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Dr Alessandro Provetti

Positions held:
  • Reader in Data Analysis, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
Address

Room 165, Malet Street

Email
  • Overview

    Overview

    Highlights

    Office hours

    Please contact me on Birbeck's MS Teams channel.

    Web profiles

    Professional activities

    I am on the editorial board of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

    I am on the editorial board of Patterns, Cell Press.


    ORCID

    0000-0001-9542-4110
  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • Computational Social Science.
    • Web Data Extraction.
    • Network Science: centrality.
    • Artificial Intelligence in Finance.
    • Artificial Intelligence in Sports.

    Research Centres and Institutes

  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    Supervisions external to Birkbeck:
    3
    Supervisions within Birkbeck:
    1

    I mentor MSc/PhD students working on AI in Finance, Computational Social Science, Sentiment Analysis, Web algorithmics and general Artificial Intelligence and Data Science topics.

    These 10-words summaries align well with my current research:

    a. 'AI in Finance: dynamic risk assessment with real-time data streams'
    b. 'Architectures for cognitive agents in LLM workflows: adaptation, collaboration & safety.'
    c. 'Sentiment Analysis/NLP architectures to analyse streaming news: applications to Finance.'
    d. 'Sentiment Analysis/NLP architectures to monitor online discussion threads: online extremism.'
    e. 'Network science methods for enhanced social web discovery and navigation.'


    Doctoral alumni since 2013-14

    • YLLI PRIFTI
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor,
      Title of thesis:
      The Emergence of Interpersonal and Social Trust in Online Interactions
      Description:

      Abstract


      My PhD work is in the area of extracting and modelling user-created data on the web.
      In particular, I focussed on locating and extracting user data that ’signals’ the evolution of
      human, 1-on-1 interactions between participants of large social networks who are forever
      stranger to each other.
      The booming of ”Online Social Networks” created an opportunity for social scientists
      to study social phenomena at a scale unseen before. The vast amount of information
      combined with computer science techniques led to significant developments in a relatively
      new field: Computational Social Science. Furthermore, recently the Gig Economy
      and mass adoption of ”business sharing” sites such as Airbnb, Uber, or JustEat drove a
      new wave of computational social science research into reviews, feedback, and recom-
      mendations. All these ingredients of the larger Social Trust have been vastly discussed
      in the literature, in both the social aspect and computational models of trust.
      However, some fundamental gaps remain, and there is often confusion about when trust is
      being expressed and how reviews (or recommendations) relate to social trust. Additionally,
      the computational trust models found in the literature tend to either be entirely theoretical
      or focused on a specific data set, thus lacking universal applicability. The latter problem,
      I believe, was due to a lack of data available to researchers in the early stages of the web.
      Today, the broader Online Social Networks have matured and consolidated mechanisms
      for allowing access to data. Access to information is rarely trivial for more specialised
      and smaller online communities. Yet smaller, focussed platforms are precisely where
      social trust and interactions could be observed (or not observed) and perhaps acquire a
      meaning that approaches the social trust social scientists see in in-person interactions.
      To address this gap, we initially propose and discuss the following research question:

      ”Is there a meeting point between online interactions and social trust so that the core
      components of trust are retained?” We addressed this general open question by working
      on a computational architecture for data retrieval in social media platforms that can be
      suitably generalised and re-applied to different platforms. Lastly, as we enjoy the luxury
      of vast amounts of data that closely represent interpersonal and social trust, we addressed
      the question of ”what models of trust emerge from data” and ”how do existing models
      of trust perform with the data available”.

      ...

      Awarded:
      2023

    Teaching

    I mostly teach graduate modules in Data Science.

    In the past I have taught Artificial Intelligence, Algorithms, Databases and Theoretical Computer Science at BSc and MSc levels.

    Teaching modules

    • Data Science Techniques and Applications (BUCI057H7)
    • Demystifying Computing with Python (BUCI081H7)
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    Book

    • Bertoni, A. and Grossi, G. and Provetti, Alessandro and Kreinovich, V. and Tari, L. Provetti, Alessandro and Cao Son, T., eds. (2001) Papers from the AAAI Spring Symposium. AAAI Press. ISBN 9781577351290.

    Book Section

    • Fiumara, G. and Marchi, M. and Provetti, Alessandro (2007) Adaptive web data extraction policies. In: 8th IEEE International Workshop on Policies for Distributed Systems and Networks: POLICY 2007. IEEE Computer Society. ISBN 769527671.
    • Marchi, M. and Penzo, R. and Provetti, Alessandro (2007) Policy-based parametric firewall configuration: a real-case application. In: 8th IEEE International Workshop on Policies for Distributed Systems and Networks: POLICY 2007. IEEE Computational Intelligence Society. ISBN 769527671.
    • Amalfi, M. and Lo Presti, K. and Provetti, Alessandro and Salvetti, F. (2006) Finding instances of deduction and abduction in clinical experimental transcripts. In: Brewka, G. and Coradeschi, S. and Perini, A. and Traverso, P. (eds.) 17th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence: ECAI 2006. IOS Press. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications. pp. 737-738. ISBN 9781586036423.
    • Bernardoni, C. and Fiumara, G. and Marchi, M. and Provetti, Alessandro (2006) Declarative web data extraction and annotation. In: Fink, M. and Tompits, H. and Woltran, S. (eds.) 20th Workshop on Logic Programming. INFSYS Research Report. Technische Universitat Wien. pp. 137-144.
    • Bossa, S. and Fiumara, G. and Provetti, Alessandro (2006) A lightweight architecture for RSS polling of arbitrary web sources. In: De Paoli, F. and Di Stefano, A. and Omicini, A. and Santoro, C. (eds.) From Objects to Agents: Proceedings of the 7th WOA 2006 Workshop. CEUR Workshop Proceedings. CEUR-WS.org. pp. 118-123.
    • de Cindio, F. and Fiumara, G. and Marchi, M. and Provetti, Alessandro and Ripamonti, L.A. and Sonnante, L. (2006) Aggregating information and enforcing awareness across communities with the dynamo RSS feeds creation engine: preliminary report. In: Meersman, R. and Tari, Z. and Herrero, P. (eds.) On the move to meaningful internet systems 2006: OTM 2006 Workshops. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 227-236. ISBN 9783540482697.
    • Bertino, E. and Mileo, A. and Provetti, Alessandro (2005) PDL with preferences. In: 6th IEEE International Workshop on Policies for Distributed Systems and Networks: POLICY 2005. IEEE Computer Society. pp. 213-222. ISBN 769522653.
    • Bertino, E. and Provetti, Alessandro and Salvetti, F. (2005) Reasoning about RDF statements with default rules. In: W3C Workshop on Rule Languages for Interoperability. W3C.
    • Marchi, M. and Mileo, A. and Provetti, Alessandro (2005) Declarative policies for web service selection. In: 6th IEEE International Workshop on Policies for Distributed Systems and Networks: POLICY 2005. IEEE Computer Society. pp. 239-242. ISBN 769522653.
    • Marchi, M. and Mileo, A. and Provetti, Alessandro (2004) Grid Service Selection with PPDL. In: Demoen, B. and Lifschitz, V. (eds.) Logic Programming, 20th International Conference: ICLP 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 464-466. ISBN 9783540226710.
    • Marchi, M. and Mileo, A. and Provetti, Alessandro (2004) Specification and execution of declarative policies for grid service selection. In: Zhang, L.-J. (ed.) Web Services, European Conference: ECOWS 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 102-115. ISBN 9783540232025.
    • Marchi, M. and Mileo, A. and Provetti, Alessandro (2004) Specification and execution of policies for grid service selection. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Web Services: ICWS 04. IEEE Computer Society. pp. 828-829. ISBN 769521673.
    • Padovani, L. and Provetti, Alessandro (2004) Qsmodels: ASP planning in interactive gaming environment. In: Alferes, J.J. and Leite, J.A. (eds.) Logics in Artificial Intelligence, 9th European Conference: JELIA 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 689-692. ISBN 9783540232421.
    • Bertino, E. and Mileo, A. and Provetti, Alessandro (2003) PDL with maximum consistency monitors. In: Zhong, N. and Ras, Z.W. and Tsumoto, S. and Suzuki, E. (eds.) Foundations of Intelligent Systems, 14th International Symposium: ISMIS 2003. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 65-74. ISBN 9783540202561.
    • Bertino, E. and Mileo, A. and Provetti, Alessandro (2003) User preferences vs minimality in PPDL. In: Buccafurri, F. (ed.) 2003 Joint Conference on Declarative Programming: AGP-2003. AGP. pp. 110-122.
    • Bertino, E. and Provetti, Alessandro and Salvetti, F. (2003) Local closed-world assumptions for reasoning about semantic web data. In: Buccafurri, F. (ed.) 2003 Joint Conference on Declarative Programming: AGP-2003. AGP. pp. 314-323.
    • Costantini, S. and Otero, R.P. and Provetti, Alessandro and Cao Son, T. (2002) Disjunctive logic programs with inheritance revisited. In: Otero, R.P. and Hacid, M.-S. and Ras, Z.W. and Zighed, D.A. and Kodratoff, Y. (eds.) Foundations of Intelligent Systems, 13th International Symposium: ISMIS 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 294-294--302. ISBN 9783540437857.
    • Bertoni, A. and Grossi, G. and Provetti, Alessandro and Kreinovich, V. and Tari, L. (2001) The prospect for answer sets computation by a genetic model. In: Provetti, Alessandro and Cao Son, T. (eds.) Papers from the AAAI Spring Symposium. AAAI Press. ISBN 9781577351290.
    • Balduccini, M. and Brignoli, G. and Lanzarone, G.A. and Magni, F. and Provetti, Alessandro (2000) Experiments in answer sets planning. In: Cairo, O and Sucar, L.E. and Cantu, F.J. (eds.) MICA 2000: Advances in Artificial Intelligence. Springer. pp. 95-107. ISBN 9783540673545.
    • Lanzarone, G.A. and Provetti, Alessandro (1998) Processing temporal and atemporal declarative knowledge in metalogic programming. In: Freire-Nistal, J.L. and Falaschi, M. and Ferro, M.V. (eds.) 1998 Joint Conference on Declarative Programming: APPIA-GULP-PRODE 98. APPIA-GULP-PRODE. pp. 201-214.
    • Provetti, Alessandro and Rossi, G. (1997) Action specifications in log. In: Falaschi, M. and Navarro, M. and Policriti, A. (eds.) 1997 Joint Conference on Declarative Programming: APPIA-GULP-PRODE '97. APPIA-GULP-PRODE. pp. 381-392.
    • Baral, C. and Gabaldon, A. and Provetti, Alessandro (1996) Formalizing narratives using nested circumscription. In: Clancey, W.J. and Weld, D.S. (eds.) Proceedings of the Thirteenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Eighth Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence Conference. AAI Press.
    • Baral, C. and Gabaldon, A. and Provetti, Alessandro (1996) Value minimization in circumscription. In: Carlucci Aiello, L. and Doyle, J. and Shapiro, S.C. (eds.) Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning. Morgan Kaufmann. pp. 474-481.
    • Chittaro, L. and Montanari, A. and Provetti, Alessandro (1994) Skeptical and credulous event calculi for supporting modal queries. In: Cohn, A.G. (ed.) Proceedings of the Eleventh European Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Wiley. pp. 361-365.
    • Provetti, Alessandro (1994) Hypothetical reasoning from situation calculus to event calculus. In: Goodwin, S.D. and Hamilton, H.J. (eds.) Proceedings of the TIME-94 International Workshop on Temporal Reasoning. University of Regina. pp. 42-47. ISBN 9780773102781.

    Conference Item

    Editorial

    • Osorio, M. and Provetti, Alessandro (2004) Preface. Latin-American workshop on non-monotonic reasoning: proceedings of the 1st international LA-NMR04 workshop 92, CEUR-WS.org.
    • Baral, C. and Provetti, Alessandro and Son, T.C. (2003) Introduction to the special issue on programming with answer sets. Theory and Practice of Logic Programming 3 (4/5), pp. 387-391. Cambridge Journals. ISSN 1471-0684.
    • De Vos, M. and Provetti, Alessandro (2003) Preface. Answer Set Programming, Advances in Theory and Implementation: Proceedings of the 2nd International ASP Workshop 78, CEUR-WS.org.

    Other

    External Repositories

  • Business and community

    Business and community

    Outreach

    I was a panelist at the "Racism, discrimination and statistics – examining the history" event organized by the Royal Statistical Society in October 2020.

    Services

    • Consultancies and expert advice
      01-MAR-18

      I am academic advisor to Malet Labs Ltd, a start-up company by former Birkbeck doctoral students.