Summary of experience

Stuart Watt studied Computer Science at the University of York, graduating in 1985, and then worked as a Principal Engineer at Siemens-Plessey Electronic Systems Ltd, designing and developing tools for knowledge-based systems. Between 1989 and 1991, Stuart was employed as a Consultant by Scientia Ltd., a venture company developing knowledge-based systems for applications in education and finance. He returned to academic work in 1991, joining the Human Cognition Research Laboratory as a Research Fellow, and becoming a Lecturer in Knowledge Media in 1995. He gained his PhD (in Cognitive Science, by part-time study) in 1998. In 2002, he moved to take the position of Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing at The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, and in 2005, he was promoted to Reader.

Dr Watt was awarded a Short-term Research Fellowship by British Telecom Research Laboratories, at Martlesham, during the summer of 1998. During this time, he developed and adapted user interface evaluation techniques for intelligent agent systems. He has published many articles on intelligent agents and how people interact with them, on environments for cognitive modelling, and on tools for knowledge management.

Career history

2002 – present

The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK
Reader (Senior Lecturer up to August 2005): School of Computing

Duties include leading research in new technology to support learning and on intelligent information systems, teaching on a range of HCI and web modules, especially at Masters level, and coordinating and managing research in the School.

Achievements:

• Convened and led a University-wide working group to assess the future of learning over a 15 year timescale
• Led the development of a Masters degree in human interface design
• As principal investigator, led proposals and projects for £150,000 of grant income from a variety of commercial and academic sources.
• Coordinated research in Computing from 2003 to present

1995 – 2002

The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
Joint Lecturer: Psychology Department (Social Sciences) and Knowledge Media Institute

Principal duties included leading and conducting research into the use of new technology to support learning, both in educational and commercial contexts, as well as being a member of teams developing Open University courses.

Achievements:

• Wrote bids and managed projects for £400,000 of grant income from a variety of commercial and academic sources.
• Pioneered the use of electronic questionnaires and surveying for marketing and evaluation purposes within the University.
• Developed departmental PhD studentships from 2 to 12, and helped set policy as a member of the University’s Research Degrees Committee.
• Wrote course materials for introductory social sciences (13,000 students/ year), and third-level cognitive psychology (1,500 students/year).

1996 – present

The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
Residential School Course Director for Cognitive Psychology (Part-time, 1 or 2 weeks each year, Tutor from 1993 to 1996)

Managing and teaching an intensive week-long practical residential school, involving the designing and running of experiments in cognitive psychology, in the areas of attention, memory, categorisation, language, and reasoning.

1991 - 1995

The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
Research Fellow: Human Cognition Research Laboratory

Member of a team of six researchers employed to work on the ‘VITAL’ EU-funded ESPRIT project, developing methodologies and tools to support the principled construction of knowledge-based systems.

Achievements:

• Developed the ‘Ousel’ software package, and accompanying materials for a Masters-level UK Open University course on Intelligent Systems Analysis and Design.
• In 1993, I was awarded the ‘Best Technical Paper’ prize at the AISB conference, for the paper ‘Fractal Behaviour Analysis’

1989 – 1991

Scientia Ltd., Cambridge
A start-up company developing knowledge-based systems for use in education and finance.

A member of a team of four, I was responsible for designing and implementing the interface to ‘Syllabus’, a timetabling package for educational institutions, which became the company’s major product.

1985 – 1989

Siemens-Plessey Electronic Systems Ltd., Christchurch, Dorset
Principal Engineer: Advanced Techniques Department
Major supplier of telecommunications equipment

I was principal engineer, and as site coordinator led technical aspects of the company’s involvement in one of the first EU-funded international collaborative IT research and development (ESPRIT) projects, putting together a development tool for expert systems, later released commercially.

Grants and awards

• 2006 £4,000 John Gray Award: “Visual representations of learning for evaluation and reflection” (proposer, with Dr Julian Malins and Chris McKillop)
• 2006 £10,000 from the Open University to develop “Open Comment” – formative feedback technology for Moodle, to support courses in the Arts.
• 2005 £90,000 internally competitive funding from RGU’s Research Development Initiative for “Information retrieval international benchmarking exercises: TREC and INEX”
• 2005 £25,000 from JISC for “Open Mentor” (2nd round, with Dr Denise Whitelock of the Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology
• 2004 £25,000 from JISC for “Open Mentor: An open source mentoring tool for tutors” (with Dr Denise Whitelock of the Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology)
• 2004 £13,000 from Scottish Enterprise Grampian for AmbieSense commercialisation (co-proposer with Dr Ayse Goker)
• 2004 £5,000 from the Vodafone Foundation Senior Visiting Fellowships in Communications (co-proposer with Dr Ayse Goker)
• 2003 and continuing, £8k research consultancy with BP for “Uncle Derek” continuation
• 2001 £5,000 funding from the OU’s Learning and Teaching Innovation Committee for ‘Psychology Experiments on the Internet’ (with Dr Bundy Mackintosh)
• 2001 £250,000 internally competitive funding from the Open University for “ELSA — The Electronic Surveying Alliance” (with Alan Woodley, Dr Adam Joinson, and Dr Sheila Tyler). This included ACES, the Automated Corporate Evaluation Service, with Dr Sheila Tyler, Claire Simpson, and Chris McKillop.
• 2001 £20,000 internally competitive funding from the Open University for “FRAMES” — Feedback, Reviewing, and Monitoring Support for Essay and Report Writing (with Dr Denise Whitelock)
• 1999 £90,000 from BP Amoco for “Uncle Derek”, a Virtual Participant project • 1998 awarded a Short-term Research Fellowship by British Telecom Research Laboratories at Martlesham (now Adastral Park)
• 1996 £25,000 from JISC for “Luigi: an intelligent meeting scheduling agent” (subsequently, this became “Meet-O-Matic”, and is still running)
• 1996 £25,000 from JISC for “An Internet-based virtual teaching and exploration environment” (with Dr Paul Mulholland)
• Between 1995 and 1999 I supervised Simon Masterton’s PhD project “The Virtual Participant”, funded by EPSRC and a CASE award from British Telecom Laboratories, Martlesham