Dave / David C. Kutner

Career Development Fellow at Durham University

david.c.kutner (at) durham.ac.uk

Research Interests

Graph Theory: How can we use dots and lines to understand the world around us?
Computational Complexity: When are answers about our questions truly, provably out of reach? What can't we do with a computer?
"Eventful" Graphs: Classical graphs stay put, but the real world changes. How can we approach problems which change over time?

Teaching

I am the lecturer and the module coordinator for COMP3477 Algorithmic Game Theory. I also lecture the first and fourth quarters of COMP1081 Algorithms and Data Structures. Students can find course materials and more on Blackboard Ultra.

Publications

DCK, Anouk Sommer, Better late, then? The hardness of choosing delays to meet passenger demands in temporal graphs, SAND 2025 [arXiv] [DOI].

Maximilien Gadouleau, DCK, Generalising the maximum independent set algorithm via Boolean networks, Information and Computation, 2025 [arXiv] [DOI].

DCK, Iain A. Stewart, Reconfigurable routing in data center networks, ALGOWIN 2024 [arXiv] [DOI] and Theoretical Computer Science, 2025 [arXiv] [DOI].

Maximilien Gadouleau, DCK, Words fixing the kernel network and maximum independent sets in graphs, AUTOMATA 2023 [arXiv] [DOI].

DCK, Laura Larios-Jones Temporal Reachability Dominating Sets: contagion in temporal graphs, ALGOWIN 2023 (Best Paper Award, Best Student Paper Award) [arXiv] [DOI] and Journal of Computer and System Sciences (accepted) [arXiv].

Tom Friedetzky, DCK, George B. Mertzios, Iain A. Stewart, Amitabh Trehan, Payment Scheduling in the Interval Debt Model, SOFSEM 2023 [DOI] and Theoretical Computer Science 2025 [DOI] [arXiv].

DCK, Sunčica Hadžidedić, Vibration-based communication for deafblind people, IEEE Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), 2022 [arXiv] [DOI].

Conference Talks and Seminars

MIS, begotten: Generalizing the maximal independent set algorithm with Boolean Networks, invited talk, Scottish Combinatorics Meeting 2025, University of Glasgow, Scotland

Reconfigurable Routing in Data Center Networks, Conference talk, ALGOWIN 2024, Royal Holloway, University of London, England, September 2024

Reconfigurable routing in data center networks, BCTCS 2024, Bath, England, April 2024

How hard can payment scheduling be?, Seminar, LIPNE Workshop on computational complexity and economic decision making, Cambridge, England, February 2024

Temporal Reachability Dominating Sets: contagion in temporal graphs, Conference talk, ALGOWIN 2023, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Amsterdam, Netherlands, September 2023

The TaRDiS and epidemics in temporal graphs, Conference talk, BCTCS 2023, University of Glasgow, Scotland, April 2023

Payment Scheduling in the Interval Debt Model, Conference talk, SOFSEM 2023, Nový Smokovec, Slovakia, January 2023

To bail or not to bail, Seminar talk, TEA & ART research seminar, University of Hamburg, Germany, online, June 2022

Payment Scheduling in the Interval Debt Model, Seminar talk, FATA research seminar, University of Glasgow, Scotland, June 2022

Vibration-based communication for the deafblind, Poster, EuroHaptics, TU Hamburg, Germany, May 2022

Payment Scheduling in the Interval Debt Model, Conference talk, BCTCS 2022, Swansea University, Wales, May 2022

Vibration-based communication for the deafblind, Conference talk, HAPTICS, online, March 2022

Education

PhD, Computer Science, Durham University, October 2021-March 2025

Eventful graphs: the computational complexity of recognizing and realizing properties in changing networks.; supervised by Dr George Mertzios, Dr Tom Friedetzky, Prof Iain Stewart, and Dr Amitabh Trehan.

MEng, Computer Science, Durham University, September 2017-June 2021

First class degree; Certificate of Exceptional Achievement. Master’s project Vibration-based communication for deafblind people supervised by Dr Suncica Hadzidedic and adapted into a paper. Level 3 project written in combinatorics (high-dimensional tic-tac-toe) under Dr Tom Friedetzky.

Relevant Experience

Research Assistant (full-time), University of Glasgow School of Computing Science, April 2025 - June 2025

Working with Kitty Meeks, Jessica Enright (and others) on the EPSRC project "Multilayer Algorithmics to Leverage Graph Structure"

Research Assistant (part-time), Durham University Department of Sociology, June 2024 -

Working with Jennifer Badham on the project "Generating Socially Realistic Synthetic Networks". That project is driven by the need for large corpora realistic networks to enable empirical evaluation of hypotheses in sociology and beyond.

President of SIDur, Durham University, November 2022 - May 2024

Co-founder of the SIAM-IMA Student Chapter at Durham (SIDur). Organized poster sessions, research talks, and social events; convened the executive committee; and managed administrative tasks.

Computer Science Demonstrator, Durham University Department of Computer Science, October 2019 -

Currently Theory of Computation (computability theory, models of computation and algorithmic complexity) and Algorithms and Data Structures (algorithms, and data structures) to undergraduate students.

Irrelevant Experience

St. Aidan's College Shop Committee member, Durham University, October 2017-March 2020

Made toasties at the toastie bar.

Saw a deer once, 38.00,-81.03, August 2022