Prof Juan Carlos Augusto

My research interests are related to technical areas usually referred as Context-Aware Computing, Ambient Intelligence, Ambient Assisted Living, Intelligent Environments, Smart Environments, Pervasive Computing, Ubiquitous Computing, Person-Centric Computing, Internet of Things, sensor-based computing, Smart Classrooms, Smart Campus, Smart Cities, etc.  

Through my work I have advocated in the scientific community to move from a more gadgets-centred concept of environment automation into a more user-centred one.

As a result of my research work, I have contributed to more than 280 peer-reviewed publications. A substantial part of which are articles in scientific journals and also edited landmark books such as the Handbook on Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments (Springer, 2009), the Handbook on Ambient Assisted Living (IOS Press, 2012), the Handbook of Smart Cities (Springer, 2021), and the Smart Health Handbook (Sage/IOS Press, 2025).

Training of Postgraduate Researchers is another activity which I am very enthusiastic about and so far  I have been part of the supervisory team for fifteen Ph.D. candidates (ten as Director of Studies) and directed nine M.Sc. by Research projects.  The assessment of innovation skills acquired by postgraduate researchers is also a substantial part of academic and so far I have been I have been External Examiner in vivas for twenty-three PhD candidates in various countries.  I am happy to consider students with very good performance wishing to enrol in a Ph.D. program and train as researchers in any of these areas or in topics with a clear relation to these. Contact me to discuss possible topics and the whole application process in general.

Engagement and Impact

An important part of research and innovation is the dissemination of knowledge and I have been regularly invited to explain our innovation and personal views on certain technical topics. As a result, I have provided many conference and workshop keynotes, tutorials, short courses for MSc programmes and Summer Schools, as well as research seminars at Universities or other Institutions.

Along my career I have been invited to be part of fourteen Advisory Groups/Panels and at international level, I serve on a yearly basis in EU panels and have been called to review for National Funding bodies at eleven different countries.  

I am part of national Working Groups developing activities to interface between innovation and society in my area of expertise and have also been an active member of several professional societies such as ACM, IEEE, AAAI and BCS.

Other roles where I support science and innovation are:

* Editorial Board of the Journal on Universal Access in the Information Society (Springer).  

* Editor in Chief of the Book Series on Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments (Sage/IOS Press)

* Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal on Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments (Sage/IO(S Press)

* Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal on Reliable Intelligent Environments

* Editor in Chief of the Journal on on Smart Cities and Society (Sage/IOS Press)

Throughout my career I worked at four different Universities in three different countries and I have experienced a diversity of working environments, colleagues and student groups.  At a technical level I work in an area which combines various subdisciplines within CS so I also build bridges between colleagues from different specialized technical communities, nourishing from that diversity of social and technical communities. In total I have taught twenty-two different modules within the speciality of Computer Science.

Currently I am teaching at the following:

"Advanced Topics in Computer Science" (CMT4040)

"Information Systems Quality Management" (CST4310)

A substantial part of delivering education is also achieved by directing Final Year Projects from Computer Science, Data Science, IT and BIS courses.

I am also Postgraduate Researchers Lead which requires assesment of applicants, following the progression of their projects through their programme, as well as organizing and delivering training sessions.

As a continuation of my M.Sc. in Higher Education Practice I also continue the exploration of technology assisted innovation for education.