James Charles Paul Woodcock is a British

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

. Woodcock gained his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

. Until 2001 he was Professor of

Software Engineering Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining Application software, software applications. It involves applying engineering design process, engineering principl ...

at the

Oxford University Computing Laboratory The Department of Computer Science is the computer science department of the University of Oxford, England, which is part of the university's Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Mathematical, Physical and Life ...

, where he was also a Fellow of

Kellogg College Kellogg College is a graduate-only constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1990 as Rewley House, Kellogg is the university's 36th college and the largest by number of students both full and part-time. Named after ...

. He then joined the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

and is now based at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

, where, since October 2012, he has been head of the Department of Computer Science. His research interests include: strong

software engineering Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining Application software, software applications. It involves applying engineering design process, engineering principl ...

, Grand Challenge in dependable systems evolution,

unifying theories of programming ''Unifying Theories of Programming'' (UTP) in computer science deals with program semantics. It shows how denotational semantics, operational semantics and algebraic semantics can be combined in a unified framework for the formal specificatio ...

formal specification In computer science, formal specifications are mathematically based techniques whose purpose is to help with the implementation of systems and software. They are used to describe a system, to analyze its behavior, and to aid in its design by verify ...

refinement Refinement may refer to: Mathematics * Equilibrium refinement, the identification of actualized equilibria in game theory * Refinement of an equivalence relation, in mathematics ** Refinement (topology), the refinement of an open cover in mathema ...

concurrency Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

, state-rich systems, mobile and reconfigurable processes,

nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

, Grand Challenge in the railway domain. He has a background in

formal methods In computer science, formal methods are mathematics, mathematically rigorous techniques for the formal specification, specification, development, Program analysis, analysis, and formal verification, verification of software and computer hardware, ...

, especially the

Z notation The Z notation is a formal specification language used for describing and modelling computing systems. It is targeted at the clear specification of computer programs and computer-based systems in general. History In 1974, Jean-Raymond Abria ...

and CSP. Woodcock worked on applying the Z notation to the

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

CICS IBM CICS (Customer Information Control System) is a family of mixed-language application servers that provide online business transaction management, transaction management and connectivity for applications on IBM mainframe systems under z/OS ...

project, helping to gain a

Queen's Award for Technological Achievement Queens is a borough of New York City. Queens or Queen's may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Queens (group), a Polish musical group * "Queens" (song), a 2018 song by Saara Aalto * ''Queens'' (novel), by Stephen Pickles, 1984 * "Queens", ...

, and

Mondex Mondex was a smart card electronic cash system, implemented as a stored-value card and owned by Mastercard. Pioneered by two bankers from NatWest in 1990, it was spun-off to a separate consortium later on, then sold to Mastercard. Mondex all ...

, helping to gain the highest

ITSEC The Information Technology Security Evaluation Criteria (ITSEC) is a structured set of criteria for evaluating computer security within products and systems. The ITSEC was first published in May 1990 in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Unit ...

classification level. Prof. Woodcock is

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the ''

Formal Aspects of Computing ''Formal Aspects of Computing'' (''FAC'') is a peer-reviewed Gold Open Access journal published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and BCS (the British Computer Society, the Chartered Institute for IT). The journal is closely associated ...

'' journal.

Books

* Jim Woodcock and Jim Davies, ''Using Z: Specification, Refinement, and Proof''.

Prentice-Hall Prentice Hall was a major American educational publisher. It published print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market. It was an independent company throughout the bulk of the twentieth century. In its last few years it ...

International Series in Computer Science, 1996. . * Jim Woodcock and Martin Loomes,
Software Engineering Mathematics: Formal Methods Demystified
'. Kindle Edition,

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research and Dovepress. It i ...

, 2007.

References

External links

Official homepage

Personal homepage

* * 1956 births Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool British computer scientists Formal methods people Members of the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford Fellows of Kellogg College, Oxford Academics of the University of Kent Academics of the University of York Fellows of the British Computer Society Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Computer science writers British textbook writers British academic journal editors {{UK-compu-bio-stub