Michael was born in Stockton-Upon-Tees in the UK in 1975. He is qualified automation and process control engineer, with eight years' industrial experience. He holds a BEng degree in electronic and electrical engineering (1999, Sunderland) and a PhD degree (2003, Sunderland) awarded following research into algorithms and architectures for real-time robot control. He is a full member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (MIET), a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and a member of the Engineering Professors Council (EPC).

Following the award of his PhD, Michael spent seven years first working in research and then as a lecturer in embedded systems and control at the University of Leicester. In January 2010 he joined Teesside University as a senior lecturer in electronics and control. He was made a Reader in Control Engineering in 2015 and Professor of Engineering in August 2020. Michael leads the Center for Sustainable Engineering and heads the Smart Energy and Smart Grid research group within this Center.

Michael has over thirteen years' experience of developing and delivering teaching material related to embedded systems, electronics and control at both postgraduate and undergraduate level. He has also acted as a visiting lecturer at the University of Ulster in Belfast, Northern Ireland and the Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC) in Penang, Malaysia to deliver and assess postgraduate course modules.

He now has more than seventeen years' experience of research at postdoctoral level, and has authored or co-authored over 140 reviewed publications, having over 1,100 citations. He has a H-index of 20 and i10-index of 31. He has won five 'Best Paper' awards at major international conferences. He is named as primary inventor on a related patent (currently pending). He has supervised or co-supervised four PhD completions and currently has eight PhD students. He has been primary investigator / co-investigator on numerous completed and ongoing FP7, H2020 and private/Government funded research and innovation projects. This has includied leading technical work in the IDEAS, DR-BoB and REACT EU large-scale international projects, of combined value in excess of £1.6M, directly supporting the publication of 13 articles in leading international journals, 24 papers in international conferences and numerous presentations at industry events.

He is a regular reviewer for several international journals and conferences, including those published by the IEEE, the IET, Elsevier, Springer, the ACM and IFAC. Similarly, Michael is a regular PC member and reviewer for several national and international conferences and workshops, including ICINCO, UKEF, RTN and ETFA. He is an associate editor for International Journal of Energies (Basel).

Michael has appeared in all forms of media, including television interviews, live radio interviews, magazine features and print/online news. Most recently, has was interviewed on BBC Radio Tees and featured in regional and national news articles regading his role leading a University team involved in the Engineering response to the Spring 2020 viral pandemic in the UK.

Michael’s research interests are varied and multi-disiplinary in nature, and encompass aspects of Control, Automation, Optimization, Informatics, Communications and Real-Time Embedded Systems and Networks. Michael is particularly interested in the application of these research topics - and modern digital Engineering techniques in general - to the design and implementation of sustanable systems and processes.

Application areas include aspects of Industry 4.0/Industrial Digitization and Smart Factories, Smart Grids and Smart Energy Systems, and also Advanced Robotics/Process Control.

Michael has consultancy experience, providing expertise to a number of companies of regional, national and international scope. The expertise provided was in the area of industrial technology for a variety of applications, including high-pressure forming equipment, thermal coating equipment, marine systems, condition monitoring and demand response.

He is keen to establish further links with industry.