Staff profile

Looking for a PhD ?

Potential new PhD students: having good PhD students can be super rewarding! I am always interested in receiving new good PhD Students. Contact me to talk about your research proposals, academic visits or scholarships.

PhD Funding Opportunities: 

NEWS (October 2023):

- The Durham CS Department offers several PhD studentships (National and no International for now). You would need the interview and offer soon. Please contact me Email me if interested.

- Chinese Scholarships Council: Contact me if interested. See http://durham.ac.uk/study/scholarships/international/chinese-scholarships-council

---> There are always funding opportunities offered (in Durham and other sources. <--- It is about being ready for when they appear). Therefore, a good step is to apply for a PhD as soon as possible. Contact me if you want to get the instructions to start your application.

If you bring your own research funding, we can chat (contact me if interested)

Research and Biography

I exploit the interdisciplinary aspects of software engineering, comprising both technical and human concerns while developing techniques for intelligent, autonomous and highly distributed systems.

I am an Associate Professor in the CS Department at Durham University. Earlier, I was a Senior Lecturer (equiv. Associate Professor) in the Computer Science Department at Aston University. From September 2020 I am the PI of the EPSRC Twenty20Insight research project. In 2019 I was granted the Leverhulme Fellowship "QuantUn: quantification of uncertainty using Bayesian surprises." Before, I was a Marie Curie Fellow at INRIA Paris - Roquencourt. The Marie Curie project is called Requirements-aware Systems (nickname: Requirements@run.time). Before, that I was a Senior Research Associate at Lancaster University (UK) where I also got my PhD.

Publications:
Google Scholar citations  DBLP  Scopus

Research Projects:

Current and Recent Projects

– EPSRC Research Twenty20Insight (EPSRC link) (2020-2024) Principal Investigator, £892,384 (total Value to Aston and then Durham £586,520) website Twenty20Insight

- ALTS: AI-enabled Legal Technologies and their Consequences on Society (PI N Bencomo, Co-PIs W Lucy and M Hardey)(2023-24). Partially funded by the Institute of Advance Studies and the EPSRC.

– iDecide: Quantifying Uncertainty in Models using Artificial Intelligence for Personalised and Shared Decision-Making in Digital Health. (Jun- Aug 2023)

– ERiMA: Envisioning Risk Models for Assessment of AI-based applications (Sept-Nov 2023)

Past Research Projects

- Research Fellowship by Leverhulme Trust “QuantUn: Quantification of Uncertainty using Bayesian Surprises” (2019-2020)

– ReqModAI Requirements Models for Artificial Intelligence: Framework and Casestudy (Jul- Nov 2022)

- Marie Curie Action Intra-European Fellowship requirements@runtime: Requirements-aware Systems, €222.547, Inria, France, (2011-2013)

- 2 VC international PhD scholarships, Aston University, (2018)

- Faculty PhD scholarship, Aston University (2015)

- Visiting Scholar Funding 2015, Aston University

- M@TURE Models @ run Time for self-adaptive pervasive systems: enabling User-in-the-loop, REquirement-awareness, and interoperability in ad hoc settings, 24-month, Inria-funded international collaboration grant (Brazil-France). We also won a second version (2014-2016) 

Awards / Rewards:

- 10 year Most Influential Paper Award 2019, "RELAX: Incorporating Uncertainty into the Specification of Self-Adaptive Systems", by Jon Whittle, Pete Sawyer, Nelly Bencomo, Betty H.C. Cheng, Jean-Michel Bruel, Proceedings of 17th IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference (RE09), pp. 7988, September 2009, Atlanta, Georgia.

- 10 year Most Influential Paper Award 2019, "A Goal-Based Modeling Approach to Develop Requirements of an Adaptive System with Environmental Uncertainty" by Betty H.C. Cheng, Pete Sawyer, Nelly Bencomo, Jon Whittle, in the Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MoDELS 2009), pp. 468483, Denver, Colorado, 2009.

- Best Paper Award REFSQ 2013: "Supporting Decision-making for Self-adaptive Systems: From Goal Models to Dynamic Decision Networks" by N. Bencomo, A. Belaggoun 

Current and Previous PhD Students

- Owen Reynold, since January 2019 (co-supervision with Antonio Garcia)

 Students under my supervision in the past:

- Huma Samin, since April 2019 (co-supervision with Pete Sawyer). Graduated Nov 2022. Now a Post Doc at Durham University

- Juan Marcelo Parra, since October 2018 (co-supervision with Antonio Garcia). Graduated, December 2022. Now a Post Doc at Bristol University

- Luis Hernan Garcia Paucar, PhD, Graduated, March 2020. Now working at Aston University

- Amel Belaggoun, Master Universite de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and TELECOM SudParis and Inria, France, Graduated 2013

 - Ross Edwards, 2018

Miscellaneous

in other words, what is really important!

In Durham, I am planning to enjoy Durham County, Scotland and the Lake District among other beautiful places in the North and East of the UK :)

During my time in Birmingham, I was not working I liked walking on the hills (the Malvern Hills, Snowdonia) or running, or perhaps dancing or taking pictures or hanging around with my family and friends and of course Talisker my dog. I enjoy running by the canal in Birmingham. I wish I could have more time for these activities.

During my time in Paris, I used to go to Museums & Cafes :) if my daughter did not decide something else. I also did some exercise with my dog running near Inria and by the river Seine in Paris. Happy days!

I love eating good food and I am MAD about sushi. I LOVE chocolate, BTW dark and bitter chocolate, if it is not at least 75% Cocoa that is not chocolate :). If chocolate is from Venezuela even better!

• AI/ML
• Software Engineering
• Software Engineering for Autonomous and Self-adaptive Systems
• Software Engineering for AI/ML Systems
• autonomous systems
• decision making under uncertainty
• runtime models

• 2022: PC Co-Chair MODELS 2022:
• 2022: 2022: Member of the IEEE TCSE (22-24): I was elected again to be part of the IEEE TCSE Executive Committee
  
  
• 2020: Member of the IEEE TCSE: Member of the IEEE TCSE (Technical Council on Software Engineering) members-at-large (TCSE Elected Officers 2020- )
• 2019: Associate Editor of IEEE TSE: Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (TSE) (2019-Present)
• 2019: Member of Editor Board of SoSym: Member of Editor Board of Software and Systems Modeling (2019- )
• 2018: Member of Editor Board of JSERD:
  Member of Editor Board of Journal of Software Engineering Research and Development JSERD (2018 - )

Conference Paper

• Parra-Ullauri, J., Garcia-Dominguez, A., Bencomo, N., & Garcia Paucar, L. (2022). History-aware explanations: towards enabling human-in-the-loop in self-adaptive systems. . https://doi.org/10.1145/3550356.3561538
• Sutcliffe, A., Sawyer, P., & Bencomo, N. (2022). The Implications of ‘Soft’ Requirements. In E. Knauss, G. Mussbacher, C. Arora, M. Bano, & J. Schneider (Eds.), 2022 IEEE 30th International Requirements Engineering Conference (RE) (178-188). https://doi.org/10.1109/re54965.2022.00022
• Garcia-Paucar, L., Bencomo, N., Sutcliffe, A., & Sawyer, P. (2022). A Bayesian Network-based model to understand the role of soft requirements in technology acceptance: the Case of the NHS COVID-19 Test and Trace App in England and Wales. . https://doi.org/10.1145/3477314.3507147
• Paucar, L. H. G., Bencomo, N., Sutcliffe, A. G., Yue, T., & Mirakhorli, M. (2021). Towards Technology Acceptance: a Bayesian Network of soft requirements, the case of the NHS COVID-19 Test and Trace App. In T. Yue, & M. Mirakhorli (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1109/rew53955.2021.00026
• Samin, H., Bencomo, N., & Sawyer, P. (2021). Pri-AwaRE: Tool Support for priority-aware decision-making under uncertainty. . https://doi.org/10.1109/re51729.2021.00065
• Sutcliffe, A. G., Sawyer, P., Liu, W., & Bencomo, N. (2021). Investigating the Potential Impact of Values on Requirements and Software Engineering. . https://doi.org/10.1109/icse-seis52602.2021.00013
• Bencomo, N. (2021). Modeling Autonomic Systems in the time of ML, DevOps and Microservices. . https://doi.org/10.1109/models-c53483.2021.00118
• Ullauri, J. M. P., García-Domínguez, A., Boubeta-Puig, J., Bencomo, N., & Ortiz, G. (2021). Towards an architecture integrating complex event processing and temporal graphs for service monitoring. In C. Hung, J. Hong, A. Bechini, & E. Song (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1145/3412841.3441923
• Samin, H., Paucar, L. H. G., Bencomo, N., & Sawyer, P. (2021). Towards priority-awareness in autonomous intelligent systems. In C. Hung, J. Hong, A. Bechini, & E. Song (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1145/3412841.3442007
• Ullauri, J. M. P., García-Domínguez, A., & Bencomo, N. (2021). From a Series of (Un)fortunate Events to Global Explainability of Runtime Model-Based Self-Adaptive Systems. . https://doi.org/10.1109/models-c53483.2021.00127
• Bencomo, N., Harrison, R., & Rodríguez, D. (2021). Eigth International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Requirements Engineering (AIRE'21). In T. Yue, & M. Mirakhorli (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1109/rew53955.2021.00015
• Samin, H., Paucar, L. H. G., Bencomo, N., Hurtado, C. M. C., & Fredericks, E. M. (2021). RDMSim: An Exemplar for Evaluation and Comparison of Decision-Making Techniques for Self-Adaptation. . https://doi.org/10.1109/seams51251.2021.00039
• Bucchiarone, A., Cicchetti, A., Bencomo, N., Loria, E., & Marconi, A. (2021). Gamified and Self-Adaptive Applications for the Common Good: Research Challenges Ahead. . https://doi.org/10.1109/seams51251.2021.00028
• Bencomo, N. (2020). Next steps in variability management due to autonomous behaviour and runtime learning. In M. Cordy, M. Acher, D. Beuche, & G. Saake (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1145/3377024.3380451
• Ullauri, J. M. P., García-Domínguez, A., Paucar, L. H. G., & Bencomo, N. (2020). Temporal Models for History-Aware Explainability. In A. Gherbi, W. Hamou-Lhadj, & A. Bali (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1145/3419804.3420276
• Reynolds, O., García-Domínguez, A., & Bencomo, N. (2020). Automated provenance graphs for models@run.time. In E. Guerra, & L. Iovino (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1145/3417990.3419503
• Mussbacher, G., Combemale, B., Abrahão, S., Bencomo, N., Burgueño, L., Engels, G., …Iovino, L. (2020). Towards an assessment grid for intelligent modeling assistance. In E. Guerra, & L. Iovino (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1145/3417990.3421396
• Bucchiarone, A., Bencomo, N., Loria, E., Marconi, A., & Cicchetti, A. (2020). Run-time and Collective Adaptation of Gameful Systems. . https://doi.org/10.1109/acsos-c51401.2020.00046
• García-Domínguez, A., Bencomo, N., Ullauri, J. M. P., & Paucar, L. H. G. (2019). Querying and Annotating Model Histories with Time-Aware Patterns. In M. Kessentini, T. Yue, A. Pretschner, S. Voss, & L. Burgueño (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1109/models.2019.000-2
• Bencomo, N., & Paucar, L. H. G. (2019). RaM: Causally-Connected and Requirements-Aware Runtime Models using Bayesian Learning. In M. Kessentini, T. Yue, A. Pretschner, S. Voss, & L. Burgueño (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1109/models.2019.00005
• Paucar, L. H. G., Bencomo, N., & Yuen, K. K. F. (2019). ARRoW: automatic runtime reappraisal of weights for self-adaptation. In C. Hung, & G. A. Papadopoulos (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1145/3297280.3299743
• Jiménez, M. A., Rivera, L. F., Villegas, N. M., Tamura, G., Müller, H. A., & Bencomo, N. (2019). An architectural framework for quality-driven adaptive continuous experimentation. . https://doi.org/10.1109/rcose/ddree.2019.00012
• Paucar, L. H. G., & Bencomo, N. (2019). Knowledge Base K Models to Support Trade-Offs for Self-Adaptation using Markov Processes. . https://doi.org/10.1109/saso.2019.00011
• Bencomo, N., Mussbacher, G., Moreira, A., Araújo, J., & Sánchez, P. (2019). Preface to 9th International Workshop on Model-Driven Requirements Engineering. . https://doi.org/10.1109/rew.2019.00009
• García-Domínguez, A., Bencomo, N., Ullauri, J. M. P., & Paucar, L. H. G. (2019). Towards History-Aware Self-Adaptation with Explanation Capabilities. . https://doi.org/10.1109/fas-w.2019.00018
• Torres, R., Bencomo, N., & Astudillo, H. (2013). Addressing the QoS drift in specification models of self-adaptive service-based systems. . https://doi.org/10.1109/raise.2013.6615201
• Bencomo, N., Belaggoun, A., & Issarny, V. (2013). Bayesian artificial intelligence for tackling uncertainty in self-adaptive systems: The case of dynamic decision networks. . https://doi.org/10.1109/raise.2013.6615198
• Lemos, R. D., Garlan, D., Ghezzi, C., Giese, H., Andersson, J., Litoiu, M., …Zambonelli, F. (2013). Software Engineering for Self-Adaptive Systems: Research Challenges in the Provision of Assurances. In R. de Lemos, D. Garlan, C. Ghezzi, & H. Giese (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74183-3_1
• Bencomo, N., & Belaggoun, A. (2013). Supporting Decision-Making for Self-Adaptive Systems: From Goal Models to Dynamic Decision Networks. In J. Dörr, & A. L. Opdahl (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37422-7_16
• Bencomo, N., Belaggoun, A., & Issarny, V. (2013). Dynamic decision networks for decision-making in self-adaptive systems: a case study. In M. Litoiu, & J. Mylopoulos (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1109/seams.2013.6595498

Journal Article

• Samin, H., Bencomo, N., & Sawyer, P. (2022). Decision-Making under Uncertainty: Be Aware of your Priorities. Software and Systems Modeling, 21(6), 2213-2242. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-021-00956-0
• Camara, J., Troya1, J., Vallecillo, A., Bencomo, N., Calinescu, R., Cheng, B., …Schmerl, B. (2022). The Uncertainty Interaction Problem in Self-Adaptive Systems. Software and Systems Modeling, 21(4), 1277-1294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-022-01037-6
• Parra-Ullauri, J. M., Garcıa-Domınguez, A., Bencomo, N., Zheng, C., Zhen, C., Boubeta-Puig, J., …Yang, S. (2022). Event-driven Temporal Models for Explanations - ETeMoX: Explaining Reinforcement Learning. Software and Systems Modeling, 21(3), 1091-1113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-021-00952-4
• Bencomo, N., Guo, J., Harrison, R., Heyn, H., & Menzies, T. (2022). The Secret to Better AI and Better Software (Is Requirements Engineering). IEEE Software, 39(1), 105-110. https://doi.org/10.1109/ms.2021.3118099
• Reynolds, O., García-Domínguez, A., & Bencomo, N. (2022). Cronista: a multi-database automated provenance collection system for runtime models. Information and Software Technology, 141, Article 106694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2021.106694
• Zheng, C., Yang, S., Ullauri, J. M. P., García-Domínguez, A., & Bencomo, N. (2021). Reward-Reinforced Reinforcement Learning for Multi-agent Systems
• Combemale, B., Kienzle, J., Mussbacher, G., Ali, H., Amyot, D., Bagherzadeh, M., …Wimmer, M. (2021). A Hitchhiker's Guide to Model-Driven Engineering for Data-Centric Systems. https://doi.org/10.1109/ms.2020.2995125
• Bucchiarone, A., Sanctis, M. D., & Bencomo, N. (2021). Agent-Based Framework for Self-Organization of Collective and Autonomous Shuttle Fleets. https://doi.org/10.1109/tits.2020.3021592
• Mussbacher, G., Combemale, B., Kienzle, J., Abrahão, S., Ali, H., Bencomo, N., …Weyssow, M. (2020). Opportunities in intelligent modeling assistance. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-020-00814-5
• Kienzle, J., Mussbacher, G., Combemale, B., Bastin, L., Bencomo, N., Bruel, J., …Venters, C. C. (2020). Toward model-driven sustainability evaluation. https://doi.org/10.1145/3371906
• Weyns, D., Bencomo, N., Calinescu, R., Cámara, J., Ghezzi, C., Grassi, V., …Tamburrelli, G. (2019). Perpetual Assurances for Self-Adaptive Systems
• Bencomo, N., Götz, S., & Song, H. (2019). Models@run.time: a guided tour of the state of the art and research challenges. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-018-00712-x