Jane Hillston

Jane Hillston
MBE FRS FRSE
Prof Jane Hillston in 2021.
Born1963 (age 62–63)
Alma materUniversity of York
Lehigh University
University of Edinburgh
Known forPEPA
AwardsRoger Needham Award (2004), Suffrage Science Award (2018)
Scientific career
WorkplacesUniversity of Edinburgh
ThesisA Compositional Approach to Performance Modelling (1994)
Robert J. Pooley
Julian Bradfield[1]

Jane Elizabeth Hillston (born 1963) is a British computer scientist who is professor of quantitative modelling and former head of school in the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.[2]

Early life and education

Hillston received a BA in Mathematics from the University of York in 1985, an MSc in Mathematics from Lehigh University in the United States in 1987 and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Edinburgh in 1994,[3] where she has spent her subsequent academic career. Her PhD thesis was awarded the BCS/CPHC Distinguished Dissertation Awards in 1995 and was published by Cambridge University Press in 1996 as A Compositional Approach to Performance Modelling, volume 12 of the Distinguished Dissertations in Computer Science series.[4]

Research and career

She has been an EPSRC Research Fellow (1994–1995), Lecturer (1995–2001), Reader (2001–2006) and Professor of Quantitative Modelling since 2006. Hillston is a member of the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science at Edinburgh.[5] In 2018 she was appointed Head of the School of Informatics at Edinburgh, taking over from Johanna Moore,[6] until succeeded by Helen Hastie in 2023.[7] She is Dean of Research Culture in the College of Science and Engineering at Edinburgh, and was Deputy Vice Principal Research from 2020 to 2022.[8]

Jane Hillston is known for her work on stochastic process algebras. In particular, she has developed the PEPA process algebra, and helped develop Bio-PEPA, which is based on the earlier PEPA algebra and is specifically aimed at analyzing biochemical networks.[9][10]

Since January 1st 2023 Hillston has been Editor-in-Chief of Proceedings of the Royal Society A (the first female Editor-in-Chief in the journal's history). She also serves on the editorial board of Logical Methods in Computer Science, Theoretical Computer Science, as one of the editors in the area of Theory of Natural Computing,[11] and as an Associate Editor of ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation (TOMACS).[12]

Honours and awards

In 2004, she received the first Roger Needham Award at the Royal Society in London[13][14] awarded yearly for a distinguished research contributor in computer research by a UK-based researcher within ten years of their PhD.[15] In March 2007 she was elected to the fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[16][17] In 2018, Hillston was elected the membership of the Academia Europaea.[18] In 2018 she was a recipient of the Suffrage Science Award for Computer Science.[19] In 2021 she was awarded the RSE Lord Kelvin Medal.[20]

She led the University of Edinburgh School of Informatics in applying for an Athena SWAN Award,[21] which they subsequently achieved silver in.[22] The award shows that the department provides a "supportive environment" for female students.

Hillston was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 2022.[23] in 2023 she won the BCS Lovelace Medal for research in recognition of her work developing new approaches to modelling both artificial and natural systems by combining elements of formal languages with mathematical modelling.

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to computer science and women in science.[24]

She is a board member of the Alan Turing Institute, the United Kingdom's national institute for data science and artificial intelligence.[25]

References

  1. ↑ Jane Hillston at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  2. ↑ "Jane Hillston". School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  3. ↑ Jane, Hillston (1994). Compositional approach to performance modelling (Thesis). hdl:1842/15027.
  4. ↑ Hillston, Jane (1996). A Compositional Approach to Performance Modelling. Distinguished Dissertations in Computer Science. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511569951. hdl:1842/15027. ISBN 9780521673532. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  5. ↑ "Jane Hillston". The Royal Society. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  6. ↑ "Highlights in the history of Edinburgh computer science and AI research". School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh. 18 March 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  7. ↑ "Professor Helen Hastie appointed the new Head of School of Informatics". School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh. 4 May 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  8. ↑ "Jane Hillston". University of Edinburgh Research Explorer. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  9. ↑ Jane Hillston; Federica Ciocchetta (August 2009). Bio-PEPA: A framework for the modelling and analysis of biological systems.
  10. ↑ "Bio-PEPA". School of Informatics, Edinburgh University. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  11. ↑ Theoretical Computer Science Editorial Board.
  12. ↑ "TOMACS Editorial Board". dl.acm.org. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  13. ↑ Dr Jane Hillston : Past winners : Roger Needham Award : BCS, British Computer Society, 2004.
  14. ↑ "Edinburgh academic scoops BCS award with glitch predictor model". ComputerWeekly.com. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  15. ↑ "Roger Needham Award and Lecture | Awards and competitions | Events | BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT". www.bcs.org. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  16. ↑ Professor Jane Hillston Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh School of Informatics, 2007.
  17. ↑ Fellows Elected March 2007 — Induction Images, The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2007.
  18. ↑ "Academy of Europe: Hillston Jane". www.ae-info.org. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  19. ↑ "M&C AWARDEES". suffragescience. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  20. ↑ Davidson, Charlotte (5 October 2021). "Royal Society of Edinburgh awards academics". Bulletin. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  21. ↑ "Athena SWAN Charter". Equality Challenge Unit.
  22. ↑ "Informatics gains Silver Athena Swan Award". University of Edinburgh. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  23. ↑ "Outstanding scientists elected as Fellows and Foreign Members of the Royal Society". Royal Society. 10 May 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  24. ↑ "No. 64082". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2023. p. B20.
  25. ↑ "Jane Hillston". The Alan Turing Institute. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
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