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Professor Nick Jennings elected to AAAI Fellowship

Professor Nick Jennings of the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton has been elected a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). The official citation mentions Professor Jennings’ “significant contributions to the theory and practice of multi-agent systems, including industrial applications, practical coordination techniques, and market-based control mechanisms.” The Fellowship will be officially conferred in Atlanta in July.

Professor Jennings is an internationally-recognised authority in the areas of agent-based computing and intelligent systems. His research covers both the theory and the application of such systems. Specifically, he has undertaken fundamental research on automated bargaining, auctions, markets, mechanism design, trust and reputation, coalition formation and decentralised control. He has also pioneered the application of multi-agent technology; developing some of the first real-world systems (in domains such as business process management, energy systems, sensor networks, disaster response, telecommunications, and eDefence) and generally advocating the area of agent-oriented software engineering. With over 32,000 citations in Google Scholar, he is the most cited researcher in the area of artificial intelligence.

Over the last 10 years Professor Jennings has built up one of the world’s largest and most successful research groups in agent technologies at the School of Electronics and Computer Science. The group’s work has been recognized by a series of awards and prizes including, most recently, the Best Paper Award at AAMAS 2010, the leading international conference on autonomous awards, held last week in Toronto.

Over the last five years Professor Jennings has led the ALADDIN project, a multi-million pound, multi-disciplinary research project funded by a strategic partnership between BAE Systems and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). ALADDIN involves a number of leading research groups from Imperial College London, University of Southampton, University of Bristol, and Oxford University. In December 2009 ALADDIN was described as “a stunning collaboration … which truly captures engineering”, when it won the Aerospace and Defence Award at the Engineer Technology and Innovation Awards.

In addition to his roles as Head of the Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia Group in the School of Electronics and Computer Science, and Associate Dean (Research and Enterprise) for the University’s Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics, Professor Jennings is also currently a Scientific Advisor to the UK Government.

“I am honoured to be elected to the Fellowship of the AAAI, and to receive such distinguished recognition for my research,” he said. “It is a measure not only of our solid achievements in agent-based computing at Southampton, but also an indication of the extent to which we have been able to demonstrate the value of agent technologies in many new areas, from supply chain management to energy use.”

For further information contact: Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.


Posted by Joyce K Lewis on 20 May 2010.