Publications

My publications are available from the University of Kent's Academic Repository.

Research Interests

I belong to the following research groups:

Although I teach artificial intelligence, constraint solving and system security, my interests are much more diverse than that, ranging from high-level declarative programming to low-level assembly code.

A reoccurring theme of my work is abstract interpretation in which all paths through a program are systematically examined so as automatically derive information for optimising a program for, say, time or energy. Abstract interpretation is also increasingly used to search a program for bugs, such as security holes, which another interest of mine.

Recently I have been working on geometric algorithms, reverse engineering and the automatic synthesis of transfer functions.

Software

PhD Studentships in Computer Science

Fully funded PhD studentships are available in the Computing Laboratory at the University of Kent on the topics given below. To apply, the applicant must have at least an upper second in computer science or mathematics, or ideally, a first or masters degree. Informal enquires are extremely welcome. Applications from across Europe, as well as the UK, are encouraged.

Grants

EPSRC GR/K79642 Detecting and Exploiting Determinacy (finished)

EPSRC GR/MO8769 Semantic Support for CLP (finished and ranked outstanding)

EPSRC EP/C015517 Back-to-Bits (finished and ranked outstanding)

EPSRC EP/D078342 LACE: Lifetime-Aware Collection (1 August 2006 -- 31 July 2009)

EPSRC EP/E033105 VIP: Verification with Integer Polyhedra (1 June 2007 -- 31 May 2010)

EPSRC EP/F012896 Industrial Secondment to Portcullis Computer Security Ltd (1 October 2007 -- 30 June 2008)

Royal Society Joint Project (1 May 2006 -- 31 August 2008)

Royal Society Industrial Fellowship (1 October 2008 -- 30 September 2012)

Royal Society Joint Project (15 June 2011 -- 14 June 2013)

EPSRC EP/K032585/1 Se-Ma-Match: Semantic Malware Matching (1 September 2013 -- 13 October 2016)

EPSRC EP/K031929/1 Compositional Security Analysis for Binaries (1 September 2013 -- 31 September 2017)

EPSRC EP/N020243/1 Vulnerability Discovery (1 May 2016 -- 30 September 2019)

Professional activities

Bibliography servers

Alter egos

Quite apart from being an academic, I am also a footballer, a shadow of a man, an artist, a windsurfer, a car restorer, a chronicler of fourteenth century society, a kart racer, a baroque singer, a party organiser, an Internet usability czar, and a saavy cook. Some further personal effects.