Paulo Serra

Paulo Serra is an Assistant Professor at the Mathematics Department of the Faculty of Science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He holds additional roles including Board Member of the MSc Internship Board for Business Analytics, Examination Board Mathematics and Business Analytics, and the Mathematical Statistics section of VVSOR. Previously, he served as Assistant Professor at Eindhoven University of Technology and held postdoctoral positions at the University of Amsterdam, University of Goettingen, and UNINOVA in Portugal.

Education:

• PhD in Mathematical Statistics (Eindhoven University of Technology, 2009–2013)
• MSc in Mathematical Sciences (Utrecht University, 2006–2008)
• Licenciatura in Applied Mathematics (New University of Lisbon, 2000–2005)

Research Interests: Focus on non-parametric mathematical statistics, including Bayesian non-parametrics, spline estimators, statistical tracking of time-varying parameters, quantile regression, and Markov processes. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications in algorithm design and implementation, particularly in biomedical and engineering domains.

Teaching: Teaches courses in Stochastics, Statistics for Business Analytics, and Stochastic Processes for Finance at VU Amsterdam, as well as the Mastermath Bayesian Statistics course. Provides introductory materials on Probability and Statistics using Python and Jupyter Notebook.

Supervision: Currently co-supervises three PhD students, one MSc student, two BSc students, and one MSc internship. Offers thesis projects in areas aligned with his research expertise.

Key Themes in Publications: Recent work emphasizes medical applications (e.g., perioperative patient deterioration prediction) and methodological advancements in robust estimation, nonparametric Bayesian techniques, and adaptive algorithms. Earlier contributions include fuzzy logic systems for spacecraft thermal monitoring and network dimension estimation in inhomogeneous graphs.