Computational models are essentially computer programs intended to simulate a natural system, such as an ant colony, the formation of skin tissue or the global economy. Scientists and industrialists use computational models to help develop their understanding of the natural system being modelled, to make forecasts, and to predict the impact of some change to the system. A topical example of an application of a computer model might be to predict the impact of nationalising the Northern Rock bank on the UK economy.Agent-based models are computational models which have been developed from the point of view of the main actors in the system, e.g. a terrorist in a model of civil uprising, or a voter in an election. Observations made from simulating the model can be understood and explained in terms of the individuals involved, answering questions such as 'why is there civil disturbance in this area of the country?', 'why is this political party popular here?' or 'why has a tumour developed here?'. Such inferences are arguably difficult to make from 'top-down' approaches to modelling, which are composed of a set of mathematical equations.As predictions and scientific discoveries are reliant on the models being implemented correctly, the consequences of not properly testing a model can be extremely serious, and have cost companies several millions of pounds in the past. However, traditional software testing strategies, which take a 'divide and conquer' approach, are difficult to apply to agent-based models. The interaction of agents in a simulation, often at random, produces complex patterns and behaviours. Thus, it is difficult to predict which causes will lead directly to which effects. The proposed research here intends to test agent-based models using intelligent search techniques, with the specific intention of 'homing in' on behaviours of the model that have not been exposed in previous simulation runs. In this way, the search process will encourage testing of the model in unlikely or ill-conceived situations, where the model's behaviour may diverge from that intended. In order to do this, the search process will build up an abstract picture of what the model is doing in simulation through extension of a technique known as invariant detection. Invariants are statements that are always found to be true. The search will essentially aim to falsify generated invariants generated from past simulations in order to demonstrate new behaviours of the model. These are likely to be rare or unexpected behaviours that may not have been previously tested, and thus possible instances where software errors may be lurking.

This is a follow-on proposal for a Phase Two from the highly successful Phase One under EPSRC funding (GR EP/G051674/1; EP/G049874/1; EP/G049939/1; EP/G050600/1; EP/G05178X/1; EP/G053847/1;EP/G054886/1; EP/G055610/1; EP/F030118/1) of the IU-ATC which was for an initial 30-month period of a 5-year project envisioned by EPSRC and DST. The IU-ATC project represents the largest collaboration of its kind between UK and India and as such provides a unique and internationally competitive research eco-system to be further leveraged for maximum impact. As commented by the EPSRC Review Panel that met on 15th August (i) "The panel were positive about the success of Phase 1 of IU-ATC, commenting that they were impressed with the achievements of the consortium so far in the face of the significant challenge of making a consortium work across numerous institutions and country boundaries.", (ii) "The panel were clear that there is no question of the huge capacity that the IU-ATC has built over phase 1." A summary of our strengths is provided in the Joint 2-page (planning for IU-ATC Phase 2) document submitted to EPSRC-DST on August 5th 2011 (attached). In summary there has been 246 international Conference Papers, 106 Journal Papers ( with 31 papers still under review), Papers under dissemination 31 , 6 Books , and 10 Technical Reports. Of particular significance are the 15 Patents Submitted, the 8 technical Prototypes built and the 12 Technical Testbeds / Demonstrators that support the work of the team in both countries. As we plan for Phase 2, we have reflected on our outputs to-date and also the recently published strategic research priorities from EPSRC published in July 2011 on Global Uncertainties , Healthcare, Digital Economy, E-Infrastructure, Intelligent Information Infrastructure, Working Together and DST 11th Plan, DST SAC respectively. In light of the respective national priorities for ICT Research and Innovation that have been identified by EPSRC-DST, there are a number of directly relevant "grand challenges" which we highlighted in our 2-page plan for the respective EPSRC-DST Review Committees on 5th August 2011 (attached). Leveraging the capacity that has been developed in IU-ATC Phase 1, we will take into consideration some of the respective national priorities areas as listed in 1..7 above and the key recommendations of the EPSRC-DST review Panels. As evidenced from the EPSRC Review Panel a specific recommendation was made that whilst we should strive to have commonality of approach between work areas in both countries we should not 'force-fit' all research activities to both countries. Given this recommendation, we have developed a plan of innovative research that attempts to address global issues, common challenges and respective national priorities.

The Lancaster Centre for Doctoral Training in Statistics and Operational Research (STOR) will meet the current critical need to address the national skills shortage within both disciplines. These complementary areas of mathematics underpin a wide-range of industries including defence, healthcare, finance, energy and transport. Thus, the development of this integrated, industrially-focused doctoral training centre is key for national competitiveness. Combined with the input of our industrial partners, the formation of the centre will provide a research training environment focused on methodological research motivated and applied to important real scientific/industrial applications. The centre will be designed to attract, train and nurture the analytic research capacity of the UK's strongest numerate graduates, thus developing a generation of doctoral scientists capable of applying their research skills to industrial applications through either academic or industrial career paths. Key aims of centre are:(i) to increase national doctoral recruitment into STOR through a programme attractive to substantial numbers of students outside those who would normally consider doctoral study in the area; (ii) to train graduates capable of producing research of high quality and with major industrial and scientific impact;(iii) to produce highly employable graduates equipped with the broad skills needed for rapid career progression in academia or industry;(iv) to stimulate research at the interface of STOR through doctoral projects which span the disciplines. The long-term vision for this centre is that it will grow into a national centre of excellence for a collaborative doctoral training environment in STOR between academia and industry, leading to a sustainable model for better exploitation of research.

Investment in innovation and research in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is essential in order to foster social and economic inclusion, better public services, and improvements in the quality of life for citizens. The key purpose of our Network is to strengthen such investment in the area of Next Generation Telecommunications Networks in support of the Digital Economy. Such aspirations are pivotal for social inclusion and economic prosperity in both the UK and India. Within the UK, the situation is improving, but according to Ofcom's recent report on the Nations and Regions 2007, more work needs to be done to ensure that the benefits of the Digital Economy are accessible and affordable to all of its citizens. With a growing middle class that now numbers nearly 400 million people, India's electronics equipment consumption, estimated at $28.2 billion in 2005, is expected to reach $363 billion by 2015. Domestic production totalled $10.99 billion in 2005 and is projected at $155 billion in 2015, according to ISA estimates, thanks to such drivers as mobile phones, wireless equipment, set-tops and smart-card terminals. These developments, and the priorities of government to raise educational and business standards and address social and economic deprivation, are driving the pressure on the enabling communications and service providers to come up with cost-effective solutions that can be rolled out at scale in support of the digital economy in both countries.Within our proposed Network, we will address a number of themes that will contribute to the development and deployment of Next Generation Converged Networks. These themes build on the strengths of our Network Members and also provide the greatest opportunities for the consideration of Technology Demonstrators that will underpin the development of government policies and initiatives for both Rural and Urban Digital Economy programmes in both UK and India.For the past two years, under the invitation of EPSRC and the British High Commission in Delhi, Professor Parr has established a UK-India Advisory Group (see Letters of Support from British High Commission Personnel in India). This group has been formulating a development plan between the two nations, involving an agenda of activities within the context of Next Generation Networking; the purpose is to encourage the development of real and meaningful collaborations that will be internationally leading and economically relevant to both the UK and India. Overall, the intention is the establishment of a joint Indo-UK Virtual Centre of Excellence that will address the domain of Next Generation Networking for the benefit of both nations. The provision of core funding through this EPSRC INTERACT Programme is critical to the creation of our Network and to enable our plans to go forward on a sure footing for the future.

Recently the media has been awash with reports on the downloading and sharing of music files, a crisis which strikes at the economic viability of the entire global music industry. This is a startling reminder of the security challenges posed, in both the civil and criminal domains, as we move relentlessly to a world in which all Information Technology is fully connected, facilitated by the development and rapid uptake of Web 2.0. This, and its successors, will radically transform society in a way unimaginable a decade ago. However, with the accrued benefits come major threats in terms of privacy, security of information and vulnerability to external attack. Threats range, in the criminal domain, from the petty criminal stealing credit card details, through trouble making hacktivists, who attack organisations to further political aims, to the sinister cyber-terrorists, who attack strategic targets in the same way that terrorists would bomb and destroy national infrastructure. At the heart of the CSIT project is the perennial challenge of making all of the IT solutions, of today and tomorrow, secure. CSIT will be a world-class Research and Innovation centre coupling major research breakthroughs in Secure Information Technology with exciting developments in innovation and commercialisation.Information Technology in the widest sense deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, analyze, transmit, and retrieve information. So, the IT field covers every aspect of data processing from the banking using one's home PC with its (increasingly wireless) broadband connection, through to the complex systems which control and manage the world's aviation, maritime and telecommunications systems. As anyone who has had a virus, worm, Trojan or spyware on their home PC can readily testify, security is an essential requirement for any IT systems in order to retain privacy, integrity and trust. When electronic sensor devices and CCTV cameras are networked and combined with computer processing, IT then becomes a power enabling tool in the field of physical infrastructure protection, which includes fire monitoring, asset tracking and intrusion detection. Thus while IT security itself is often a matter of defending against automated attack by viral programs, IT for asset protection is a tool to assist the human operator. The IT systems used for infrastructure systems must themselves be secure not least because personal biometric data is increasingly being rolled out as a part of the solution.IT systems are analysed into a stack of independent layers along lines defined in international standards. CSIT staff are world leaders in academic research in these layers, an attribute which is reflected in the four initial fields of academic research: data systems, networks, wireless and intelligent surveillance. However a key distinguishing feature of CSIT is the fact that it understands, because of its history, the necessity to ultimately take a the holistic, or systems engineering, perspective in order to research and develop the creation of complete secure IT systems, which undoubtedly are greater than the sum of their layers. The involvement of many industrial partners in CSIT bears witness to this.The driving goal for CSIT is to strategically position U.K. industry at the forefront of the field of secure IT because this field is a critical, emerging and rapidly growing sector with its wider benefits for the safety and security of society. Embedded within Queen's University, with its very successful record of industrial collaboration and spin-out company formation, CSIT therefore lends itself well to a strong business and academic partnership, creating a continuous flow of knowledge transfer opportunities, with realizable shorter term milestones for transfer of the research, coupled with exciting opportunities for major breakthroughs and ensuing commercial opportunities for UK industry.