Research
Prof.dr. Peter A.N. Bosman is the group leader of the Evolutionary Intelligence research group at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) (Center for Mathematics and Computer Science) located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He further has a part-time professor (in Dutch: deeltijdhoogleraar) position at Delft University of Technology in the Algorithmics group of the Department of Software Technology in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science. Prof.dr. Bosman was formerly affiliated with Utrecht University, where he also obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science.
Prof.dr. Bosman’s fundamental research focus is on the design and application of modern model-based Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) for single- and multi-objective optimization, and Machine Learning (ML). On the ML side, of particular interest is the use of model-based EAs to achieve eXplainable AI (XAI). On the optimization side, problems considered are typically complex to an extent where a black-box optimization (BBO), or at least a grey-box optimization (GBO), perspective is required, i.e., virtually no information (BBO) or limited information (GBO) is available (or properly understood) about the problem at hand. In model-based EAs, a model is used to capture and exploit problem-specific features to guide the search for high-quality solutions more effectively and efficiently. Such models may be derived by hand or, if this is not possible (as in the BBO case), be learned during optimization, using e.g., ML techniques. Of particular interest is the Gene-pool Optimal Mixing Evolutionary Algorithm (GOMEA) family, which was co-founded by prof.dr. Bosman. Today, this family includes GPU-accelerated versions for (multi-objective) optimization with real-world applications in the medical domain and a version for genetic programming (GP-GOMEA), which, when used for symbolic regression, has been proven to be among the state-of-the-art, offering a large potential for XAI purposes.
Prof.dr. Bosman’s applied research focus is on the use of (model-based) EAs to solve real-world problems that require optimization and/or machine learning, which are often multi-objective in nature, together with industry- and societal partners. A key application area is the medical domain, where research outcomes have successfully been translated into clinical practice (in particular the multi-objective optimization of brachytherapy treatment plans for prostate cancer, at Amsterdam UMC). Additional application areas include(d) (smart) energy systems, revenue management, and logistics.
Prof.dr. Bosman has (co-)authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications, out of which 9 received best paper awards and 11 more were nominated for a best paper award. Various other awards include 2 silver Humies awards for obtaining real-world human-competitive awards with EAs (in the medical domain). He is currently chair of SIGEVO, the ACM special interest group on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation and was formerly an officer, executive board, and business committee member of SIGEVO. He is furthermore program committee member of all major conferences and various journals in the EA field and related fields. Prof.dr. Bosman has been general chair, track chair, and local chair as well as organizer of various workshops and tutorials at the main conference in the field of EAs - the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO). According to Google Scholar, in March 2025, his h-index was 44 with over 6300 citations to his works.
Finally, the (co-)acquired research grant funding by Prof.dr. Bosman totals over €13M, which includes funding from the Dutch research council, the Dutch cancer society, the Dutch children cancer-free foundation, and the European Innovation Council. Together, these grants support(ed) various scientific research positions (including 28 Ph.D. students and 7 postdocs, as well as various radiation therapy technologists, and scientific programmers), and various high-performance computing hardware.
