Dr Jamie J. Alnasir M.Pharm (Hons), Ph.D.

Research Computing & HPC Systems Architect
Reliable Systems in Complex & Safety-Critical Environments
Private Pilot (UK CAA Licensed)

I design and deliver reliable research computing, scientific computing, and HPC platforms, specialising in data-intensive workflows and complex institutional environments.

I am a Principal Research Infrastructure Architect and research technology specialist with over 20 years' experience designing, evolving, and delivering complex digital platforms across research-intensive, regulated, and safety-critical environments. My work spans institutional IT, national research infrastructure, commercial bioinformatics platforms, and mission-critical aviation software, with a particular focus on translating scientific and operational requirements into reliable, scalable technology platforms.

Alongside institutional leadership roles, I am the founder of the world’s most comprehensive electronic flight computer, E6BJA, used by over 20,000 pilots worldwide, and CliniCompute, a clinical decision-support platform for healthcare professionals. I am also a UK CAA-licensed private pilot, bringing bringing operational aviation experience into safety-critical systems design beyond the research domain.

Academic and Professional Background

I hold a Doctorate in Computer Science focused on distributed and high-performance computing applied to scientific research, alongside a Master’s degree in Pharmacy and Chemistry. My doctoral research was conducted at the Centre for Systems and Synthetic Biology (CSSB), Department of Computer Science at Royal Holloway, University of London, under the supervision of Prof. Hugh Shanahan.

My background combines deep technical fluency with formal training in regulated clinical practice, enabling risk-aware decision-making across complex, data-intensive systems. I have published peer-reviewed research, contributed to national-scale platforms, and delivered applied teaching and training in programming, workflow systems, and large-scale data platforms.

I am particularly interested in postgraduate computing education and the development of practically grounded, industry-relevant learning environments for data-intensive and computational disciplines.

Selected academic, institutional, and commercial projects are presented in the portfolio sections of this site.

Institutional Platform Leadership

From 2023 to 2025, I held responsibility for research computing support strategy and service enablement at University College London (UCL), working within the Information Services Division (ISD) in collaboration with Advanced Research Computing (ARC).

My work supported computational research across Life and Medical Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Law, Geography, and the Institute of Education, focusing on platform architecture, integration, stakeholder alignment, and sustainable delivery under institutional and governance constraints.

Previous Experience

Prior to UCL, I worked at NatureMetrics, delivering and scaling production bioinformatics pipelines for metabarcoding and metagenomic analysis across multiple sequencing platforms, operating across on-premise and cloud infrastructure.

At Imperial College London, I held a strategic research and platform role within the SCALE Lab, leading work on DNA-based data storage and population-scale genomics platforms aligned with national research infrastructure and industry collaboration.

Earlier in my career, I worked in enterprise software development and data platforms, before completing a Master’s in Pharmacy — a joint programme delivered by St George’s Hospital Medical School and Kingston University. This interdisciplinary foundation underpins my work at the intersection of science, technology, and regulated systems.

Research Software Engineering and Teaching

I have delivered research software engineering and platform consultancy within highly regulated biomedical environments, including at the Institute of Cancer Research, supporting reproducible, scalable genomics analysis through workflow standardisation, platform design, and researcher enablement.

In parallel, I have delivered applied teaching across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in computer science, data systems, robotics, and bioinformatics, and have contributed to specialist training for researchers and clinicians. Selected publications are available via the publications section.

Academic Service

I also contribute to the academic community through peer review activities, serving as an invited reviewer for leading international journals including:

• ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR)
• PLOS Computational Biology
• PLOS ONE
• Briefings in Bioinformatics
• IT Professional (IEEE Computer Society)

Aviation Technology

During UK pilot training with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), I developed the E6BJA Flight Computer App, a modern electronic implementation of the E6-B flight computer. E6BJA supports core flight planning, navigation, and performance calculations and is widely used across general aviation and flight training.

Photography

Outside professional work, I am an active photographer and hold a Diploma in Photography from the Institute of Photography.