Dr Anthony Simons

MA, PhD

School of Computer Science

Senior Lecturer

Deputy Director of UG Admissions

Member of the Testing research group

Tony Simons profile photo
Profile picture of Tony Simons profile photo
a.j.simons@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 1838
Regent Court (DCS)

Full contact details

Dr Anthony Simons
School of Computer Science
Regent Court (DCS)
211 Portobello
Sheffield
S1 4DP
Profile

Dr Anthony J H Simons is an academic software engineer in the Department of Computer Science. He has an MA in Modern Languages from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Sheffield. After graduating he joined Sheffield as a Research Associate in the Speech and Hearing Research Group to build speech recognition systems.

Later, in the Verification and Testing Research Group, he developed the type theory of object-oriented programming languages for his PhD. Subsequently becoming a Lecturer, he was active in developing object-oriented software engineering methods, and became the UK respondent for an OPEN ISO standard.

As a Senior Lecturer, he investigates the area of Model-Based Testing and Model-Driven Engineering, with application to Cloud Computing.

Research interests

Dr Simons' research focuses on turning formal results from verification and testing into practical benefits for software engineering. His current research areas include model-based testing and model-driven engineering, with applications to Cloud computing.

He has also published widely in object-oriented software engineering, including type theory and software development methods. He is inventor of the JWalk automatic software testing tool for Java; and the JAST library for processing XML in Java. He is co-author of the OPEN Toolbox of Techniques.

Publications

Journal articles

  • Gyeera TW, Simons AJH & Stannett M (2023) . IEEE Transactions on Big Data, 9(4), 1071-1085.
  • Gyeera TW, Simons AJH & Stannett MP (2023) . IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, 16(4), 2742-2754.
  • Alharbi S, Hasan M, Simons AJH, Brumfitt S & Green P (2020) . Computer Speech & Language, 62.
  • Simons A & Lefticaru R (2020) . Software Testing, Verification and Reliability, 30(3).
  • Fernández-y-Fernández CA & Simons AJH (2018) An algebra to represent task flow models. Journal of Advance Computational Research, 3(2), 63-74.
  • Kiran M & Simons A (2016) . International Journal of Cloud Applications and Computing, 6(1), 42-58.
  • Gonidis F, Paraskakis I & Simons AJH (2015) . International Journal of Systems and Service-Oriented Engineering, 5(4), 1-25.
  • Fernandez-Fernandez CA & Simons AJH (2014) An Implementation of the Task Algebra, a Formal Specification for the Task Model in the Discovery Method. Journal of Applied Research and Technology, 12(5), 908-918.
  • Simons AJH, Fraser G & Bottaci L (2013) . Software - Practice and Experience, 43(9), 1101-1102.
  • Derrick J, North S & Simons AJH (2009) Z2SAL: a translation-based model checker for Z. Formal Aspects of Computing, 1-29.
  • Hierons RM, Bogdanov K, Bowen JP, Cleaveland R, Derrick J, Dick J, Gheorghe M, Harman M, Kapoor K, Krause P , Luttgen G et al (2009) . ACM COMPUT SURV, 41(2).
  • Simons AJH (2007) . AUTOMAT SOFTW ENG, 14(4), 369-418.
  • Simons AJH (2006) . SOFTWARE TESTING VERIFICATION & RELIABILITY, 16(3), 133-156.
  • Simons AJH (2006) . Software Testing, Verification and Reliability, 16(1), 62-64.
  • Simons AJH (2005) The theory of classification part 18: Polymorphism through the looking glass. Journal of Object Technology, 4(4), 7-18.
  • Simons AJH (2005) . The Journal of Object Technology, 4(4), 7-18.
  • Simons AJH (2005) . Software Testing, Verification and Reliability, 15(1), 63-64.
  • Simons AJH (2005) . Journal of Object Technology, 4(1), 13-25.
  • Simons AJH (2005) . Journal of Object Technology, 4(5), 37-48.
  • Simons AJH (2005) . Journal of Object Technology, 4(2), 15-26.
  • Simons AJH (2005) . Journal of Object Technology, 4(7), 7-18.
  • Simons AJH (2004) . Journal of Object Technology, 3(8), 15-26.
  • Simons AJH (2004) . Journal of Object Technology, 3(1), 43-53.
  • Simons AJH (2004) . Journal of Object Technology, 3(5), 13-24.
  • Simons AJH (2004) . Journal of Object Technology, 3(3), 7-19.
  • Simons AJH (2004) . Journal of Object Technology, 3(10), 7-18.
  • Simons AJH (2004) . Journal of Object Technology, 3(7), 15-25.
  • Simons AJH (2003) . Journal of Object Technology, 2(3), 13-22.
  • Simons AJH (2003) . Journal of Object Technology, 2(2), 17-26.
  • Simons AJH (2003) . Journal of Object Technology, 2(1), 13-21.
  • Simons AJH (2003) . Journal of Object Technology, 2(6), 25-34.
  • Simons AJH (2003) . Journal of Object Technology, 2(4), 55-64.
  • Simons AJH (2002) . Journal of Object Technology, 1(2), 47-54.
  • Simons AJH (2002) . Journal of Object Technology, 1(1), 55-61.
  • Simons AJH (2002) . Journal of Object Technology, 1(5), 27-33.
  • Simons AJH (2002) . Journal of Object Technology, 1(4), 49-57.
  • Henderson-Sellers B & Simons AJH (2000) The OPEN software engineering process architecture: From activities to techniques. J RES PRACT INF TECH, 32(1), 47-68.
  • Simons AJH, Snoeck M & Hung KSY (1999) Using design patterns to reveal the competence of object-oriented methods in system-level design. COMPUT SYST SCI ENG, 14(6), 343-352.
  • van den Berg KG & Simons AJH (1999) Control-flow semantics of use cases in UML. INFORM SOFTWARE TECH, 41(10), 651-659.
  • Henderson-Sellers B, Firesmith DG, Graham I & Simons AJH (1999) Instantiating the process metamodel. JOOP Journal of Object Oriented Programming, 12(3), 51-57.
  • Henderson-Sellers B & Graham IM (1999) Metalevel relationship cardinalities. JOURNAL OF OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING, 12(1), 51-58.
  • Simons AJH (1998) Borrow, copy or steal? Loans and larceny in the orthodox canonical form. ACM SIGPLAN NOTICES, 33(10), 65-83.
  • Henderson-Sellers B & Graham I (1996) . Computer, 29(4), 86-89.
  • Simons AJH, Low Eng Kwang & Ng Yee Mei (1994) An optimizing delivery system for object-oriented software. Object Oriented Systems, 1(1), 21-44.

Book chapters

  • Gonidis F, Paraskakis I & Simons AJH (2016) , Big Data (pp. 392-417). IGI Global
  • Gonidis F, Paraskakis I & Simons AJH (2014) In Lopes L, Žilinskas J, Costan A, Cascella RG, Kecskemeti G, Jeannot E, Cannataro M, Ricci L, Benkner S, Petit S , Scarano V et al (Ed.), Lecture Notes in Computer Science (pp. 1-12). Springer International Publishing
  • Cabot J, Albert P, Dupé G, del Fabro MD & Lee S (2011) , Lecture Notes in Computer Science (pp. 379-380). Springer Berlin Heidelberg
  • Simons AJH & Graham I (1999) In Kilov H, Rumpe B & Simmonds I (Ed.), Behavioral Specifications of Businesses and Systems (pp. 237-257). Springer US
  • Hung K, Simons T & Rose T (1998) , °¿°¿±õ³§â€™98 (pp. 183-200). Springer London
  • Hung KSY, Simons AJH & Rose A (1998) In Hawkins C, Ross M & Staples G (Ed.), Software Quality Management VI (pp. 121-134). Springer London
  • Simons AJH (1997) In Patel D, Sun Y & Patel S (Ed.), °¿°¿±õ³§â€™96 (pp. 44-56). Springer London

Conference proceedings

  • (2025) . 13th International Conference on Model-Based Software and Systems Engineering, 26 February 2025 - 28 February 2025.
  • Simons A (2025) . Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Model-Based Software and Systems Engineering MODELSWARD, Vol. 1 (pp 242-249). Porto, Portugal, 26 February 2025 - 26 February 2025.
  • Alzahrani E, Simons AJH & Richmond P (2020) . 2019 International Conference on High Performance Computing & Simulation (HPCS) (pp 567-574). Dublin, Ireland, 15 July 2019 - 15 July 2019.
  • Alharbi S, Hasan M, Simons AJH, Brumfitt S & Green P (2018) . Proceedings of Interspeech 2018 (pp 3433-3437). Hyderabad, India, 2 September 2018 - 2 September 2018.
  • Alzahrani E, Richmond P & Simons AJH (2018) . Euro-Par 2017: Parallel Processing Workshops (pp 703-714). Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 28 August 2017 - 28 August 2017.
  • Alharbi S, Simons AJH, Brumfitt S & Green PD (2017) . 6th. Workshop on Child Computer Interaction (WOCCI 2017), eds. K. Evanini, M. Najafian, S. Safavi and K. Berkling, Vol. WOCCI (pp 1-6). Glasgow, 13 November 2017 - 13 November 2017.
  • Gonidis F, Paraskakis I & Simons AJH (2015) . Advances in Service-Oriented and Cloud Computing, Vol. 508 (pp 139-152). Manchester, UK
  • Lefticaru R & Simons AJH (2015) . Advances in Service-Oriented and Cloud Computing, Vol. 508 (pp 175-189). Manchester, UK
  • Simons AJH, Rossini A, Paraskakis I & Jensen J (2015) . Advances in Service-Oriented and Cloud Computing, Vol. 508 (pp 121-123). Manchester, UK
  • Kiran M & Simons AJH (2015) . Advances in Service-Oriented and Cloud Computing, Vol. 508 (pp 190-205). Manchester, UK
  • Gonidis F, Paraskakis I & Simons AJH (2014) . IEEE 6th International Conference on Cloud Computing Technology and Science (pp 751-754). Singapore, 15 December 2014 - 15 December 2014.
  • Simons AJH, Bratanis K, Kourtesis D, Paraskakis I, Veloudis S, Verginadis Y, Mentzas G, Braun S & Rossini A (2014) . Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on CrossCloud Systems. Bordeaux, France, 8 December 2014 - 8 December 2014.
  • Siregar MU, Derrick J, North SD & Simons AJH (2014) . Proceedings - ICACSIS 2014: 2014 International Conference on Advanced Computer Science and Information Systems (pp 225-231). Jakarta, Indonesia, 18 October 2014 - 19 October 2014.
  • Kourtesis D, Bratanis K, Friesen A, Verginadis Y, Simons AJH, Rossini A, Schwichtenberg A & Gouvas P (2014) . Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics, Vol. 8377 LNCS (pp 150-162)
  • (2014)
  • Mentzas G, Simons AJH & Paraskakis I (2014) Cloud Service Brokerage 2013 - Methods and Mechanisms. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 8377 (pp 135-136). Berlin, 2 December 2013 - 2 December 2013.
  • Kiran M, Friesen A, Simons AJH & Schwach WKR (2014) . Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 8377 (pp 192-208). Berlin, 2 December 2013 - 2 December 2013.
  • Gonidis F, Paraskakis I, Simons AJH & Kourtesis D (2013) . ACM International Conference Proceeding Series (pp 275-282), 19 September 2013 - 21 September 2013.
  • Bratanis K, Dranidis D & Simons AJH (2011) . ACM International Conference Proceeding Series (pp 28-32)
  • Bratanis K, Dranidis D & Simons AJH (2010) . ACM International Conference Proceeding Series (pp 9-16)
  • Bratanis K, Dranidis D & Simons AJH (2010) . Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics, Vol. 6303 LNCS (pp 203-206)
  • Simons AJH & Zhao W (2009) . Taic Part 2009 Testing Academic and Industrial Conference Practice and Research Techniques (pp 33-42)
  • Thomson CD, Holcombe M & Simons AJH (2009) . Taic Part 2009 Testing Academic and Industrial Conference Practice and Research Techniques (pp 167-175)
  • Ramollari E, Kourtesis D, Dranidis D & Simons AJH (2009) Leveraging Semantic Web Service Descriptions for Validation by Automated Functional Testing. SEMANTIC WEB: RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS, Vol. 5554 (pp 593-607)
  • Simons AJH, Griffths N & Thomson C (2008) Feedback-Based Specification, Coding and Testing with JWalk. TACI PART 2008:TESTING: ACADEMIC AND INDUSTRIAL CONFERENCE PRACTICE AND RESEARCH TECHNIQUES, PROCEEDINGS (pp 69-73)
  • Derrick J, North S & Simons AJH (2008) Z2SAL-Building a Model Checker for Z. ABSTRACT STATE MACHINES, B AND Z, PROCEEDINGS, Vol. 5238 (pp 280-293)
  • Thomson C, Holcombe M, Cowling T, Simons T & Michaelides G (2008) A Pilot Study of Comparative Customer Comprehension between Extreme X-Machine and UML Models. ESEM'08: PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2008 ACM-IEEE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON EMPIRICAL SOFTWARE ENGINEERING AND MEASUREMENT (pp 270-272)
  • Simons AJH & Thomson CD (2008) . 2008 IEEE International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop Icstw 08 (pp 375-379)
  • Simons AJH & Thomson CD (2007) . TAIC PART 2007 - Testing: Academic and Industrial Conference - Practice and Research Techniques, Proceedings (pp 138-138)
  • Derrick J, North S & Simons T (2006) . Formal Methods and Software Engineering: 8th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, ICFEM 2006, Macao, China, November 1-3, 2006, Proceedings, Vol. LNPSE 4260 (pp 678-696). Macao, China, 1 November 2006 - 1 November 2006.
  • Simons AJH & Fernandez CAFY (2005) Using Alloy to model-check visual design notations. Sixth Mexican International Conference on Computer Science, Proceedings (pp 121-128)
  • Simons AJH (2005) Testing with guarantees and the failure of regression testing in eXtreme Programming. EXTREME PROGRAMMING AND AGILE PROCESSES IN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, PROCEEDINGS, Vol. 3556 (pp 118-126)
  • Stannett MP, Simons A, Bogdanov K & Holcombe W (2002) Plug and Play Safely: Rules for Behavioural Compatibility. IASTED SEA 2002 (pp 263-268). Cambridge, MA
  • Simons AJH (2000) . Electronic Workshops in Computing. York, UK, 17 January 2000 - 17 January 2000.
  • Simons AJH (1999) Use cases considered harmful. TOOLS 29: TECHNOLOGY OF OBJECT-ORIENTED LANGUAGES AND SYSTEMS, PROCEEDINGS, Vol. 29 (pp 194-203)
  • Simons AJH (1998) . OOPSLA '98: Proceedings of the 13th ACM SIGPLAN conference on Object-oriented programming, systems, languages, and applications (pp 65-83). Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 18 October 1998 - 18 October 1998.
  • Simons AJH, Snoeck M & Hung KSY (1998) Design Patterns as litmus paper to test the strength of object-oriented methods. OOIS'98: 1998 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OBJECT ORIENTED INFORMATION SYSTEMS, PROCEEDINGS (pp 129-147)
  • Green PD, Cooke MP, Lafferty HH & Simons AJH (1988) (pp 123-128)
  • Green PD, Cooke MP, Lafferty HH & Simons AJH (1987) A speech recognition strategy based on making acoustic evidence and phonetic knowledge explicit. Proceedings of European Conference on Speech Technology (pp 1373-1376). Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 1 September 1987 - 1 September 1987.
  • Alharbi S, Hasan M, Simons AJH, Brumfitt S & Green P () . SLSP 2017: Statistical Language and Speech Processing, Vol. 10583 (volume 10583) (pp 217-228). Le Mans, France, 23 October 2017 - 23 October 2017.
  • Stannett MP, Simons A, Bogdanov K & Holcombe W () Method of Object Testing, Integration and Verification. FORTEST Workshop on testing. York, 13 September 2002.

Preprints

  • Gyeera TW, Simons AJH & Stannett M (2021) , Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Grants
  • Ferromone Trails Concept, Department for Transport (DFT), 02/2017 to 06/2017, £24,635, as PI
  • Future Engineering System: ATI, InnovateUK, 04/2016 to 03/2019, £199,874, as PI
  • , EC- FP7, 11/2012 to 12/2015, £323,688, as PI
Professional activities and memberships
  • Member of the  research group
  • Research Track Director for the South-East European Research Centre
  • Director of Undergraduate Admissions, Department of Computer Science
  • Sheffield International College Liaison Officer
  • Previous Director of Teaching, Department of Computer Science
  • Previous European Liaison Officer, Department of Computer Scienc

Links

Testing research group