Dr. Brian Logan

Professor of Computing Science

Department of Computing Science
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen AB24 3FX, UK
Email: brian.logan@abdn.ac.uk

Visiting Associate Professor

Department of Information and Computing Sciences
Universiteit Utrecht
3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands
Email: b.s.logan@uu.nl

Research

Publications

Teaching

I am Professor of Comuting Science at the University of Aberdeen and visiting Associate Professor at Utrecht University. I also have an honorary position (Special Professor), at the University of Nottingham.

RESEARCH

My research interests span the specification, design and implementation of autonomous intelligent systems. A key theme of this work is `safe AI', specifically ensuring that autonomous intelligent systems function safely and in accordance with their design objectives. The current focus of my research is ensuring the safe behaviour of autonomous systems that adapt or learn at run time.

I have also worked on a wide range of artificial intelligence research problems, including belief revision, reasoning, search and in agent-based simulation.

Current projects

Normative cooperation among autonomous agents, ONRG/EOARD/DSTL.
CAUSES: Causality in multi-agent systems; learning and verification, Netherlands NWO.
Safe Correct-by-Construction Control Programs for FUSION reactor maintenance, EPSRC/RAIN feasibility study
Elastic Manufacturing Systems --- a platform for dynamic, resilient and cost-effective manufacturing services, EPSRC EP/T024429/1.
DiManD: Digital Manufacturing and Design Training Network}, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network, EU.

Information about previous projects can be found here, and a list of publications here.

Current PhD students

Simon Castle-Green
Jan de Mooij
Giovanni Varricchione

Previous PhD students

Elizabeth Gordon Real-time Agent Architectures for Believable Worlds (graduated 2005)
Mike Lees Adaptive Optmistic Simulation of Agent Based Systems (graduated 2006)
Dan Fielding Agents Reporting from Collaborative Virtual Environments (co-supervised with Steve Benford, graduated 2007)
Mark Jago Logics for Resource Bounded Agents (co-supervised with Natasha Alechina, graduated 2006)
Neil Madden Multi-agent reporting on events in persistent virtual environments (graduated 2009)
Nguyen Hoang Nga Reasoning about resource-bounded multi-agent systems (first supervisor Natasha Alechina, graduated 2011)
Abdur Rakib Verifying requirements for resource-bounded agents (graduated 2011)
Konstantin Vikhorev Real-time guarantees in high-level agent programming languages (graduated 2011)
Trang Doan Thu Procedural reflection in agent prgramming languages (graduated 2014)
Julian Zappala Agent-based models of group decsion making (graduated 2014)
Hai Nguyen Belief revision for ontologies (first supervisor Natasha Alechina, graduated 2014)
Liu Xiaofan Analysis and verification of business rules (first supervisor Natasha Alechina, graduated 2015)
Daniela Dybalova Autonomy and context in human-agent collectives (graduated 2017)
Yuan Yao Tractable deliberation in agent programming languages (graduated 2018)
Sam Leask GROVE: A computationally bounded model for rational intention revision in BDI agents (graduated 2021)
Kwabena Amponsah A framework for evaluating the impact of communication on performance in large-scale distributed urban simulations (graduated 2021)

I am always happy to consider PhD applications from suitably qualified candidates.

TEACHING

In this session I am teaching INFOMLSAI Logics for Safe AI (with Natasha Alechina).

Other courses I have taught include:

G53DIA Designing Intelligent Agents
G52PSA Planning, Search and Artificial Intelligence Programming
G52APT AI Programming Techniques
G52HPA History and Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
G64FAI Foundations of Artificial Intelligence
G52ACE Algorithms Correctness and Efficiency (with Andrew Parkes)
G52CON Concepts of Concurrency
G52CCN Computer Communications and Networks

Dissertation Projects

I am mostly interested in artificial intelligence problems, and I am happy to supervise projects in (almost) any area of AI. I have produced some suggestions for projects as a starting point, but I am happy to discuss other topics if there is an AI or general CS project you would like to do.

Other Teaching

I have also given courses at various summer schools, mostly in the area of logic and agents, e.g.:

Verification of Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, at the European Agent Systems Summer School (EASSS 2016) in Catania, July 25-29 2016
Multi-Agent Programming, at the Midlands Graduate School in the Foundations of Computing Science (MGS 2013) in Leicester, April 8-12 2013
Logics and Multi-Agent Programming Languages, a tutorial at the Eleventh International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2012) in Valencia, June 4-8 2012
Logics and Agent Programming Languages at the 23rd European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information (ESSLLI 2011) in Ljubljana, August 8-12 2011
Logics and Agent Programming Languages at the 21st European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information (ESSLLI 2009) in Bordeaux, July 27-31 2009
Designing Intelligent Agents at the European Agent Systems Summer School, in Turin, 31 August - 4 September 2009

Brief Biography

Prior to moving to Utrecht, I was an associate professor at the School of Computer Science at the University of Nottingham, where I still have an honorary position (Special Professor). Before that, I was a lecturer in Artificial Intelligence in the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham. I have also worked at the Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies on architectural CAD systems, the Computer Laboratory at the University of Cambridge on computational models of belief revision and the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh on design support systems.

From 1999 to 2008 I was an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham.

This file is maintained by Brian Logan