Chair in Computing Science
- About
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- Email Address
- brian.logan@abdn.ac.uk
- School/Department
- School of Natural and Computing Sciences
Biography
My research interests span the specification, design and implementation of autonomous intelligent systems. A key theme of this work is `safe AI', specifically ensuring that autonomous intelligent systems function safely and in accordance with their design objectives. The current focus of my research is ensuring the safe behaviour of autonomous systems that adapt or learn at run time.
I have also worked on a wide range of artificial intelligence research problems, including belief revision, reasoning, search and in agent-based simulation.
Memberships and Affiliations
- Internal Memberships
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Core Research Lead Computing Science
- External Memberships
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I am a Visiting Associate Professor at Utrecht University. I also have an honorary position (Special Professor) at the University of Nottingham.
Latest Publications
Synthesising Minimum Cost Dynamic Norms
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference ProceedingsRun-time verification of robot-assisted surgery using visual input
Contributions to Journals: Conference ArticlesPushdown Reward Machines for Reinforcement Learning
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference ProceedingsProbabilistic Strategy Logic with Degrees of Observability
Contributions to Journals: Conference ArticlesTemporal Causal Reasoning with (Non-Recursive) Structural Equation Models
Contributions to Journals: Conference Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v39i14.33639
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstreams/1520e548-d47a-4e6f-8b7f-852f78bf07db/download
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
- Research
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Research Overview
My research interests span the specification, design and implementation of autonomous intelligent systems. A key theme of this work is `safe AI', specifically ensuring that autonomous intelligent systems function safely and in accordance with their design objectives. The current focus of my research is ensuring the safe behaviour of autonomous systems that adapt or learn at run time.
I have also worked on a wide range of artificial intelligence research problems, including belief revision, reasoning, search and agent-based simulation.
Research Areas
Accepting PhDs
I am currently accepting PhDs in Computing Science.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.

Research Specialisms
- Artificial Intelligence
- Computer Science
Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Supervision
My current supervision areas are: Computing Science.
Current PhD students
- Jan de Mooij (Utrecht University)
- Giovanni Varricchione (Utrecht University)
Previous PhD students
- Elizabeth Gordon Real-time Agent Architectures for Believable Worlds (graduated 2005)
- Mike Lees Adaptive Optmistic Simulation of Agent Based Systems (graduated 2006)
- Dan Fielding Agents Reporting from Collaborative Virtual Environments (co-supervised with Steve Benford, graduated 2007)
- Mark Jago Logics for Resource Bounded Agents (co-supervised with Natasha Alechina, graduated 2006)
- Neil Madden Multi-agent reporting on events in persistent virtual environments (graduated 2009)
- Nguyen Hoang Nga Reasoning about resource-bounded multi-agent systems (first supervisor Natasha Alechina, graduated 2011)
- Abdur Rakib Verifying requirements for resource-bounded agents (graduated 2011)
- Konstantin Vikhorev Real-time guarantees in high-level agent programming languages (graduated 2011)
- Trang Doan Thu Procedural reflection in agent prgramming languages (graduated 2014)
- Julian Zappala Agent-based models of group decsion making (graduated 2014)
- Hai Nguyen Belief revision for ontologies (first supervisor Natasha Alechina, graduated 2014)
- Liu Xiaofan Analysis and verification of business rules (first supervisor Natasha Alechina, graduated 2015)
- Daniela Dybalova Autonomy and context in human-agent collectives (graduated 2017)
- Yuan Yao Tractable deliberation in agent programming languages (graduated 2018)
- Sam Leask GROVE: A computationally bounded model for rational intention revision in BDI agents (graduated 2021)
- Kwabena Amponsah A framework for evaluating the impact of communication on performance in large-scale distributed urban simulations (graduated 2021)
- Salim Anas Monotonicity-Aware Bandit Algorithms: Enhancing Multi-Armed and Continuum-Armed Bandits with Structural Reward Information (graduated 2025)
Funding and Grants
Recent projects
- Normative cooperation among autonomous agents, ONRG/EOARD/DSTL
- CAUSES: Causality in multi-agent systems; learning and verification, Netherlands NWO
- Safe Correct-by-Construction Control Programs for FUSION reactor maintenance, EPSRC/RAIN feasibility study
- Elastic Manufacturing Systems --- a platform for dynamic, resilient and cost-effective manufacturing services, EPSRC EP/T024429/1
- DiManD: Digital Manufacturing and Design Training Network, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network, EU
- Teaching
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Teaching Responsibilities
In the 2025-2026 academic session, I am teaching:
- CS2522 Algorithms and Data Structures
- CS4543 Languages and Computability
In the past, I have also taught:
- CS2513 Mathematics for Computing Science
Non-course Teaching Responsibilities
I am a member of the steering committee of the European Summer School on Artificial Intelligence (ESSAI), and was PC chair for ESSAI 2024.
- Publications
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Page 1 of 2 Results 1 to 25 of 29
Synthesising Minimum Cost Dynamic Norms
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference ProceedingsRun-time verification of robot-assisted surgery using visual input
Contributions to Journals: Conference ArticlesPushdown Reward Machines for Reinforcement Learning
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference ProceedingsProbabilistic Strategy Logic with Degrees of Observability
Contributions to Journals: Conference ArticlesTemporal Causal Reasoning with (Non-Recursive) Structural Equation Models
Contributions to Journals: Conference Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v39i14.33639
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstreams/1520e548-d47a-4e6f-8b7f-852f78bf07db/download
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Maximally Permissive Reward Machines
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference ProceedingsGenSynthPop: generating a spatially explicit synthetic population of individuals and households from aggregated data
Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, vol. 38, no. 2, 48Contributions to Journals: ArticlesIntention Progression with Temporally Extended Goals
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2024/33
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstreams/7933f4ec-b9ce-45ce-b6b0-d2babf1fb08e/download
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Intention Progression with Temporally Extended Goals
Contributions to Conferences: PapersPure-Past Action Masking
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference ProceedingsA Framework for Modeling Human Behavior in Large-scale Agent-based Epidemic Simulations
SIMULATION, vol. 99, no. 12, pp. 1183-1211Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDynamic Causality
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.3233/FAIA230355
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstreams/6127262d-489f-474d-893a-d12fdf1b2c81/download
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Synthesising Reward Machines for Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43264-4_21
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
- [ONLINE] https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/431803
Data-Driven Revision of Conditional Norms in Multi-Agent Systems (Extended Abstract)
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2023/773
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
- [ONLINE] https://ijcai-23.org/paper-schedule/
Multi-Agent Intention Recognition and Progression
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference ProceedingsProbabilistic Temporal Logic for Reasoning about Bounded Policies
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2023/367
Intention Progression with Maintenance Goals
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/3545946.3598947
- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.5555/3545946.3598947
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
A Logic of East and West
Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, vol. 76, pp. 527-566Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] https://jair.org/index.php/jair/article/view/14113/26898
- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1613/jair.1.14113
Data-Driven Revision of Conditional Norms in Multi-Agent Systems
Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, vol. 75, pp. 1549-1593Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1613/JAIR.1.13683
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstreams/336401ec-df36-4469-8282-2fee05716903/download
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Automatic Synthesis of Dynamic Norms for Multi-Agent Systems
Contributions to Conferences: PapersThe Complexity of Norm Synthesis and Revision
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20845-4_3
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
- [ONLINE] https://coin-workshop.github.io/coine-2022-auckland/papers/paper-8.pdf
- [ONLINE] Link to COINE workshop
Resilience, reliability, and coordination in autonomous multi-agent systems
AI Communications, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 339-356Contributions to Journals: ArticlesAutomatic Synthesis of Dynamic Norms for Multi-Agent Systems
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.24963/kr.2022/2
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
- [ONLINE] https://iris.uniroma1.it/handle/11573/1659633
Multi-Agent Intention Progression with Reward Machines
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference ProceedingsSituation Calculus for Controller Synthesis in Manufacturing Systems with First-Order State Representation (Extended Abstract)∗
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2022/798
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus