Research

My research interests include:
  • Adaptive systems 
  • Analysis and refinement of policies for adaptive systems
  • Software engineering for adaptive systems
  • Adaptive security and privacy 
My research vision focusses on novel engineering approaches for adaptive software systems that allow ubiquitous digital technologies to be integrated into the ‘smart systems’ that enhance many aspects of our lives, from social interactions and education, to agriculture, health, policing and sustainable living. To be effective, these systems must be able to adapt and continue work in dynamic environments. My research ensures that the software at the heart of ‘smart systems’ can continuously satisfy dynamic requirements like performance, security, privacy and usability.

Current projects where I pursue this research agenda include:
I am also interested in computer science education research. In particular, I worked on studying the efficacy of visual programming approaches to teaching entry-level computer science.  I was part of the team that developed Sense, a unique ubiquitous computing experimentation kit that allows novice students to build computer programs that interact with the physical world and online information sources

For a list of my publications, visit my page on the Open Research Online repository.

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Cloud Wedge - geek of the week

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CloudWedge: 'Geek of the Week' My colleague Yijun Yu recently wrote a opinion piece for The Conversation about how cloud computing could have made a difference to the search for Malayian Airlines MH370.  Essentially the question he poses is: why, in the age of global internet connectivity (including now onboard planes!), do we depend on the onboard flight data recorder for information about what happens on a plane? Of course there are numerous challenges with this - not least the cost of bandwidth for all the flight data (including cockpit audio) to be uploaded in real time and the security of the data.  Yijun's article addresses some aspects of the latter, and the former is not an insurmountable problem.  For example it should be possible to upload basic flight telemetry (e.g., GPS location, air speed, engine statistics and fuel data) without requiring significant bandwidth.  Indeed aero engine manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce deployed engine monitoring ...
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Priming Code Club

Code Club Assembly Presentation from akbandara As part of my work with STEMnet, I recently signed up as a CodeClub volunteer at St. Bernadette's Catholic Primary School in Milton Keynes.  Working with Kate Clarke, the ICT leader at the school, I am going to be leading an after-school club that will introduce kids in Year 5 and Year 6 to the exciting world of programming.  CodeClub is a nationwide, volunteer driven, grass-roots movement to get kids learning about the fun that can be had programming computers, rather than simply using them. In order to give the kids some idea about what they might be letting themselves in for, last week I delivered the short presentation (embedded above) at the school.  I started out by getting the kids to identify different computers, and think about what a computer really does, i.e. follows a set of instructions to complete a task.  We then played with a neat little iPad game called 'Kodable' which allows the player t...
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Cyber security by the rest of us ...

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Breakdown of cyber crime types reported by learners in Week 1 As part of the Introduction to Cyber Security MOOC , we asked learners to review their computer security practices at the start of their learning by completing a simple online survey / self-audit.  Over 9100 learners completed the survey in Week 1 of the course, highlighting some interesting findings. For example, although 84% of respondents had configured their computers to require a password on startup, 30% did not 'lock' their computer so that it required the password to be re-entered if they left it unattended. With regard to password management, 55% of respondents depended on their memory for storing passwords, whereas 26% used software (password manager / web browser) to manage their passwords.  It is noteworthy that 18% reported that they write their passwords down and 59% reuse the same username / password across multiple websites. It was reassuring to note that 90% of learners who completed the...
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