Ontology and Conceptual Modeling Research Group

Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES)

Computer Science Department - Brazil

Dr. Giancarlo Guizzardi Senior Associate Professor Phone: (+39 )3333489113 Skype: guizzardi,g.

Research

The core of my research has been an interdisciplinary approach to the foundations of Software Systems Engineering (including Information Systems). In my research program, over the years, I have been employing results from formal ontology, logics, cognitive science and linguistics to address a number of problems in Software Systems Engineering, in particular, in the areas of Conceptual Modeling, Software Language Engineering, Domain Engineering and Software Reuse (including the area of Design Patterns and Pattern Languages), Requirements Engineering, Information Systems Engineering, Formal Methods and Enterprise Computing.

To know more about my research one should check my Publications

Short Bio

I have a PhD degree (with the highest distinction) from the University of Twente, in The Netherlands. I am currently a Senior Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES) in Brazil where I coordinate the Ontology and Conceptual Modeling Research Group (NEMO), a group with circa 50 members (including permanent members and students). In this group, I have directed an Excellence Center on the area of Semantic Interoperability in Government. I am also an Associate Researcher at the Laboratory for Applied Ontology (LOA), Institute for Cognitive Science and Technology (ISTC), Italian National Research Council (CNR), in Trento, Italy. Between 2013 and 2015, I was a Visiting Professor at the Software Engineering and Formal Methods Group at the University of Trento, Italy.

I have authored more than 160 scientific publications, including the book monograph entitled “Ontological Foundations for Structural Conceptual Models”. These publications can be found here, also at DBLP and Google Scholar Page.

Due to these publications, I have received 8 paper awards (including those for CAISE 2004, IEEE EDOC 2011, IEEE EDOC 2013 and FOIS 2014), as well as a nomination for the Christian Huygens Science Award of the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences. Two scientific contributions that resulted from this research program are the foundational theory UFO (Unified Foundational Ontology) and the ontologically and cognitively well-founded conceptual modeling language OntoUML. These two results also have influenced international standards (e.g., ISO SC7 Ontology Standards in Software Engineering, Open Group’s Archimate) as well as international responses to standardization RFPs (e.g., OMG’s SIMF). The NEMO group is responsible for implementing a number of important computational tools for supporting Well-Founded Conceptual Modeling in OntoUML.

I have contributed to many renowned international conferences as a tutorialist (e.g., ER, SLE, CAISE), program board member (e.g., ER, CAISE), program chair (e.g., FOIS, EDOC), organizational chair (e.g., FOIS), general chair (e.g., FOIS), program committee member, keynote speaker (e.g., ER) and, of course, as a frequent author. I have also been an associate editor and editorial board member of important journals (e.g., the Requirements Engineering Journal, the Applied Ontology Journal, the International Journal of Information Systems Modeling and Design).

In the past decade, I have been continuously teaching and developing courses in many sub-areas of Software Engineering, Databases and Artificial Intelligence as well as more specialized courses in Ontology-Driven Conceptual Modeling, Foundational Ontologies and Ontologies in Enterprises. These specialized courses have been offered in countries such as Brazil, The Netherlands (e.g., SIKS research school, Aula Magna), Argentina (IJCAI Summer School), Austria (European Summer School on Next Generation Enterprise Modeling), Italy (IAOA International Summer School on Ontological Analysis) and Czech Republic as well in industrial and government settings.

Finally, I have been elected twice as an Executive Council member of the International Association for Ontologies and Applications (IAOA), and recently I have joined the Advisory Board of the same association.