Human-centric Software Engineering 

I have long had an interest in a number of "human-centric" aspects of software engineering. These include, but are not limited to, personality impact on performance e.g. pair programming and testing, emotional reactions to software, age, gender, culture and team climate on software development and usage, agile approaches to software engineering, usability testing and reporting, more human-centric requirements capture and modelling, and many others. 

I won an ARC Laureate Professorship late 2019 to research this area much more deeply and broadly. 

More details here and here.

Domain-specific Visual Language Tools

We have been researching the use of visual languages for complex model development, exploration and evolution for many years. More recently this has included developing novel support tools for specifying such tools, generating them, and deploying them in a range of domains. More information can be found here 

Model-driven Engineering tools

We have been developing tools that use DSVLs to generate a range of systems via model-driven development techniques to enhance quality and productivity. Much of the work has been done with industrial partners in the health, utility, business process and web engineering domains. More information can be found here 

Large Language Models for Software Engineering

We have been working on various applications of LLMs for SE for some time, well before the advent of GPT3, ChatGPT etc. These include for requirements engineering, inclusive sofware development, Q&A sites, and others. More information can be found here.

Software Engineering Tools

Much of my research has been focused on developing novel software engineering tools. This began with design tools using visual languages, then included integrated software development environments and process-centred environments. More recently has included requirements engineering, knowledge management, software architecture, user interface design, and testing tools. More information can be found here 

Smart Software for Ageing, Social Services and Health

We are looking at ways to improve delivery of health and social services using new software technologies. In particular, we are interested in the use of in-home and in-care sensors and human-centric interaction devices, AI, hand-held, mobile, iPad, software-as-service and Web 2.0 social media concepts in the Social Services and Health primary care domains. More information can be found here 

Performance Engineering techniques and tools

I have been interested in performance engineering of complex software systems for many years. Current work focuses on very large scale enterprise systems and cloud computing systems. Previous work has included enterprise systems, data aggregation systems and E-commerce systems. More information can be found here

Software security engineering, especially for cloud computing

I have become very interested in software security engineering techniques and tools. This includes model-driven approaches to generating security solutions from high-level definitions, domain-specific languages to augment requirements and design notations to capture security properties and their cross-cutting impacts, and platform-level security including autonomic virtual machine monitoring and protection. More info here .

Data mapping and transformation tools

I have been interested in data mapping, model transformation and code generation tools for a long time. I am particularly interested in high-level, visual ways to express model to model and model to code transformations and generate transformation scripts, engines, code...  More details here . 

Requirements Engineering tools 

I have been interested in Requirements Engineering tools for many years. This began with support for requirements modelling in SPE, and then supporting Aspect-oriented Requirements Engineering with JComposer. More recently it has included supported early-phase requirements engineering with sketching-based requirements capture tools, such as MaramaSketch and SUMLOW, and capturing and improving requirements with MaramaAI, using Esssential Use Cases and Essential User Interface approaches. More information can be found here

Human-centric modelling tools

For a while I have been interested in sketching-based design tools, especially for software design applications. I have had a few projects looking at different aspects of this problem. I am also interested in other human-centric approaches such as guesture-based input, haptic feedback, large screen displays, tabletop displays, augmented relality, 3D user interfaces and mobile device user interfaces. See ourSketch Recognition , MaramaSketch , SUMLOW and digital ink papers.

Computing Education 

Ever since I began teaching I have been interested in Computing Education. Initially this was in Information Systems, where I started teaching, then progressed to Computer Science Education and then Software Engineering Education, and Engineering Education in general. I have published a number of papers on education aspects of computing. More information can be found here 

Model-driven Engineering for GPUs 

We investigated the development of domain-specific visual languages for GPUs. In particular we looked at how to model scientific software applications in mollecular simulation, astrophysics and bioinformatics at high levels using visual languages, and generating GPU C code from these models using model-driven engineering techniques. We developed the Horus-HPC tool to support this. Details here.

Software Architecture 

I have been interested in a variety of aspects of software architecture for many years. This includes tools to support architecture modelling and analysis, performance engineering of architectures, visualisation of complex architectures, domain-specific visual languages and software architecture modelling, dynamic and run-time adaptable architectures, service-oriented architectures, Quality of Service issues in software architectures, ...  and many more!!  More info can be found here

Process-centred environments

I have been interested in process-centred enviornments, software process modelling and enactment, workflow tools, and business process modelling and enactment tools for many years. Initially this was in the context of integrated development environments; more latterly in business process modelling approaches and tools. Examples include Serendipity-II and IMAL . 

Advanced Knowledge Management Platforms

We are researching new ways to manage complex knowledge about software - and other information - artefacts. This includes Visual Wikis to make such information more accessible and navigatable; complex analysis of diverse informaiton sources to enrich it; and web-based authoring tools to enable it to be better created, modified and shared.  Preliminary examples are the Thinkbase and Thinkpedia tools.  We are exploring use of and enhancement of these toolsets with several industrial partners. More information can be found at http://thinkbase.cs.auckland.ac.nz andhttp://thinkpedia.cs.auckland.ac.nz/

Adaptive user interfaces for web and mobile devices 

Adaptive user interfaces are ones that run on multiple devices and - ideally - adapt to the target device. I have worked on a number of novel approaches to supporting desktop and web-based adaptive UIs, mobile UIs and 3D adpative UIs. In addition, we have developed several platforms for rich interaction interfaces for domain-specific visual languages tools in web browsers and mobile phones. More info here

Aspect-oriented component engineering

I originally developed an approach to represent and use cross-cutting concerns at requirements time to better support component engineering - the general approach now commonly known as "early aspects". I then developed this to use aspect-oriented techniques for architecture, design, and testing. We then applied this idea to engineering services for SOAs. I, students and colleagues developed various support tools for these approaches. See here for an overview of the main concepts. 

NetPay micro-payment systems

Xiaoling (Sharlene) Dai continued a PhD with me in the early 2000s working on NetPay, a novel, off-line micro-payment system. We developed several prototypes, architectures to realise the system, conducted several evaluations and then applied the approach to peer-to-peer information exchange and other domains. More information can be found here . 

Software Process and Product Improvement

We have been researching new tools and techniques to enhance product quality and development processes.  Our aim is to develop and deploy practical techniques and tools with software companies to make a real difference to their product quality and development productivity. Key focus areas include software project management and process improvement; analysis and visualisation of software metrics; model-driven engineering and domain-specific visual language tools; and model-based testing.  More information can be found at https://wiki.auckland.ac.nz/display/csisppi