Professor Rees obtained a BSc(Hons) degree in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College and a PhD in Image Processing from the University of Glamorgan.
Having worked for the Ministry of Defence, Intel and Microsystem Services, he joined the Polytechnic of Wales, now the University of Glamorgan, as a Senior Lecturer in Computer Engineering in September 1988. During his thirteen years at Glamorgan he taught principally in the areas of computer communications and networks, engineering management, computer systems architecture, image processing and artificial intelligence. He was involved in image processing research based on the use of mathematical morphology in feature extraction and object recognition, which became the subject of his doctoral thesis.
On joining Staffordshire University in 2000 as Principal Lecturer in Computing, he took over the course leadership of the largest Computing degree scheme in western Europe, moving on to become Faculty Director, Research and Enterprise, managing the research and knowledge exchange activities for the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Technology, and Professor of Computing Enterprise.
He led the computer networks research group, creating a number of significant projects including ECSEC, MTB (Mobile Technology for Business), Stratford Unplugged, and WMMW (West Midlands Mobile and Wireless), in partnership with a number of West Midlands universities, and developed the centre of excellence in mobile technology and applications at Staffordshire. He developed a number of novel academic approaches to working with employers including the highly successful PICTS graduate ICT skills programme.
Over the five years from 2000 to 2005, he managed the development of external grant funded projects totalling in excess of £5M for the University.
An enthusiastic and committed researcher, he has supervised eleven successful PhD candidates, ten MPhil and MRES students, and numerous taught Masters projects.
Since joining Southampton Solent University in 2005 as Dean of the Faculty of Technology and Professor of Business Technology, his research work has focused on knowledge management and AI, education management, and a continuation of his previous work on placement of information in large scale mobile systems. Recent work has included a Leadership Foundation project in Task Orientated Multifunctional Teams, mobile learning, knowledge value and kaizen, and the development of technology pedagogy.
He serves as Chair for the university’s Research Degrees Committee and is a member of the university’s Research and Enterprise Committee, Information and Communication Committee, and others both internally to the university and with other institutions.
Research supervision
I have previously supervised eleven successful doctoral candidates. My current research interests are in:
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Knowledge management, identification of value in knowledge-based businesses, the application of knowledge management and lean methods in HE
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Optimisation of information/processing location with mobile systems, ubiquity in mobile computing, the development of mobile applications
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Machine vision, object recognition and pattern analysis
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The application of mathematical morphology in image processing, analysis and machine vision
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E-commerce systems