Main research interests
Multi-paradigm programming & software engineering: hybrid and multi-pplatform programming languages and paradigms, multi-paradigm programming models with special regard to the integration between the declarative and the object-oriented paradigms; related software development processes and support tools
Programming languages and infrastructures: programming languages, compilers and interpreters, relationship between languages and support infrastructures
Coordination models, languages and infrastructures: languages, models, technologies and infrastructures for the coordination of complex, heterogeneous, open interactive systems, (with special regard to multi-agent systems applications); engineering and governing of the interaction dimension.
Multi-Agent Systems (MAS): models, languages and technologies for multi-agent systems; models and methodologies for the engineering of agent-oriented software systems (AOSE); tools, technologies and infrastructures for MAS.
Internet of Things & Smart Home/Living: applications of MAS to pervasive scenarios in the contexts of IoT and Smart Home & Smart Living.
Micro-intelligence in IoT scenarios: Logic programming rewind, i.e. as a novel source of (micro)intelligence to power IoT scenarios, in a multi-paradigm perspective.
Software engineering: models, languages and methodologies for the engineering of software systems with special regard to open and dynamic environments and agent-oriented systems (AOSE);
Legal informatics: inter-disciplinary approach of legal problems related to / emerging from the development of advanced software systems
Security: technological aspects of information systems security; methodologies and design patterns for secure systems; legal implications of security
Other interests: e-commerce; e-government; e-participation; algorithms for stock control problems
Inter-disciplinary aspects
Organisational and social aspects: agents constitute an effective metaphor to capture many relevant aspects of human activities which imply organisational, legal and social aspects. So, multi-agents systems need to deal with such aspects, too: like any complex society, they need norms, organisation charts, hierarchies and roles, as well as control entities able to enforce the societal rules and take the proper countermeasures if violations occur.
Norms and legal aspects: the design of secure and legally-compliant software systems requires that all the applicable national and international laws are properly taken into account, especially with regard to privacy data management. This requirement must inspire the design and development of a law-abiding software system throughout the whole development cycle, from the earliest design phases: legal compliance is not something that can be added on top of an already existing system at a later stage.
Usability and trust aspects: systems aimed at handling reserved data (including industrial know-how, patents, operation modes that often constitute the major asset in small but highly specialised companies) pose special challenges with respect to usability and user interface, since they must lead the (even non-expert) user to trust the system, understand its philosophy and e overall transmitting a simplicity feeling, so as to overcome the “trust digital divide” that often constitutes the actual barrier to innovation. This is particularly relevant when the service is provided online, as it is more and more common today, because in this case the user has no direct control on the system functioning and - key aspect - on its installation, raising further security and trust issues.
