Laurie Hirsch

Dr. Laurie Hirsch is a Senior Lecturer in Computing at Sheffield Hallam University's School of Computing and Digital Technologies, part of the College of Business, Technology and Engineering. Her teaching spans foundational to PhD levels, focusing on machine learning, programming, database systems, and web-based systems. She actively engages in interdisciplinary research areas including biologically inspired computing (genetic algorithms/programming), IoT systems for brain signal processing, and dynamic visualizations using co-occurrence networks.

Her research emphasizes text data applications such as sentiment analysis in crisis scenarios and evolved search query-based classification. Notable projects include developing tools for text clustering and cloud migration decision support systems for SMEs. She has co-authored influential works on genetic programming-based text classification and authored the textbook Guide to Cloud Computing: Principles and Practice.

Publications highlight contributions to evolutionary computing, information retrieval, and social media analytics. Supervised doctoral research includes document classification methodologies and sentiment analysis frameworks. Her work bridges computational techniques with real-world applications in healthcare, finance, and crisis management.