Andrew Simpson

Interests
Much of my research over the past five years or so has been driven by one overarching theme: the development of models and technologies to facilitate assured, appropriate data sharing and aggregation in complex environments. To this end, I am interested in the following:
- Security economics
- Issues of data security and privacy
- Models and frameworks for dynamic, context-sensitive access control
- Usable models for privacy-preserving data mining
- Formal modelling
Technologies we have developed include the sif middleware framework for the secure aggregation of data within heterogeneous environments, the Gauge analysis tool, and a policy tool for modelling and testing RBAC and XACML access control policies prior to deployment. Our evolving access control system combines all of these in support of assured, dynamic accesss control.
Other long standing interests include:
- Privacy and confidentiality
- Safety-critical systems
- The relationship between security and safety
- The application of formal description techniques (Z, CSP, Alloy) to the modelling and analysis of critical systems
- Security education
- Techniques for data sharing and aggregation to support data mining and visualisation
Former DPhil students include:
- Douglas Creager: A graph-based approach to the automated discovery of data transformation (2007)
- Mila Katzarova: Secure delegation in a distributed healthcare context (2009)
- Sarah Induruwa-Fernando: Achieving interoperability between workflow management systems (2009)
- Nicolas Wu: Generative templates for formal metamodel design (2010)
- Mark Slaymaker: The formalisation and transformation of access control policies (2011)
- Clint Sieunarine: Evolving access control: Formal models and analysis (2012)
- Jaco Jacobs: A formal refinement framework for the Systems Modeling Language (2015)
- Chad Heitzenrater: Software security investment modelling for decision-support (2018)
- Yang Liu: Privacy-Preserving Targeted Advertising for Mobile Devices (2018)
- Emma Osborn: Small-scale Cyber Security (2018)
Former research assistants include:
- Carl Christensen
- Ghita Kouadri Mostefaoui
- Xiaoqi Ma
- Lee Momtahan
- Eugenia Politou
- David Power
- Douglas Russell
- Clint Sieunarine
- Mark Slaymaker
- Graeme Wilson
Biography
I gained a first class honours degree in Computer Science from the University of Wales, Swansea. Later, I received an MSc and a DPhil from the University of Oxford. I am currently a University Lecturer in Software Engineering at the University of Oxford, teaching on the Software Engineering Programme (a post I have held since January 2002). Previously I was a Principal Lecturer in Computing at Oxford Brookes University; prior to that I was a research officer in the Computing Laboratory (now Department of Computer Science).
Selected Publications
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Formal Relational Database Design: An Exercise in Extending the Formal Template Language
N. Wu and A. C. Simpson
In Formal Aspects of Computing. Vol. 26. No. 6. Pages 1231–1269. 2014.
Details about Formal Relational Database Design: An Exercise in Extending the Formal Template Language | BibTeX data for Formal Relational Database Design: An Exercise in Extending the Formal Template Language
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Towards a Process Algebra Framework for Supporting Behavioural Consistency and Requirements Traceability in SysML
J. Jacobs and A. C. Simpson
In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods (ICFEM 2013). Vol. 8144 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Pages 265–280. Springer. 2013.
Details about Towards a Process Algebra Framework for Supporting Behavioural Consistency and Requirements Traceability in SysML | BibTeX data for Towards a Process Algebra Framework for Supporting Behavioural Consistency and Requirements Traceability in SysML | Download (pdf) of Towards a Process Algebra Framework for Supporting Behavioural Consistency and Requirements Traceability in SysML
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On privacy and public data: A study of data.gov.uk
A. C. Simpson
In Journal of Privacy & Confidentiality. Vol. 3. No. 1. Pages 51–65. 2011.
Details about On privacy and public data: A study of data.gov.uk | BibTeX data for On privacy and public data: A study of data.gov.uk
Activities
- Software and Systems Security
- Models and technologies for secure data sharing
- Research Informatics
- Systems Security