Bit of a dump…

Seminars

2017
  • J. Nicholson, (forthcoming) case study: think big, go global, Education Investor Global Conference, London, UK, October, 2017.
2015
  • [PDF] J. Nicholson, Querying ontologies with diagrams, Hastings Research Seminar, University of Brighton, UK, February, 2015.
2014
  • J. Nicholson and S. Kapetanakis, Enhance your research and teaching with knowledge transfer, KTP Week, University of Brighton, UK, November, 2014.
2013
  • [PDF] J. Nicholson, Degrees in computing, University of Brighton, UK, September, 2013.
2012
  • [PDF] J. Nicholson, Modeling and visualizing object-oriented programs with codecharts, Hastings Research Seminar, University of Brighton, UK, November, 2012.

Technical reports

2007
  • J. Nicholson, A. H. Eden, and E. Gasparis, “Verification of lepus3/class-z specifications: sample models and abstract semantics for java 1.4,” School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, UK, Technical Report CSM-471, ISSN 1744-8050, 2007.
  • A. H. Eden, E. Gasparis, and J. Nicholson, “Lepus3 and class-z reference manual,” School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, UK, Technical Report CSM-474, ISSN 1744-8050, 2007.
  • A. H. Eden, E. Gasparis, and J. Nicholson, “The ‘gang of four’ companion: formal specification of design patterns in lepus3 and class-z,” School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, UK, Technical Report CSM-472, ISSN 1744-8050, 2007.

Dump of stuff:

My PhD (University of Essex, 2011) was on the formal specification and verification of object-oriented design statements. I studied under Professor Raymond Turner and Dr Amnon H. Eden and was funded by an EPSRC Doctoral Training Award.

In September 2014 I applied for my EPSRC First Grant as Principal Investigator on proposal entitled “Querying Ontologies with Diagrams” (£125k). The project was partnered with Nokia and would have looked how Concept Diagrams could be used to define and visualize the results of SPARQL (semantic web) queries. I was also included as an early career researcher in the University of Brighton’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 submission to Computer Science and Informatics.

In 2015 I was involved in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership developing novel visual approaches to the management of marketing life cycles.

In 2016 I became the Chief Technology Officer at ZiNET Data Solutions Limited, and lead a team developing new products using data to improve education. Our principle product enabled schools, local authorities, multi academy trusts and application vendors to use data securely and effectively by integrating multiple desperate systems. Attribute level permissions and digitally signed data sharing agreements means institutions are in full control of the data they share. We also worked with open data, produced open source libraries, and provided consultancy services to clients like the Department for Education. During this time I was also prominent int he Access4Learning community, developing international education data standards.

In 2018 we merged into Assembly, where I became a Full Stack Developer. Assembly was later bought by Groupcall (a CommunityBrands UK company).

Experience

As Chief Technology Officer at ZiNET Data Solutions Limited I lead a team developing new products in the data and education sectors such as dataexchange.education, which enables schools, local authorities, multi academy trusts and application vendors to use data securely and effectively by integrating multiple systems. Attribute level permissions and digitally signed data sharing agreements means institutions are in full control of the data they share. DataExchange is built with SIF Open Standards at its core. I have also been working on opendata.education, which consolidates and simplifies access to open data in the education sector of the UK. Information from open sources such as Edubase and data.gov.uk are processed and shared using an open, publicly accessible, API. OpenData is built with SIF Open Standards at its core, is a 5-star linked data resource, and has Gold-level Open Data Institute certification.

I sit on the Global Infrastructure Group, working to improve the SIF infrastructure definition, and the Open Source Developers Network, working to facilitate and support open source projects using SIF, within A4L (Access 4 Learning) Community.

Previous roles include Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton, and Consultant Developer for SchoolsICT.

Research

My PhD (University of Essex, 2011) was on the formal specification and verification of object-oriented design statements. I studied under Professor Raymond Turner and Dr Amnon H. Eden and was funded by an EPSRC Doctoral Training Award.

In September 2014 I applied for my EPSRC First Grant as Principal Investigator on proposal entitled “Querying Ontologies with Diagrams” (£125k). The project was partnered with Nokia and would have looked how Concept Diagrams could be used to define and visualize the results of SPARQL (semantic web) queries. The proposal was well received by reviewers, but ultimately did not secure funding. I was also included as an early career researcher in the University of Brighton’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 submission to Computer Science and Informatics.

Between 2015 and 2017 I was involved in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with a company called Colony101 developing novel visual approaches to the management of marketing life cycles resulting in a new product called Cyclr.

Teaching

I began teaching in 2006 as graduate teaching assistant, and became a lecturer in 2011 at the University of Brighton. In 2013 I received a postgraduate certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education from the University of Brighton, through which I became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy later that year.

From January 2016 until leaving the University of Brighton I was the Computing Strand Leader for the Joint Honours courses at the Hastings campus, and was Course Leader for BSc (hons) Digital Games Production for the 2013-2014 academic year. I have taught a variety of code and design based subjects, mainly focussed around web and mobile technologies.

Qualifications

  • PGCert Learning and teaching in higher education, Pass with Merit, University of Brighton, UK, 2013.
  • PhD, Computer Science, University of Essex, Colchester, UK, 2011.
  • MSc Computer Science (Distributed Information Management Systems), Pass with Distinction, University of Essex, UK, 2006.
  • BSc (Hons) Computer Science, First Class, University of Essex, UK, 2005.

Publications

Below is a complete list of my publications, which you can download in BibTeX format.

This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author’s copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.

Journals

2017
  • [PDF] [DOI] A. H. Eden, E. Gasparis, J. Nicholson, and R. Kazman, Round-trip engineering with the two-tier programming toolkit. Software quality journal, :1–23, 2017.
2014
  • [DOI] J. Nicholson, A. H. Eden, R. Kazman, and E. Gasparis, Automated verification of design patterns: a case study. Science of computer programming, 80(Part B):211–222, 2014.
2013
  • [DOI] A. H. Eden, E. Gasparis, J. Nicholson, and R. Kazman, Modeling and visualizing object-oriented programs with codecharts. Formal methods in system design, 43(1):1–28, 2013.

Books and book chapters

2011
  • [DOI] A. H. Eden and J. Nicholson, Codecharts: roadmaps and blueprints for object-oriented programs, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.

Conferences and workshops

2017
  • [PDF] [DOI] J. Nicholson and I. Tasker, “Dataexchange: privacy by design for data sharing in education,” in 1st international conference on the frontiers and advances in data science, Xi’An, China, 2017.
2014
  • A. Delaney, E. Kow, P. Chapman, and J. Nicholson, “Generating and navigating large euler diagrams,” in 4th international workshop on euler diagrams, Melbourne, Australia, 2014, pages 23–31.
2012
  • [PDF] [DOI] J. Nicholson, A. Delaney, and G. Stapleton, “Linking codecharts with programs,” in Ieee symposium on visual languages and human-centric computing, Innsbruck, Austria, 2012, pages 259–260.
  • [PDF] [DOI] J. Nicholson and A. Delaney, “Formalising simple codecharts,” in 7th international conference on the theory and application of diagrams, Canterbury, UK, 2012, pages 346–348.
  • J. Nicholson, A. Delaney, and G. Stapleton, “Formalizing the syntax of codecharts,” in 18th international conference on distributed multimedia systems, Miami Beach, FL, USA, 2012, pages 181–184.
2011
  • [DOI] J. Nicholson, “A theory of classes from the theoretical foundations of lepus3,” in 13th international conference on formal engineering methods, Durham, UK, 2011, pages 522–536.
2009
  • [PDF] J. Nicholson, E. Gasparis, A. H. Eden, and R. Kazman, “Automated verification of design patterns with lepus3,” in 1st nasa formal methods symposium, Moffett Field, California, USA, 2009, pages 76–85.
2008
  • [DOI] E. Gasparis, J. Nicholson, and A. H. Eden, “Lepus3: an object-oriented design description language,” in 5th international conference on the theory and application of diagrams, 2008, pages 364–367.
  • [DOI] E. Gasparis, A. H. Eden, J. Nicholson, and R. Kazman, “The design navigator: charting java programs,” in 30th international conference on software engineering, Leipzig, Germany, 2008, pages 945–946.
  • [DOI] E. Gasparis, J. Nicholson, A. H. Eden, and R. Kazman, “Navigating through the design of object-oriented programs,” in Working conference on reverse engineering, Los Alamitos, CA, USA, 2008, pages 331–332.

PhD Thesis

2011
  • [PDF] J. Nicholson, “On the theoretical foundations of lepus3 and its application to object-oriented design verification,” PhD Thesis, University of Essex, Colchester, UK, 2011.

Seminars

2017
  • J. Nicholson, (forthcoming) case study: think big, go global, Education Investor Global Conference, London, UK, October, 2017.
2015
  • [PDF] J. Nicholson, Querying ontologies with diagrams, Hastings Research Seminar, University of Brighton, UK, February, 2015.
2014
  • J. Nicholson and S. Kapetanakis, Enhance your research and teaching with knowledge transfer, KTP Week, University of Brighton, UK, November, 2014.
2013
  • [PDF] J. Nicholson, Degrees in computing, University of Brighton, UK, September, 2013.
2012
  • [PDF] J. Nicholson, Modeling and visualizing object-oriented programs with codecharts, Hastings Research Seminar, University of Brighton, UK, November, 2012.

Technical reports

2007
  • J. Nicholson, A. H. Eden, and E. Gasparis, “Verification of lepus3/class-z specifications: sample models and abstract semantics for java 1.4,” School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, UK, Technical Report CSM-471, ISSN 1744-8050, 2007.
  • A. H. Eden, E. Gasparis, and J. Nicholson, “Lepus3 and class-z reference manual,” School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, UK, Technical Report CSM-474, ISSN 1744-8050, 2007.
  • A. H. Eden, E. Gasparis, and J. Nicholson, “The ‘gang of four’ companion: formal specification of design patterns in lepus3 and class-z,” School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, UK, Technical Report CSM-472, ISSN 1744-8050, 2007.

I use the Papercite plugin to display each publication with some tweaks.

Research Interests

I am interested in the fields of software engineering and knowledge representation. Of particular interest is developing novel visual languages with practical application that are more accessible than symbolic or textual notations.

Academic Esteem

I have acted as reviewer for international journals, including:

      • Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering

      • Formal Aspects of Computing

      • International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems (special issue on Visualisation of and Interaction with Semantic Web Data)

    • Journal of Visual Languages and Computing

I have acted as reviewer for several international conferences, including:

  • 21st International Conference on Conceptual Structures (ICCS 2014)
    • 21st IEEE International Conference on Web Services (ICWS 2014)

    • 2nd IEEE International Conference on Mobile Services (MS 2013)

  • IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC 2012)

Awards & Recognition

    • Excellence in Facilitating and Empowering Learning (nominated) – University of Brighton, April 2016

    • Excellence in Facilitating and Empowering Learning (nominated) – University of Brighton, April 2014

    • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy – November 2013

  • Best final year project prize. – University of Essex, July 2005