School of Computing Science
Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 191 222 8228
Fax: +44 (0) 191 222 8232
Email: John.Fitzgerald at ncl.ac.uk
Skype: johnfnewcastle
Profile
John Fitzgerald is a specialist in the engineering of resilient computing systems, particularly in rigorous analysis and design tools and am perhaps most closely associated with the Vienna Development Method (VDM). His newest project on the use of formal models to support modelling and analysis of "systems of systems" (COMPASS) started in October 2011. he is also leading work on methods for collaborative modelling and simulation in the development of embedded systems in the (DESTECS) project, which started in January 2010. He is also active in the Deploy project, leading its work on achieving and demonstrating dependability through the deployment of formal methods in four industry sectors, and is a Co-investigator in the Newcastle platform grant on Trustworthy Ambient Systems (TrAmS).
A particular area of interest is predictable dynamic resilience: the design of systems that reconfigure in response to threats while retaining predictability. Fitzgerald initiated work on resilience-explicit computing in the ReSIST European Network of Excellence on Resilience IT, a concept taken up in two projects that he jointly leads within the UK Software Systems Engineering Initiative SSEI.
Fitzgerald studied formal proof (PhD, Manchester Univ.), before
joining Newcastle, where he worked on formal design techniques for
avionic systems with British Aerospace. He went on to study the
potential for industrial application of formal
modelling~(specifically, VDM and its support tools) as a SERC Fellow
and later as a Lecturer at Newcastle. He returned to the University in
2003, having established the design and validation team at Transitive,
a successful SME in the embedded processor market, since acquired by
IBM.
John is Chairman
of FME, the main European body
bringing together researchers and practitioners in rigorous methods of
systems development. He is a Fellow of
the BCS, a member of
the ACM and a member of the
EPSRC College.