Ajaykumar Manivannan

Ajaykumar Manivannan is a Research Fellow at the School of Politics and International Studies within the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Leeds. Previously, he held research positions at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) from 2016-2021 and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, and collaborated with Telfer School of Management during his Ph.D. studies.

His educational qualifications include:

• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Ottawa, Canada
• M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
• B.E. in Aerospace Engineering from Hindustan University, India

Manivannan's research centers on modeling social norms as networks and studying tipping points using Generative Agent Based Modelling for climate change mitigation strategies. He investigates human movement in high-density vertical cities like Singapore across all three physical dimensions (horizontal and vertical), building on his doctoral work. His methodology integrates computational approaches to analyze spatial, social, and co-presence networks within urban environments.

Additionally, he develops machine learning frameworks for human activity recognition through wireless sensor data analysis. His work bridges Computational Social Science and Complex Systems theory, applying quantitative modeling to understand social phenomena in urban contexts. Current projects focus on social norm dynamics with applications for sustainable urban development.