Nick Jennings (computer scientist)

Nicholas Robert Jennings CB FRS FREng FCGI FIET FBCS MAE CEng CITP is a British computer scientist and the current Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University.[3] He was previously the Vice-Provost for Research and Enterprise at Imperial College London, the UK's first Regius Professor of Computer Science, and the inaugural Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government on National Security.[4] His research covers the areas of AI, autonomous systems, agent-based computing and cybersecurity. He is involved in a number of startups including Aerogility,[5] Contact Engine,[6] Crossword Cyber Security,[7] and Reliance Cyber Science.[8] He is also an adviser to Darktrace,[9] a member of the UK Government's AI Council,[10] chair of the National Engineering Policy Centre and a council member for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.[11]

Nick Jennings
CB FRS FREng FCGI FIET FBCS MAE CEng CITP
Royal Society admissions day, July 2022
Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University
Assumed office
October 2021
Preceded byRobert Allison
Personal details
Born
Nicholas Robert Jennings

December 1966 (age 56)
London, England
EducationWeymouth Grammar School
Alma mater
Salary£281,875 (October 2021–July 2022 only)[1]
Known for
SpouseJoanne Jennings
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Loughborough University
ThesisJoint Intentions as a Model of Multi-Agent Cooperation (1992)
Doctoral advisorAbe Mamdani
Doctoral students
Websitewww.lboro.ac.uk/services/vco/smt/vc-prof-jennings/

Education and early life

Jennings was born in London.[12] He grew up on the Isle of Portland in Dorset and attended Weymouth Grammar School. He studied for an undergraduate degree in computer science at the University of Exeter and his PhD was from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Queen Mary, University of London.[13]

Research and career

His research is on developing AI systems for large-scale, open and dynamic environments. In particular, he focuses on endowing individual autonomous agents with the ability to act and interact in flexible ways and with building systems that contain both humans and software agents. He has been involved with deployments of systems in domains such as business process management, smart energy systems, sensor networks, disaster response, telecommunications, citizen science and eDefence—and generally advocating the area of agent-oriented software engineering. His most recent project, ORCHID,[14] developed the science of Human-Agent Collectives (HACs) in which humans and software agents collaborate in seamless partnerships.

In undertaking this research, he has attracted grant income of £33M, published more than 700 articles (with over 400 co-authors[15]) and graduated over 50 PhD students (including two winners and one runner-up of the British Computer Society (BCS)/CPHC Distinguished Dissertation Award.[16]) He has over 90,000 citations in Google Scholar[17] and an h-index of 130.[18]

From 1988 he was at Queen Mary, University of London, where he was a PhD student, lecturer, reader and professor.

In 1999, he moved to the Department of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton where he was the Deputy Head of Department, the Associate Dean (Research and Enterprise) for the Faculty of Engineering, Science and Maths, the Head of the Agents, Interaction and Complexity group and the Head of Department. He was appointed the UK's first Regius Professor of Computer Science in 2014.

From 2010 to 2015, he was the UK Government's first Chief Scientific Advisor for National Security.[19]

In 2016, he moved to Imperial College to be the Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise), as well as a Professor of Artificial Intelligence.

In 2021, he was appointed as the 9th Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University.

Awards

Jennings was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to computer science and national security science.[20]

  • 1999 (1999): IJCAI Computers and Thought Award
  • 2000 (2000): IEE Achievement Medal for contributions to agent-based computing
  • 2003 (2003): ACM Autonomous Agents Research Award for contributions to the field of agent-based computing[21]
  • 2004 (2004): Team leader of winning agent in the 20th Anniversary Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma Competitions
  • 2007 (2007): Team leader of winner of Trading Agents Competition on Mechanism Design (CAT)
  • 2007 (2007): ARGUS II project winner of The Engineer's Large Company / University Collaboration Award
  • 2007: Int. Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Special Recognition Award for “Intelligent agents: theory and practice” in The Knowledge Engineering Review[22]
  • 2008 (2008): Winner of "Best Industrial Demonstrator" award at International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Systems Conference
  • 2009 (2009): Winner of The Engineer Award for Best Aerospace and Defence Project for ALADDIN
  • 2010 (2010): Winner of Best Paper Award at International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (out of 685 submissions)
  • 2010 (2010): Winner 1st International Competitions on the Lemonade Stand Game
  • 2011 (2011): Winner 2nd International Competitions on the Lemonade Stand Game
  • 2012 (2012): Winner US State Department's TAG challenge on social mobilisation and rapid information gathering[23]
  • 2016: IJCAI-JAIR Best Paper Prize (Honourable Mention) for “Theoretical and practical foundations of large-scale agent-based micro-storage in the smart grid” in Journal of AI Research
  • 2016: The Engineer’s “Collaborate to Innovate” Award for the ORCHID project[24]
  • 2018: Int. Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Influential Paper Award for “Developing multiagent systems: the Gaia methodology” in ACM Trans. on Software Engineering and Methodology[25]
  • 2020: BCS Lovelace Medal

Fellowships

Personal life

Jennings is married to Jo and they have two children. He is a keen sportsman—playing cricket for Bishops Waltham [36] and managing a Waltham Wolves football team for 10 years [37]

References
  1. "Financial Statements for the Year to 31 July 2022" (PDF). Loughborough University. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  2. "AA Award". Sigai.acm.org. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  3. "Professor Nick Jennings, Loughborough University". www.lboro.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  4. "Chief Scientific Advisers". Bis.gov.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  5. "Aerogility | the future of decision making". Arogility.com. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  6. "ContactEngine - Perfect Customer Journeys". ContactEngine.com. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  7. "Crossword Cybersecurity". Crosswordcybersecurity.com. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  8. "Reliance acsn - IT Security Experts". Relianceacsn.co.uk.
  9. "Advisory Board".Darktrace
  10. "AI Council".
  11. "EPSRC council - EPSRC website". 27 September 2023.
  12. "Jennings, Prof. Nicholas Robert, (born 15 Dec. 1966), Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise), Imperial College London, since 2016". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u286414. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  13. Jennings, Nicholas (1992). Joint intentions as a model of multi-agent cooperation in complex dynamic environments. soton.ac.uk (PhD thesis). Queen Mary, University of London. OCLC 940336317. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.336484.
  14. "The ORCHID Project". Orchid.ac.uk.
  15. Nicholas R. Jennings at DBLP Bibliography Server
  16. "Distinguished Dissertations - Awards and competitions - Events - BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT". Bcs.org. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  17. Nick Jennings publications indexed by Google Scholar
  18. "Top H-Index for Computer Science and Electronics".
  19. "Professor Nick Jennings". GOV.UK. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  20. "No. 61450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2015. p. N3.
  21. "AA Award". Sigai.acm.org. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  22. "IFAAMAS: Awards: Influential Paper". www.ifaamas.org. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  23. "Researchers attempt (and win!) an 'impossible challenge' | Agents, Interaction and Complexity Research Group | University of Southampton". www.aic.ecs.soton.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  24. Excell, Jon (8 September 2016). "Collaborate to Innovate winners announced". The Engineer. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  25. "IFAAMAS: Awards: Influential Paper". www.ifaamas.org. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  26. "Jennings, Prof. Nicholas Robert, (born 15 Dec. 1966), Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise), Imperial College London, since 2016". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u286414. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  27. "Jennings, Prof. Nicholas Robert, (born 15 Dec. 1966), Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise), Imperial College London, since 2016". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u286414. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  28. "List of Fellows". Raeng.org.uk. Archived from the original on 21 May 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  29. "Fellows". AISB - The Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  30. "Jennings, Prof. Nicholas Robert, (born 15 Dec. 1966), Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise), Imperial College London, since 2016". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u286414. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  31. "IEEE Fellows Directory - Member Profile". services27.ieee.org. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  32. "Elected AAAI Fellows". www.aaai.org. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  33. "DFKI Fellows". www.dfki.de. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  34. "Home". cybsoc.org.
  35. "Nicholas Jennings". The Royal Society. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  36. "Bishop's Waltham CC". Bishopswaltham.play-cricket.com.
  37. "Waltham Wolves Youth Football Club".
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