Research

Research Activities

• Independent Researcher at CONICET Argentina (National Council for Scientific and Technical Research) (2003-).
• Developing resarch activities at the Artificial Intelligence R&D Laboratory, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
• Researcher at the Artificial Intelligence Research Group of the Dept. of Computer Science of the University of Lleida (Lleida, Catalonia-Spain) within the Ramón y Cajal Programme (Ministery of Science and Technology of Spain (2003-2006).
• External researcher (professor vinculat) within the research project MULOG (2004-2007) at the Artificial Intelligence Research Institut (IIIA-CSIC, Bellaterra, Spain) .
• External researcher coordinating argumentation tasks within the research project Autonomic Electronic Institutions (IEA) (2004-2007) at the Artificial Intelligence Research Institut (IIIA-CSIC, Bellaterra, Spain) .

Research interests:

• Defeasible argumentation - Knowledge Representation - Logic Programming - Multiagent systems: I have been working in defeasible argumentation since 1992, first as a member of the Laboratory for Research and Development in Artificial Intelligence (LIDIA) at the Computer Science Department of the Universidad Nacional del Sur (Argentina), and currently at the Artificial Intelligence Research Group of the Computer Science Department of theUniversitat de Lleida (Spain). Both my MSc Thesis (1996) and my PhD Thesis (2001) were related to argumentation (see Publications).
• Related research areas: labelled deductive systems, ontologies, electronic institutions and agent theory.
• Technological applications of defeasible argumentation systems: I have been working using Defeasible Logic Programming (DeLP) and some extensions (P-DeLP, O-DeLP) as a basis for including argument-based reasoning in different technological applications, such as natural language processing, knowledge distribution, recommender systems and search engines. For more details see related publications.
• Datamining & Machine Learning: Part of my research is related to datamining and machine learning techniques in the context of qualitative reasoning, particularly in the connection between argumentation and machine learning.One of my MSc students (Sergio A. Gómez) worked on such connection in his Master Thesis.
• CS education: Ocasionally I have written some papers on different issues on computer-science education. I'm interested in educational aspects for teaching Computer Science, particularly in the area of programming languages and theory of computing.
• Other stuff: I have been teacher of German language for technicians (sponsored by Goethe Institut Argentina) from 1990 till 1993.

Research Projects:

• Leading LACCIR Project "DECIDE 2.0 - Intelligent Decision Making based on Social Media Use in e-Government through Context-Based Information Retrieval and Argumentation" during 2012, together with Dr. Ramón Brena. Funded by Microsoft Research, IDB and CONACyT (Mexico).

• Participating at COST Action IC0801 on "Agreement Technologies" - Coordinated by European Science Foundation, 2008-2012. Supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme.

• Project leader PIP-CONICET Code 112-200801-02798. Project "Decision Support Systems based on Argumentation: formalization and applications". Issued 2009-2011.

• Project leader together with Prof. Dr. Jürgen Dix (Univ. of Clausthal, Germany). Bilateral project "Modelling Inference and Preferences in Multiagent Systems through Argumentation" - Univ. of Clausthal (Germany) and Universidad Nacional del Sur (Argentina). Funded by DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) and SeCyT, Argentina. Period: 2006-2008. Project code: DA0609

• Project member. Bilateral project "Knowledge Capture and Construction in Multilingual Document Management Applications"- Hungarian Academy of Science (Hungary) and and Universidad Nacional del Sur (Argentina). Leaders: Ana Maguitman (Argentina) and Andras Benczur (Hungary). Funded by NKTH, Hungary and SeCyT, Argentina. Period: 2007-2009.

• Project member. Project MULOG 2 (Multivalued Logic: Foundations and Applications in Argumentation and Ontologies) - Artificial Research Institute (IIIA-CSIC, Bellaterra). Catalunya, Spain. Period: 2007-2009. Project leader: Francesc Esteva Massaguer. TIN2007-68005-C04-01.

• Coordinator in argumentation-related tasks within the project "Autonomous Electronic Institutions" - Artificial Research Institute (IIIA-CSIC, Bellaterra) and Universitat de Lleida. Catalunya, Spain. Period: 2006-2008.TIN2006-15662-C02-02

• Project leader of the Project "Labelled Defeasible Logic Programming for Argument-Based Intelligent Systems: formalization and web applications" - Secretaría General de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina. Period: 2006-2009.

• Project leader together with Dr. Felip Manyà "Integrating argumentation, multiagent systems and multi-valued logics" - Project coordinated within the Ramón y Cajal Research Program, supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of Spain. Universitat de Lleida, Catalunya, Spain. Period: 2003-2006.

• Collaboration activities as member of the project "Plataform for the Development and Implementation of Multiagent Systems based on Deliberative Collaborative Social Agents with a BDI Architecture”. Project PICT 2002 N° 13096. Period: 2004-2006. Supported by Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (Argentina).

• Collaboration in research projects LOGFAC, SOFTSAT y MULOG, supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Spain. Artificial Intelligence Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, Spain, 2003-2007.

• Project "Argument-based Logical Systems ". Department of Computer Science, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahia Blanca, Argentina. Period: 1997-2003.

• DeReLoP, a joint research project with a research group from Dr. Prof. Jürgen Dix at University of Koblenz , Germany (1999-2000).

Recently I have done collaborative work in research with:

• Ana Casali (Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina)
• José Luis Aguirre (Technological Institute ITESM Monterrey, México)
• Teresa Alsinet (University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain)
• Ramón Brena (Technological Institute ITESM Monterrey, México)
• Jürgen Dix (Technische Universität Clausthal, Clausthal, Germany)
• Boris Galitsky (Birbeck College, London, UK - LogLOGIC, San José, California, USA)
• Jarred McGinnis (Univ. Edinburg, UK)
• Lluís Godo (Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, IIIA-CSIC, Bellaterra, Spain)
• Ron Loui (Washington University, St. Louis, USA)
• Ana Maguitman (Indiana University, Bloomington, USA)
• Sanjey Modgil (Cancer Research, UK)
• Iyad Rahwan (British Univ. in Dubai, UAE)
• Chris Reed (University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, UK)
• Sandra Sandri ( Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, IIIA-CSIC, Bellaterra, Spain)
• Guillermo Simari (Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Argentina)
• Frieder Stolzenburg (Fachhochschule Harz, Wernigerode, Germany)
• Gerhard Vreeswijk (Utrecht University, Holland)
• Steven Wilmott (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain)

Participation as PC member in recent conferences (selection):

• Senior PC member in IJCAI 2011
• PC member in COMMA 2010 (3rd. Intl. Conference on Computational Models of Argument, Toulouse, France, Sept. 2010).
• PC member in AAMAS 2010 (9th Intl. Joint Conf. on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, Toronto, Canada, May 2010).
• PC member in ICAART 2010 (2nd Intl. Conf. on Agents and Artificial INtelligence, Valencia, Spain, January 2010).
• PC member in CAEPIA 2009 (13rd Conf. of the Spanish Association in Artificial Intelligence. Sevilla, Spain, November 2009).
• PC member in IJCAI 2009 (21st Intl. Joint Conf. on Artificial Intelligence, Pasadena, California, July 2009).
• PC member in ECSQARU 2009 (10th European Conf. on Symbolic and Qualitative Aspects of Reasoning under Uncertainty, Verona, Italy, July 2009).
• PC member in ICAART 2009 (1st Intl. Conf. on Agents and Artificial INtelligence, Porto, Portugal, January 2009).
• PC member in ACM SAC 2009 (24th Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, Special Track "Agreement Technologies". Honolulu, Hawai, USA, 8-12 March 2009).
• PC member in CLEI 2008 (34th Latinamerican Conference in Informatics. Santa Fe, Argentina, 8-12 Sep. 2008).
• PC member in SBIA 2008 (19th Brazilian Symposium on Artificial Intelligence. Salvador, Brazil, 26-30 Oct. 2008).
• PC member in CCIA 2008 (11th Intl. Catalan Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Sant Martí d'Empúries, Spain, October 2008).
• PC member in ArgMAS 2008 (5th Intl. Workshop on Argumentation in Multiagent Systems, Estoril, Portugal, May 2008).
• PC member in COMMA 2008 (Second Intl. Conference on Computational Models of Argument, Toulouse, France, May 2008).
• PC member in CIS 2007 (International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Security. Harbin, China. Sponsored by IEEE. December 2007).
• PC member in CCIA 2007 (10th Intl. Catalan Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Andorra la Vella, Andorra, October 2007).
• PC member in ArgMAS 2007 (4th Intl. Workshop on Argumentation in Multiagent Systems, Honolulu, Hawai, May 2007).
• PC member in ASAI 2007 (Argentinean Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Mendoza, Argentina, August 2007).
• PC member in ArgNMR 2007 (First Intl. Workshop on Argumentation and Nonmonotonic Reasoning), colocated with LPNMR 2007 (9th Intl. Joint Conf. on Logic Programming and Nonmonotonic Reasoning. Tempe, Arizona, USA. May 2007).
• Program Co-Chair for WASI 2006 (Workshop on Agents and Intelligent Systems) at CACIC 2006. (XII Argentinean Conference in Computer Science, San Luis, Argentina, October 2006).
• PC member in AAMAS 2007 (6th Intl. Joint Conf. on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, Honolulu, Hawai, May 2007).
• PC member in KRAQ 2007 (3rd Intl. Workshop for Knowledge and Reasoning in Answering Questions, Hyderabad, India, January 2007).
• PC member in ECSQARU 2007 (9th European Conf. on Symbolic and Qualitative Aspects of Reasoning under Uncertainty, Hammamet, Tunisia, October 2007).
• PC member in ArgMAS 2006 (3rd Intl. Workshop on Argumentation in Multiagent Systems, Hakodate, Japan, May 2006).
• PC member in AAMAS 2006 (5th Intl. Joint Conf. on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, Hakodate, Japan, May 2006).
• PC member in NMR 2006 (11th Intl. Workshop on Nonmonotonic Reasoning - Track: Argumentation & Dialogue, UK, May 2006).
• PC member in COMMA 2006 ( First Intl. Conference on Computational Models of Argument, Liverpool, UK, Sept. 2006)
• Program Co-Chair in ASAI 2005 (Argentinean Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Rosario, Argentina, August 2005).
• Organization Committe Member in ECSQARU 2005 (European Conf. on Symbolic and Qualitative Aspects of Reasoning under Uncertainty, Barcelona, Spain, July 2005).
• PC member in ECSQARU 2005 (8th European Conf. on Symbolic and Qualitative Aspects of Reasoning under Uncertainty, Barcelona, Spain, July 2005).
• PC member in AAMAS 2005 (Intl. Joint Conf. on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, Utrecht, Holland, July 2005).
• PC member in AAMAS 2004 (Intl. Joint Conf. on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, N.York, USA, July 2004).

Related scientific activities:

• Reviewing activities for Intl. Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (Springer), Artificial Intelligence Journal (Elsevier), Fuzzy Sets and Systems (Elsevier), Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (Cambridge Univ. Press), IEEE Intelligent Systems (special issue on Argumentation Technologies), Argumentation&Computation (Taylor&Francis), Knowledge and Information Systems (Springer).
• External reviewer for FOIKS 2008 (5th International Symposyum on Foundations of Information and Knowledge Systems, Pisa, Italy, Feb. 2008).
• Reviewing activities the AAAI 2007 Conference (Vancouver, Canada, July 2007).
• Member of the Agentlink Technical Forum 2006 for Argumentation Interchange Format (AIF).
• Reviewer for SIGCSE 2007 (38th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Covington, Kentucky, USA, March 2007).
• External reviewer for IJCAI 2007 (20th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Hyderabad, India, January 2007).
• External reviewer for ECAI 2006 (17th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Trento, Italy, August 2006).
• External reviewer for IBERAMIA 2006 (10th Iberoamerican Artificial Intelligence Conference, Riberao Preto, Brazil, October 2006).
• Tutorial "Computational Models of Argument in Multiagent Systems" at the 7th European Agent Systems Summer School (EASSS 2005) together with G. Simari. Utrecht, Netherlands, July 2005.
• Reviewer for MICAI 2005 (4th Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Monterrey, Mexico, November 2005).
• Reviewer for ACM-ITICSE 2005 (10th Intl. Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Lisbon, Portugal, June 2005).
• Reviewer for ACM-ITICSE 2004 (9th Intl. Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Leeds, UK, June 2004).
• Reviewer for IJCAI 2003.

Postgraduate students:

PhD Thesis

• Marcela Capobianco (PhD Thesis -- finished in 2003).
• Sergio A. Gómez (PhD Thesis - finished in 2009).
• Walter M. Grandinetti (PhD Thesis - in progress).
• Mauro Lucero Gómez (PhD Thesis - in progress).

MSc Thesis

• Sergio A. Gómez (MSc Thesis -- finished in 2004)
• Walter M. Grandinetti (MSc Thesis -- finished in 2005)
• Gabriel R. Filócamo (MSc Thesis -- in progress).

Recent postgraduate courses and invited talks:

• Panel on Argumentation & Applications - 1st TAFA Workshop, IJCAI 2011, Barcelona, Spain (July 2011).
• Argumentation for Recommendation - Argentinean Symposium on Artificial Intelligence (ASAI 2011), Córdoba, Argentina (August 2011).
• “Accrual in Defeasible Logic Programming " . IIIA-CSIC. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (July 2009).
• “Modelling Argument Accrual in Possibilistic DeLP" . COST Meeting on Agreement Technologies. Budapest, Hungary (May 2009).
• “Defeasible Argumentation: Theory and Applications in Robotic Soccer" . Fachhochschule Wernigerode, Germany (September 2007).
• “Recommender System Technologies based on Argumentation" . University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland (February 2007).
• “Argument-Based Decision Making Technologies" . Imperial College, London, UK (January 2007).
• “Argument-Based Recommender Systems using Defeasible Logic Programming " . Agent Research Labs, Universitat de Girona. Girona, Spain (February 2006).
• “Defeasible Argumentation in User-Support Systems" . Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM Monterrey). Monterrey, México (November 2005).
• “Argument-Based Recommenders and Critics" . Technische Universität Clausthal, Clausthal, Germany (September 2005).
• Course "Datamining and knowledge discovery" (Department of Computer Science, University of Lleida, Spain, 2004-2005).
• “Argument-Based Recommenders: a Qualitative Perspective on User Support Systems''. IIIA-CSIC. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. February 2005.
• "Techniques for Machine Learning and Datamining: fundamentals and applications" (Department of Computer Science, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Argentina, 2004).
• “Recommender Systems using Defeasible Logic Programming''. ASPIC Project Meeting, Valencia, Spain, August 2004.
• “Argument-Based Recommender Systems: a first approach”. Department of Informatics, University of Pisa, Italy. June 2004.
• “A First Approach to Argument-BasedRecommender Systems: two case studies''. Department of Computer Science,University College of London. London, UK. May 2004.
• “Defeasible Argumentation & Defeasible Logic Programming''.Department of Computing,University of Manchester, UK. March 2002.
• "Foundations of Argumentation Systems" (Department of Computer Science, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Argentina, 2001 and 2002).

Recent Research Stances:

• Sept. 2007: Technische Universität Clausthal (Germany), in coordination with Jürgen Dix.
• Dec. 2006-March 2007: visiting professor at the Universidad de Lleida, Lleida, Spain, in coordination with Prof. Teresa Alsinet.
• May 2006: Departamento de Cs. e Ing. de la Computación (Universidad Nacional del Sur). Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
• November 2005: Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey (Tec Monterrey). Monterrey, México, in coordination with Ramón Brena.
• September 2005: Technische Universität Clausthal (Germany), in coordination with Jürgen Dix.
• January-February 2002 and January-February 2001: Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA-CSIC), Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain, in coordination with Carles Sierra.
• October 2000: Universidad de Lleida, Lleida, Spain, in coordination with Felip Manya.
• January-February 2000: Institut für Informatik, Universität Leipzig, in coordination with Gerhard Brewka.
• January-February 1999: Imperial College of Science and Technology, Department of Computing. London, United Kingdom, in coordination with Robert Kowalski and Francesca Toni.
• January-March 1998: Washington University, Department of Computer Science, in coordination with Ron Loui.
• January-March 1997: Universidad de Lleida, Lleida, Spain, in coordination with Felip Manya.