Professor John Clark

School of Computer Science

Professor of Computer and Information Security

Director of Siemens Digital MINE

Head of the Security of Advanced Systems research group

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john.clark@sheffield.ac.uk

Full contact details

Professor John Clark
School of Computer Science
Regent Court (DCS)
211 Portobello
Sheffield
S1 4DP
Profile

John Clark is a Professor of Computer and Information Security at the University of Sheffield since April 2017 and leads the Security of Advanced Systems Research Group. Previously he was Professor of Critical Systems at the University of York, having joined academia in 1992 as a Lecturer in Safety Critical Systems.

He studied Maths and then Applied Statistics at Oxford, before joining the security division of the software and systems house Logica (where he worked on security evaluation and security R&D).

Research interests

His major research interests lie in cybersecurity and software engineering, most notably the use of Artificial Intelligence to these areas. Publications have included work on: threat modelling, security policies, covert channel analysis, cryptographic building blocks, intrusion detection, insider detection, and automated synthesis of security protocols.

Current work addresses the automated discovery of classical cryptanalytic strategies, intrusion detection, and the search for quantum approaches to cryptanalysis via evolutionary computation.

He is particularly interested right now in building up research in the security of robotic and autonomous systems and in the security of advanced manufacturing systems.

Publications

Books

  • Clark JA, Paige RF, Polack FAC & Brooke PJ (2006) Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics): Preface. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Wright J, Stepney S, Clark JA & Jacob JL (2005) Formalizing anonymity: A review. Department of Computer Science, University of York. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Srivratanakul T, Clark JA & Polack F (2004) Writing Effective Security Abuse Cases. Department of Computer Science, University of York. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Srivratanakul T, Clark JA & Polack F (2004) Security Zonal Analysis. Department of Computer Science, University of York. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Zhan Y & Clark JA (2004) Automatic test-data generation for testing simulink models. Department of Computer Science, University of York. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Stepney S, Clark JA & Chivers H (2004) Breaking the Model: finalisation and a taxonomy of security attack. Department of Computer Science, University of York. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Hao C, Clark JA & Jacob JL (2004) A search-based approach to the automated design of security protocols. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Smith A, Clark JA & Burke EK (1997) Four methods for maintenance scheduling. Citeseer. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Clark JA & Jacob JL (1997) A survey of authentication protocol literature: Version 1.0. Citeseer. RIS download Bibtex download

Journal articles

Book chapters

Conference proceedings

Theses

  • Clark JA (2002) Metaheuristic Search as a Cryptological Tool. RIS download Bibtex download

Other

  • Chen H, Fuller R & Clark JA () Demonstration software for IDS Sensor Placement. RIS download Bibtex download

Preprints

Grants
Professional activities and memberships

Professional activities and achievements

  • Member of the Security of Advanced Systems research group
  • Awarded Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award in 2013.
  • ACM/IEEE Automated Software Engineering. Most influential 15 year (-/+1) paper: ASE 1998 - An Automated Framework for Structural Test-Data Generation - Nigel Tracey, John Clark, Keith Mander and John McDermid.
  • Winner of Silver Medal and $1000 (Human-Competitive Quantum Fourier Transform Algorithm Using Genetic Programming. Paul Massey, John A Clark and Susan Stepney, 2005) and Bronze Medal and $2000 (Genetic algorithms and solid state NMR pulse sequences. Matthias Bechmann, John Clark, Angelika Sebald, 2013) in GEECO’s Human Competitive Awards open competitions.
  • Awarded 9 best paper prizes since 2004.
  • External Examiner for 4 undergraduate programmes: King's College London, Sheffield, Brunel, and Imperial College London.
  • External Examiner for 4 postgraduate programmes: Newcastle, Open University, Dublin and University College London.

Administrative and Community Roles

  • Joins Sheffield in April 2017 as the group leader for new Security of Advanced Systems Research Group
  • Previously: Secretary and Chair of various Boards of Examiners, Head of Research, Sciences Rep on Senate, and Head of Department.
  • Regular reviewer, panellist, and panel chair for the EPSRC.