Evangelia Perivolaki

Background

Eva Perivolaki is a PhD researcher in Aerospace at Cranfield University, working under the supervision of Dr Steve King and Dr Irene Moulitsas. Her research focuses on developing a causal inference driven framework to support root-cause investigations in aircraft engines, combining statistical analysis, engineering domain knowledge, and model-based systems engineering. Her work aims to bridge data-driven analytics with structured causal reasoning to improve the reliability, safety, and interpretability of aerospace investigation processes. Eva’s research is supported by Rolls-Royce through an industry aligned part-time doctoral project.

Research opportunities

- Causal modelling and causal discovery for diagnosing performance deviations in gas-turbine engines

- Hybrid data-driven and engineering-informed frameworks for root-cause investigations

- Uncertainty quantification and its role in causal reasoning

- Knowledge graphs, MBSE and structured knowledge reuse in engineering contexts

- Integration of statistical, physical, and domain-expert knowledge to support explainable decision-making

- Applications of probabilistic graphical models in aerospace reliability and prognostics

- Design of scalable, interpretable analytical pipelines for large technical datasets

- Causal methods for multivariate time-series and test data

Current activities

Eva is a Data Scientist at Rolls-Royce, working across engine performance, diagnostics, simulation, and reliability analytics. Her experience includes developing machine-learning pipelines, constructing simulation models for aircraft engine maintenance operations, and applying advanced statistical methods to analyse fleet-wide performance trends. She collaborates closely with engineering domain specialists to interpret diagnostic outputs and integrate analytical insights into operational decision-making. Her background also encompasses forecasting, optimisation, and technical modelling to address operational and reliability challenges across civil aerospace programmes.

Eva's PhD topic is "Robust Statistical Analysis of Causal Mechanisms in Root Cause Investigations"