Andrew Ireland - Personal WWW Page
Andrew Ireland 
Professor Andrew Ireland
School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences
Earl Mountbatten Building (EMB)
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh
Scotland, UK 
EH14 4AS 
Email:  a.ireland@hw.ac.uk
Tel:    +44 131 451 3409
Office: G57 (EMB is building 21 on the Campus Map).
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My area of research is Automated Reasoning and Formal Methods, I work within the Dependable Systems Group at Heriot-Watt University. I am also a member of the Mathematical Reasoning Group at the University of Edinburgh. I am a member of IFIP WG 1.9/2.15 Verified Software. My Inaugural Lecture can be accessed here.

Research Interests

My research interests lie in the development of automated reasoning techniques that support the construction of safe and secure software intensive systems – from requirements through to coding. Building scalable automated reasoning tools requires an integration of techniques. I am particularly interested in combining static (i.e. theorem proving) and dynamic analysis (i.e. animation and execution logs). I am interested in approaches where there is a strong cooperation between complementary techniques. That is, where individual techniques combine their strengthens, but crucially compensate for each other's weaknesses through the communication of partial results and failures. A recurring theme within my research is the productive use of failure – using the analysis of a failed proof attempt to automate the synthesis of creative steps, e.g. missing properties that are required in order to establish the correctness of a system. I see such automation as improving the creativity and productivity of an engineer. To promote accessibility, I seek where possible to embed my work within conventional tools and methodologies.

Keywords: automated reasoning; meta-level reasoning; formal modelling and refinement; verification and synthesis; productive use of failure; combining animation with theory formation; problem frames; combining informal and formal modelling; safety and security; embeded formal methods.

Recent Research Projects

 Details of my completed research projects can be found here.