Event Details

MARS seminar series. Speaker: Steffen Zschaler, Reader in Software Engineering, Department of Informatics, King’s College London. Co-Director Centre for Doctoral Training on Digital Twins for Healthcare. Title: Computational simulation models as scientific instruments: The case for domain-specific modelling tools

Abstract:Computational simulations are essential for scientific discovery. They enable experiments to be undertaken in silico that would be too costly, too risky, ethically questionable, or downright impossible to do in the real world. They can be used to increase understanding, validate hypotheses, or predict potential future developments. But computational simulations are complicated software systems requiring a very broad mix of skills to develop successfully: not only does one need subject-matter expertise, one also needs to be a programmer, a software engineer, and understand high-performance computing and data management. As a result, often simulation models are difficult to create, difficult to understand, and therefore difficult to reuse and validate. This can severely limit the value of computational simulation as a scientific instrument. In this presentation I will argue that software-engineering techniques for domain-specific modelling can be applied to address some of these challenges. I will illustrate this in the context of simulations developed in computational biology as well as healthcare settings and will suggest some potential applications in environmental modelling as a starting point for discussion with participants.