Obaid Malik is a Research Fellow in Energy Modelling, Analytics & Decarbonisation in the Energy and Climate Change Division at the University of Southampton, working with the Sustainable Energy Research Group (SERG). His work applies machine learning and AI to energy and decarbonisation challenges, developing practical approaches that turn operational data into decision-ready insight for buildings and estates.
He holds a PhD in Computer Science and has over 10 years’ experience delivering applied ML in operational settings, with a focus on IoT and time-series data. In industry, he led end-to-end analytics and risk modelling at Switchee, including physics-informed, digital-twin style approaches for mould-risk prediction using temperature and humidity data at scale. Prior to this, he worked at the University of Southampton within the Agents, Interaction and Complexity (AIC) group on applied AI, optimisation, and simulation with industrial partners, delivering end-to-end prototypes spanning sensing, modelling, and evaluation.
Alongside his current role, he maintains a portfolio of applied AI systems and demos, including simulation-driven data products and agent-based modelling tools, and has published research across applied AI, simulation/optimisation, and sensor-driven modelling.
Research interests
• Applied AI/ML for decarbonisation decision support in buildings and estates
• Time-series modelling for energy demand, indoor environment, and operational performance
• Data fusion across meters, BMS, IoT sensors, weather, and asset/metadata sources
• Anomaly detection, diagnostics, and early warning for building performance risks
• Digital twins and ML/AI-assisted calibration and validation workflows
• Deployable ML/AI systems: monitoring, evaluation, and reliability in real operational environments
Selected recent themes
• Building and estate analytics to support net-zero planning and prioritisation
• Practical AI and agentic workflows that bridge modelling, reporting, and stakeholder decision-making
Contact
Email: om1v10@soton.ac.uk