Registered user since Tue 27 Sep 2016
Research Contributions:
- Tools for knowledge based systems development
- Industrial Software Standards for Software Systems Engineering
- Programming Languages and Tools for Systems Engineering
- Tools and Technologies for Complex System Development
His current research focus is:
- Software Engineering for an Uncertain World which aims to address the challenges faced by systems designers and programmers when they build modern software that are deployed into complex ecosystems where all systems are connected and difficult to predict.
- Multi Level Modelling which uses meta-modelling to create languages and tools to enhance model based engineering. In particular current challenges include how to express behavioural constraints over language meta-levels.
Bio:
Tony Clark is a Professor and Deputy Dean in the College of Engineering and Physical Science at Aston University. Prior to joining Aston he was Head of the Computing Department at Middlesex and Sheffield Hallam Universities.
Tony has experience of working in both Academia and Industry on a range of software projects and consultancies. While at Marconi Research Ltd (1985-1994) he worked in both Software Engineering and Knowledge Based Systems, and was responsible for designing systems for recognising aircraft behaviour, fusing sonar data, and for designing and implementing an AI Toolkit, the first of its kind in the UK.
From 1994-2003 Tony was an academic firstly at Bradford University and then at King’s College London (KCL). During this time he worked on languages for Object-Oriented specification and design including contributing to a range of Industry standards (UML 2.0, MDA, QVT, MOF) through participation in the Object Management Group (OMG).
Tony’s group at KCL developed tooling for object-oriented language development. This tooling work, together with the development of a novel approach to meta-modelling and language design on the UML 2.0 standard, led to a spin-out company which Tony co-founded in 2003 and served as Technical Director 2003-2008. The company sold UML-based meta-tools and acted as consultant to a number of blue-chip companies including BT, BAES, BSkyB and Citibank.
On returning as an academic (2008-present) Tony has been responsible for developing XModeler: an open-source meta technology for system modelling and constructing domain specific languages (https://www.wi-inf.uni-duisburg-essen.de/LE4MM/) in conjunction with the Chair of Information Systems and Enterprise Modelling at the University of Duisburg-Essen, and for developing ESL: an open-source actor-based language for constructing and analysing complex systems (http://tonyclark.github.io/ESL/) in collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services.
Collaboration with TCS has developed methods and tools that have been used to support enterprise decision-makers and to create Digital Twins in industries that include: Supply Chains, Business Process Outsourcing, Government Finance Policy, Pharmaceuticals, and most recently a simulation of the Covid-19 situation in India.
Tony is an editorial board member of the Journal of Software and System Modelling, the Journal of Enterprise Modelling and Information Systems Architectures and the Journal of Object Technology, has edited several special issues including IEEE Software and SoSyM, and was co-chair of the MODELS conference in 2011 and of the Innovations in Software Engineering Conference for 2021. He has been instrumental in securing over £1.8M for research and development projects. He is the author of over 130 articles including industry standard reports, is a regular invited speaker at conferences, has delivered several tutorials together with industrial collaborators and is the lead author of an influential book on meta-modelling (https://arxiv.org/abs/1505.00149).
Contributions