Simon Wells
Simon Wells

Dr Simon Wells

Lecturer

Biography

Research interests: Simon is a computer scientist with interests in Artificial Intelligence who works at the nexus of Argumentative Dialogue, Behaviour Change, and Interaction Design. His research is concerned with formal models of reasoning and communication that are based upon argumentation. He has developed theoretical and applied intelligent computational systems that support argumentation between heterogeneous groups of people and machines, and which have been deployed in pure science, educational, social and policy domains.

Career history: Simon began his career at the University of Dundee where he researched a thesis on inter-agent communication using argumentation whilst employed on the EPSRC-funded Information Exchange Project. After his doctoral research Simon stayed in the School of Computing at Dundee until 2011. During this time he lectured across the undergraduate Computer Science curriculum whilst helping establish the nascent Argumentation Research Group. In 2011, Simon joined the Open Microscopy Environment (OME) project and worked on joint research between OME and the Ninewells Hospital Health Informatics Centre. In 2012 Simon joined the School of Computing at the University of Aberdeen where he was on employed on a large EU-funded IP project called SUPERHUB. On SUPERHUB he researched the roles of persuasive technology and behaviour change mechanisms in sustainable transport systems. In 2014 Simon joined the school of computing at Edinburgh Napier as a lecturer.

Research Areas

Events

Esteem

Conference Organising Activity

  • 23rd Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument
  • 22nd Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument
  • 21st Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument
  • 20th Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument
  • 19th Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument

 

Editorial Activity

  • Proceedings of the 23rd Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument
  • Proceedings of the 22nd Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument
  • Proceedings of the 21st Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument
  • Proceedings of the 20th Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument
  • Proceedings of the 19th Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument

 

Grant Reviewer

  • Polish National Science Centre PRELUDIUM Funding Scheme
  • SICSA Postdoctoral and Early Career Researcher Exchanges (PECE)
  • Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Programme - Transitions and Behaviour
  • SICSA DIstinguished Visitor Scheme
  • Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Programme - Human Capital: Professional Games for Professional Skills
  • Polish National Science Centre PRELUDIUM Funding Scheme

 

Public/Community Engagement

  • West of Scotland Herring Hunt (WOSHH) Website Launch Community Outreach Event at Gairloch Museum

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • External Ph.D Examiner: King's College London (Jack Mumford)
  • External Ph.D Examiner: King's College London (Federico Castagna)
  • External Ph.D Examiner: University of York (Fatima Alkhawaldeh)

 

Reviewing

  • Joint International Conference on Computational Linguistics, Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC-COLING)
  • 2023 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing
  • International Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary Computation (EvoApps)
  • Journal of Argument & Computation
  • Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA)
  • Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL 2023)
  • Journal of Computers In Human Behaviour
  • 29th International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING)
  • Synthese Journal
  • 9th International Conference on Computational Models of Argument (COMMA)
  • Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA)
  • Journal of Argument & Computation
  • 2nd Conference of the Asia-Pacific Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics and the 12th International Joint Conference on Natural Language Processing
  • Journal of Computers In Human Behaviour
  • International Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary Computation (EvoApps)
  • EACL Association for Computational Linguistics European Chapter
  • Manuscrito: Revista Internacional de Filosofia
  • Synthese Journal
  • Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA)
  • 1stConference of the Asia-Pacific Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics and the 11th International Joint Conference on Natural Language Processing
  • International Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary Computation (EvoApps)
  • Journal of Computers In Human Behaviour
  • IEEE Technology and Society Magazine
  • Journal of Argument & Computation
  • 8th International Conference on Computational Models of Argument (COMMA)
  • Journal of Computers In Human Behaviour
  • Transportation Journal
  • International Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary Computation (EvoApps)
  • Journal of Argument & Computation
  • Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA)
  • Journal Of Intelligent Transportation Systems
  • Journal Of Intelligent Transportation Systems
  • Journal of Logics and their Applications
  • Journal of Computers In Human Behaviour
  • Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA)
  • International Workshop on Theory and Applications of Formal Argument (TAFA)
  • ACM SIGCHI Designing Interactive Systems (DIS)
  • International Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary Computation (EvoApps)
  • Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA)
  • Journal of Computers In Human Behaviour
  • International Workshop on Theory and Applications of Formal Argument (TAFA)
  • EAI Endorsed Journal Of Ambient Systems
  • Journal of Logique et Analyze
  • International Workshop on Theory and Applications of Formal Argument (TAFA)
  • Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA)
  • International Workshop on Non-Monotonic Reasoning
  • Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA)
  • International Workshop on Theory and Applications of Formal Argument (TAFA)
  • Knowledge Engineering Review
  • International Workshop on Non-Monotonic Reasoning
  • Dialectics, Dialogue and Argumentation. an Examination of Douglas Walton's Theories of Reasoning (Tributes)
  • Workshop on User Modelling for Motivation (UM4Motivation)
  • Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA)
  • Journal of Argument & Computation
  • Wiley Encyclopedia of Computer Science & Engineering Article on Agent Technology

 

Date


27 results

On The Role of Dialogue Models in the Age of Large Language Models

Conference Proceeding
Wells, S., & Snaith, M. (2024)
On The Role of Dialogue Models in the Age of Large Language Models. In Proceedings of the 23nd Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (CMNA 2023) (49-51

Thou Shalt Not Squander Life – Comparing Five Approaches to Argument Strength

Journal Article
Zenker, F., Dębowska-Kozłowska, K., Godden, D., Selinger, M., & Wells, S. (2023)
Thou Shalt Not Squander Life – Comparing Five Approaches to Argument Strength. Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric, 68(1), 133-167. https://doi.org/10.2478/slgr-2023-0007
Different approaches analyze the strength of a natural language argument in different ways. This paper contrasts the dialectical, structural, probabilistic (or Bayesian), comp...

Burdens of Proposing: On the Burden of Proof in Deliberation Dialogues

Journal Article
Godden, D., & Wells, S. (2022)
Burdens of Proposing: On the Burden of Proof in Deliberation Dialogues. Informal Logic, 42(1), 291-342. https://doi.org/10.22329/il.v42i1.7225
This paper considers the probative burdens of proposing action or policy options in deliberation dialogues. Do proposers bear a burden of proof? Building on pioneering work by...

Towards a Declarative Approach to Constructing Dialogue Games

Conference Proceeding
Snaith, M., & Wells, S. (2021)
Towards a Declarative Approach to Constructing Dialogue Games. In Proceedings of the 21st Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument (9-18
In this paper we sketch a new approach to the development of dialogue games that builds upon the knowledge gained from several decades of dialogue game research across a varie...

Design and Evaluation of Visualisation Techniques to Facilitate Argument Exploration

Journal Article
Khartabil, D., Collins, C., Wells, S., Bach, B., & Kennedy, J. (2021)
Design and Evaluation of Visualisation Techniques to Facilitate Argument Exploration. Computer Graphics Forum, 40(6), 447-465. https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.14389
This paper reports the design and comparison of three visualizations to represent the structure and content within arguments. Arguments are artefacts of reasoning widely used ...

The Open Argumentation PLatform (OAPL)

Book Chapter
Wells, S. (2020)
The Open Argumentation PLatform (OAPL). In H. Prakken, S. Bistarelli, F. Santini, & C. Taticchi (Eds.), Computational Models of Argument. IOS Press. https://doi.org/10.3233/FAIA200541
Abstract not available.

Trusting Intelligent Machines: Deepening Trust Within Socio-Technical Systems

Journal Article
Andras, P., Esterle, L., Guckert, M., Anh Han, T., Lewis, P. R., Milanovic, K., …Wells, S. (2018)
Trusting Intelligent Machines: Deepening Trust Within Socio-Technical Systems. IEEE technology & society magazine, 37(4), 76-83. https://doi.org/10.1109/MTS.2018.2876107
Intelligent machines have reached capabilities that go beyond a level that a human being can fully comprehend without sufficiently detailed understanding of the underlying mec...

Monkeypuzzle: Towards Next Generation, Free & Open-Source, Argument Analysis Tools

Presentation / Conference
Douglas, J. & Wells, S. (2017, June)
Monkeypuzzle: Towards Next Generation, Free & Open-Source, Argument Analysis Tools. Paper presented at The 17th International Workshop on Computation Models of Natural Argument (CMNA17), London, U.K
We introduce a new, free, open-source, web-based argument analysis tool called Monkeypuzzle. This is designed to provide both a foundation for creating and visualising reprodu...

Information Diffusion in Multi-Agent Communities

Conference Proceeding
Farrenkopf, T., Guckert, M., Urquhart, N., & Wells, S. (in press)
Information Diffusion in Multi-Agent Communities. In Conference Proceedings
Understanding the course of events when newly launched products penetrate a market, and how those products supersede existing dominant products, is crucial. Besides potential ...

Automatically Detecting Fallacies in System Safety Arguments

Conference Proceeding
Yuan, T., Manandhar, S., Kelly, T., & Wells, S. (2016)
Automatically Detecting Fallacies in System Safety Arguments. In Principles and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems. , (47-59). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46218-9_4
Safety cases play a significant role in the development of safety-critical systems. The key components in a safety case are safety arguments, that are designated to demonstrat...

Pre-Napier Funded Projects

  • SUstainable and PERsuasive Human Users moBility in future cities (SUPERHUB)
  • Nuffield Undergraduate Research Bursary (URB/38468)
  • International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE) Placement UK/10/317/01
  • EPSRC (GR/S03/706/01): The Information Exchange

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