About
Bogdan earned his DI (diploma engineer / diplomi-insinööri) degree in computer engineering at the National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, and holds a PhD in computer science from Åbo Akademi University, where his doctoral research focused on formal methods for quantitative model refinement.
After his PhD he worked as a postdoctoral researcher before moving into industry as a bioinformatician. He later returned to Åbo Akademi University as a senior researcher and lecturer, teaching courses in artificial intelligence, data science, and graph algorithms while working on maritime computer vision and the digitalization of the maritime sector. In 2024 he earned his docentship in computer science at Åbo Akademi University, on the topic of Computational Modeling and Industrial Applications.
In 2026, Bogdan joined Novia University of Applied Sciences as a Project Leader, where he leads projects on maritime AI solutions in collaboration with the Finnish shipbuilding industry.
Looking ahead, he sees agentic AI transforming engineering workflows in the maritime and industrial sectors — automating routine modelling and analysis while engineers retain oversight of the results.
Research interests
Experience
Project Leader in Maritime AI Solutions
Novia University of Applied Sciences — Maritime Technology Group
Finland
Leading projects on maritime AI solutions in collaboration with the Finnish shipbuilding industry.
University Lecturer in Computer Science and Engineering
Åbo Akademi University — Department of Information Technologies
Turku, Finland
Taught data science, research methods, graph algorithms, operating systems and IoT architecture; academic coordinator for the Erasmus Mundus EDISS master's programme.
Project Researcher & Part-time Lecturer
Åbo Akademi University — Department of Information Technologies
Turku, Finland
Research and coordination across industry-facing projects on maritime data, decarbonised transport, space technology, and industrial AI (TEHOTEKO, DECATRIP, Sea4Value, Kvarken Space Eco, Reboot IoT Factory).
Visiting Researcher
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Trondheim, Norway
Underwater datasets for object detection by mobile robotic explorers, and an adversarial-attack pipeline for above-water object detection in autonomous navigation.
Bioinformatician / Postdoctoral Researcher
Tampere, Finland
RNA-seq and microarray gene-expression analysis, building an RNA-seq analysis pipeline and delivering results to industry clients.
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Helsinki & University of Turku
Finland
Computational and statistical methods on drug–target interaction networks for combination therapies in epithelial ovarian cancer.
Doctoral Researcher
Åbo Akademi University — Department of Information Technologies
Turku, Finland
Formal methods for quantitative model refinement, specifying biomodels at multiple levels of resolution while preserving quantitative fit and validation.
Education
Docent (Adjunct Professor), Computer Science
Åbo Akademi University — Faculty of Natural Sciences
Field: Computational Modelling and Industrial Applications.
PhD, Computer Science
Åbo Akademi University — Faculty of Natural Sciences
Dissertation: Quantitative Refinement of Reaction-Based Biomodels.
Diploma Engineer, System and Computer Engineering
National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest — Faculty of Automatic Control and Computers
Thesis: Computational Methods in Biology (publicly defended).
Funding & grants
Selected awarded funding as principal investigator, main applicant, or co-applicant.
Research output
Also including invited articles in trade journals and technical reports. A complete and current list of publications is maintained on ORCID.
ABOships & ABOships-PLUS
Maritime object-detection datasets for ship detection from inshore and offshore imagery.
zenodo.org/records/10469672 →SODD — Subaquatic Object Detection Dataset
Underwater object dataset for mobile robotic explorers, developed with colleagues at NTNU.
zenodo.org/records/10230328 →diffwrap
CRAN R package for differential expression analysis of RNA-Seq and miRNA data, wrapping the edgeR–limma pipeline (co-author).
cran.r-project.org/package=diffwrap →Teaching
I began teaching over a decade ago as a teaching assistant and am now course-responsible for several courses at Åbo Akademi University. In 2021 I created the university's first postgraduate course on Artificial Intelligence, and in 2024 produced a series of YouTube videos supporting the Data Science course.
| Year | Course | Level | Role | Students |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Data Science | Postgraduate | Responsible Lecturer | 132 |
| 2025 | Operating Systems | Undergraduate | Responsible Lecturer | 51 |
| 2025 | Research Methods | Postgraduate | Responsible Lecturer | 60 |
| 2024 | Data Science | Postgraduate | Responsible Lecturer | 120 |
| 2024 | Graph Algorithms | Postgraduate | Responsible Lecturer | 40 |
| 2023 | Data Science | Postgraduate | Responsible Lecturer | 110 |
| 2022 | Artificial Intelligence | Postgraduate | Responsible Lecturer | 67 |
| 2021 | Artificial Intelligence | Postgraduate | Responsible Lecturer | 32 |
| 2020 | Intro to Artificial Intelligence | Undergraduate | Teaching assistant | 144 |
| 2014 | Advanced Computational Modelling | Postgraduate | Lecturer & TA | >20 |
| 2014 | Advanced Text Algorithms | Postgraduate | Teaching assistant | >20 |
| 2014 | Graph Algorithms | Postgraduate | Teaching assistant | >20 |
International teaching visits
- University of Würzburg, Germany (2025) — quality assurance for the CHARM master's in Global Challenges for Sustainability.
- Mälardalen University, Sweden (2024–2025) — EDISS curriculum redesign and double-degree collaboration.
- Utrecht University, Netherlands (2024) — design thinking and challenge-based learning for applied data science.
Supervision
Supervision spans an ongoing doctoral thesis, ten master's theses (eight graduated), three bachelor's theses (two graduated), and eight research internships.
Doctoral co-supervisor
- 2024 · nowPrashani JayasinghaSocially assistive robotic system for physical rehabilitation of stroke patients
Master's 10 theses
- 2026 ✓Uthpala Ekanayake Wasala MudiyanselageA Human-centered Agentic System for Socially Assisted Rehabilitation
- 2026 ✓Nicolas RagnellAdversarial Attacks on Object Detectors: An Empirical Study
- 2025 ✓Parisa PoorhasaniExplainable Machine Learning for Stage-Specific Cancer Survival Prediction
- 2025 ✓Nethmi FosekangeDeep Learning-Based Brain Tumour Segmentation
- 2023 ✓Lucas FransmanCo-simulation models for ship power management systems
- 2022 ✓Jesper WinstenDeep learning approaches for maritime ship detection from inshore and offshore imagery
- 2020 ✓Luca ZelioliEnvironmental damage assessment based on satellite imagery using machine learning
- 2015 ✓Tolou ShadbahrQuantitative model refinement of the ErbB signalling pathway
- 2025 · nowErik WesterstråhleAI-enabled 3D reconstruction of architectural plans of buildings
- 2024 · nowViktor SjöströmPredicting Parking Occupancy Using Time Series Data
Bachelor's 3 theses
- 2025 ✓Johannes LindmanUtilizing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Logistics
- 2025 ✓Liam RothwellBridging Retrieval and Generation: Advancing Retrieval-Augmented Generation
- 2024 · nowOlivia OukkaHarnessing Artificial Intelligence for Advancements in Drug Development
Research internships 8 students
- 2025–26Grady NaftaliTargeted Concept Unlearning in Vision Transformers via Consensus Task-Vector Merging
- 2025–26Rajshree RaiTargeted Concept Unlearning in Vision Transformers via Consensus Task-Vector Merging
- 2025–26Thanh Duy CaoTargeted Concept Unlearning in Vision Transformers via Consensus Task-Vector Merging
- 2025–26Nicolas RagnellSatellite Image Captioning: Vision-Language Models for Satellite and Remote-Sensing Imagery
- 2025–26Uthpala Ekanayake Wasala MudiyanselageMapping Knowledge Graph Integration in Retrieval-Augmented Generation: Methods, Metrics, and Evidence
- 2024Alexander WinbergDevelopment of Interactive Python Exercises and Moodle-Based Data Science Learning Activities
- 2024Sarosh KrishanDevelopment of Interdisciplinary Data Science Course Content and Learning Activities
- 2023Hafiz ImamDevelopment and Testing of an Annotated Underwater Computer Vision Dataset
Service & academic merits
Positions of trust
- Selection Committee member, Erasmus Mundus EDISS Master's Program (2024–2025) — application review, selection, and scholarship decisions.
- Teacher tutor, EDISS master's programme (2024–2025).
- Mentor, CHARM-EU Master in Global Challenges for Sustainability (2025–2026).
Invited talks
- NTNU seminar, Trondheim, Norway (2022).
- MAST seminar, Novia UAS, Turku, Finland (2022).
- Workshop on Multi-Sensor Fusion for Autonomous Driving, Indianapolis, USA (2021).
Scientific & societal impact
- Educational outreach — creator of a YouTube channel @iancu.bogdan communicating data science to students and lifelong learners.
- Member, Finnish Artificial Intelligence Society (2022–present).
- Stanford WiDS Ambassador — Women in Data Science (2024–2026).
- Former member of ReFund, a departmental strategic team on funding for early-career researchers (2021–2022).
- Former member, Female IT Profile team promoting equality in IT (2021–2022).