Charles Phiri
Dr Charles C. Phiri is a distinguished architect dedicated to advancing well-behaved, auditable AI/ML and data-intensive systems. With over 25 years of experience engineering transformative solutions across multiple disciplines and industries, Dr Phiri is an Executive Director with JPMorgan Chase, designated as SME AI/ML Innovation in the Global Technology Enterprise Architecture team. His work contributes to redefining enterprise-wide AI/ML reference architectures and consumption patterns, forming the baseline for firmwide risk characterization of AI/ML and agentic systems and motivating operational excellence for distributed and cloud-native AI systems.
Throughout his career, Dr Phiri has achieved high-impact successes, ranging from designing scalable R&D solutions in financial services, semiconductors, telecommunications, space and defense, digital storage infrastructure, and medical devices, to spearheading innovative projects that merge deep technical rigor with practical application. Notably, he was part of the team that developed an exoskeleton-based solution to assist post-stroke patients in regaining mobility and contributed to cutting-edge advances in robotics, commercial satellite systems, microwave and RF systems, A-GPS systems, real-time embedded technologies, MEMS, and ultra–low-energy designs, progressing from R&D to the commercialization of multi–billion devices.
A respected thought leader and active contributor in his field, Dr Phiri researches advanced AI/ML systems with a clear focus on delivering practical, real-world solutions in constrained environments. His other contributions include areas such as neuromorphic computing, deep learning, spiking neural networks, robotics, context-free grammars, formal verification, and the systems engineering of robust, characteristically auditable distributed AI systems in real-world environments (IntRob’25). His academic research interests include developing real-time collision avoidance for industrial robotic arms (ICIRA 2021) and fuzzy rule-based outlier detection (ISA Transactions, 2021); dynamical system specification and stabilization (ICIRA 2017); accelerating robot learning through context-aware middleware (ICIRA 2016); adaptive, intelligent self-calibrating systems (2011); and scaffolded life-long robot learning from human skills (2019), all of which underscore his dedication to bridging theoretical innovation with tangible, real-world applications.
Dr Phiri is also a Senior IEEE Member, a Chartered IT Professional with the British Computer Society, and designated Gartner Peer Community Ambassador. He earned his PhD in Humanoid Robotics from the University of Portsmouth, reading humanoid robot learning from human action skills (motion planning, scaffolded life-long robot learning). He holds an MSc in Internet Systems from the University of Liverpool.
Beyond his corporate credentials, Dr Phiri is passionate about leveraging technology (including remote sensing and satellite imaging systems) to address critical gaps in food systems across Sub-Saharan Africa through regenerative precision agriculture and logistics ventures. His lifelong commitment to self-calibration is exemplified by his accomplishment as a 4th Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon-Do, which is built on the tenets of courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and an indomitable spirit.
