Jim Woodcock | |
---|---|
Born | 7 June 1956 |
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | University of Liverpool |
Known for | CSP, UTP, Z notation |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Computer science, formal methods |
Institutions | University of Oxford University of Kent University of York Aarhus University Southwest University |
Website | www.cs.york.ac.uk/people/jim |
James Charles Paul Woodcock is a British computer scientist.
Woodcock gained his PhD from the University of Liverpool. Until 2001, he was Professor of Software Engineering at the Oxford University Computing Laboratory, where he was also a Fellow of Kellogg College. [1] He then joined the University of Kent and ws later based at the University of York, [2] where, from October 2012, he was head of the Department of Computer Science, retiring in 2024.
His research interests include: strong software engineering, Grand Challenge in dependable systems evolution, unifying theories of programming, formal specification, refinement, concurrency, state-rich systems, mobile and reconfigurable processes, nanotechnology, Grand Challenge in the railway domain. He has a background in formal methods, especially the Z notation [3] and CSP.
Woodcock worked on applying the Z notation to the IBM CICS project, helping to gain a Queen's Award for Technological Achievement, [4] and Mondex, helping to gain the highest ITSEC classification level. [5]
Prof. Woodcock was editor-in-chief of the Formal Aspects of Computing journal until 2025. [6]
In September 2024, a Feschrift Symposium was held for Woodcock at the University of York celebrating his retirement, [7] with an associated proceedings volume. [8] After his official retirement from the University of York, he continued to work at Aarhus University in Denmark [9] and Southwest University in China. [10]