisation)
Mc Dermott, J. (Member)
31 Aug 2023 → …Activity: Membership › Membership of committee
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Fidelity - Invited keynote talk (audience 200+) and consultation session / discussion with approx 20 Fidelity engineers, researchers, managers. Topic: Large Language Models. Part of Fidelity "The perfect date with data" - Data Symposium 2023. No payment.
Mc Dermott, J. (Consultant)
25 Apr 2023Activity: Consultancy