Special Session 5. Theories and Applications of Intelligent Requirements Engineering

 1. Brief Description

The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies has accelerated the integration of humans, cyber entities and physical objects. The successful development of software-intensive systems tasked with coordinating, managing and regulating human-cyber-physical interactions relies not only on software and hardware design, but more crucially on whether the integration among humans, cyber components and physical entities can genuinely satisfy system requirements and address practical user problems. Given the inherent openness of Human-Cyber-Physical Systems (HCPS), their operational behaviors exhibit substantial uncertainty, which poses considerable risks and challenges to the development of such systems. In particular, rigorous theories and systematic methodologies are indispensable for the analysis, verification and reasoning of quality requirements including security, reliability and other core attributes of HCPS. Meanwhile, user-friendly automatic or semi-automatic Computer-Aided Requirements Engineering (CARE) tools can significantly boost the overall development efficiency of these systems.
The theme of this conference focuses on collecting research and progress on basic theories and applications of intelligent requirements engineering under human-cyber-physical integration scenarios.

 2. Special Session Chairs

Prof. Jon G. Hall, The Open University, UK
Prof. Lucia Rapanotti, The Open University, UK
Prof. Zhi Li, Guangxi Normal University, China


 3. Special Session Topics

Potential topics of interest include but are not limited to:
▪ Foundational Theories of Problem-Oriented Engineering (POE)
▪ Intelligent Requirements Engineering for HCPS
▪ Quality Requirements Analysis, Verification and Reasoning for HCPS
▪ Computer-Aided Requirements Engineering (CARE) Tools
▪ Empirical Studies for Intelligent Requirements Engineering


 4. Introduction of Special Session Chair

Prof. Jon G. Hall, The Open University, UK

Dr Jon G. Hall is Emeritus Professor of Problem Science at The Open University, UK. His research develops Problem Orientation as a disciplined way of understanding, structuring and solving complex socio-technical problems before committing prematurely to solutions. With Lucia Rapanotti and colleagues, he has developed Problem Oriented Engineering and poetix, a broader account of how problems, environments, stakeholder needs and candidate artefacts can be related, transformed and validated.
His work spans software engineering, organisational change, digital transformation, governance, education and responsible innovation. He is also Chair of the Board of the Modern Work Foundation, where his thinking is applied to major labour-market challenges, including hiring standards, worker protection and collective regulation. His current work argues that in the age of generative AI, research must spend more time in the problem space: attending to real-world phenomena, stakeholder need and responsible problem framing before accelerating into solution production.



Prof. Lucia Rapanotti, The Open University, UK

Dr Lucia Rapanotti is Emeritus Professor of Digital Innovation at The Open University, UK. A Chartered Engineer, Fellow of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, and Senior Fellow of Advance HE, she is an internationally recognised author in software systems engineering, digital innovation and organisational change. Her research has advanced design theory and practice for socio-technical problem solving, most notably through Problem Oriented Engineering, co-created with Jon G. Hall. Her work spans theory, industry-engaged research and knowledge exchange, with applications in safety-critical engineering, change management, analytics, curriculum innovation and complex organisational problem solving. She has also made major contributions to technology-enhanced education, curriculum leadership and quality enhancement.



Prof. Zhi Li, Guangxi Normal University, China

Dr. Zhi Li, PhD, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor. He is a Distinguished Member of China Computer Federation (CCF). He served as the first Standing Committee Member of CCF Technical Committee on Software Engineering from 2020 to 2023, and currently holds committee memberships in CCF Technical Committees of Service Computing, Systems Software and Formal Methods. He is a Senior Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineersand Association for Computing Machinery. He works as Associate Editor of Expert Systems: Journal of Knowledge Engineering, an SCI-indexed journal ranked CCF Category C.
He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Fudan University, Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of York, UK, and Doctor of Computer Science from The Open University, UK. His doctoral research group was advised by prestigious scholars including Academician Mei Hong of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor Barry Boehm, Member of the National Academy of Engineering of the United States. He completed his postdoctoral research in Software Engineering at Keele University, UK, under the supervision of Professor Barbara A. Kitchenham, winner of the 2014 ACM SIGSOFT Impact Paper Award. His overseas study experience in the UK totals 9 years. Prior to his academic career, he accumulated over 10 years of professional technical working experience. His main research interests cover problem-oriented intelligent requirements engineering, modeling, analysis and verification of cyber-human-physical systems based on Jackson's Problem Frames, fundamental theories and applications of artificial intelligence, as well as human-computer interaction. He has presided over 3 National Natural Science Foundation projects and 5 provincial and ministerial research projects. He has published more than 80 academic papers, including 5 papers in CCF Category A journals, and received Best Paper Awards at international conferences three times. He has delivered over 20 invited conference speeches, obtained 9 software copyrights and 1 authorized patent. He has undertaken 2 Industry-University Cooperation and Education Projects funded by Tencent and Nanjing Mooctest respectively.