Research Interests

I am a lecturer in the AIS (Agents and Intelligent Systems Group) King's College London. Current work involves research on argumentation theory; in particular the ASPIC+ model of logic-based argumentation, extensions to abstract argumentation systems to accommodate argumentation over preferences and values, and metalevel argumentation. I also work on applications of argumentation to agent reasoning and communication.

Previous research interests lie in the areas of default reasoning, belief revision, non-monotonic logics, modal logics, and their applications in asrtificial intelligence. Other research work has included development and application of logic programming techniques for computer aided design and decision support systems, and encodig of norms in electronic contracts.

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

Teaching

Community Activities

Co-organiser of two upcoming summer schools to be hosted by King's in the summer of 2013: 1) Advanced Course on Artificial Intelligence 2013; 2) 15th European Agent Systems Summer School

Co-chair of upcoming Second International Workshop on the Theory and Applications of Formal Argumentation co-located with the 23rd International Joint Conference on Aritficial Intelligence

Chair of Second London Argumentation Forum

Co-chair of First International Workshop on the Theory and Applications of Formal Argumentation co-located with the 22nd International Joint Conference on Aritficial Intelligence

Co-chair of the Agreement Technologies Cost Action working group on Argumentation and Negotiation

Publications

Journals and Book Chapters

  • S. Modgil, H. Prakken. A General Account of Argumentation and Preferences. In: Artificial Intelligence (AIJ) . 195(0), 361 - 397, 2013.

  • F. Bex, S. Modgil, H. Prakken, C. Reed. On Logical Specifications of the Argument Interchange Format. In: Journal of Logic and Computation (JLC) . doi: 10.1093/logcom/exs033, 2012.

  • S.Modgil and F.Toni (eds.). The Added Value of Argumentation. Book chapter in: Agreement Technologies. Springer Verlag, 2013.

  • Felipe Meneguzzi, Sanjay Modgil, Nir Oren, Simon Miles, Michael Luck, Noura Faci. Applying electronic contracting to the aerospace aftercare domain. In: Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 25(7): 1471-1487, 2012.

  • P. Tolchinsky, S. Modgil, Katie Atkinson, Peter McBurney and Ulises Cortes. Deliberation Dialogues for Reasoning about Safety Critical Actions. In: Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-agent Systems (JAAMAS). Volume 25, Pages 209-259, 2012.

  • S. Modgil and T.J.M Bench-Capon. Metalevel Argumentation. In: Journal of Logic and Computation , 21(6), 959-1003, 2011 (First publised online in 2010; doi: 10.1093/logcom/exq054).

  • S. Modgil. Reasoning About Preferences in Argumentation Frameworks. In: Artificial Intelligence (AIJ). Volume 173, Issues 9-10, Pages 901-1040, June 2009.
    (2nd most cited AIJ article aince 2008)

  • S. Modgil and M. Caminada. Proof Theories and Algorithms for Abstract Argumentation Frameworks. In: Argumentation in AI , I. Rahwan and G. Simari (eds), 105-132, Springer-Verlag, 2009.

  • Simon Miles, Nir Oren, Michael Luck, Sanjay Modgil, Felipe Meneguzzi, Nora Faci, Camden Holt and Gary Vickers. Electronic Business Contracts between Services. In: Handbook of Research on P2P and Grid Systems for Service-Oriented Computing: Models, Methodologies and Applications, N.Antonopolous et.al.(eds), 732-747 IGI Global, 2009.

  • J. Fox, D. Glasspool, D. Grecu, S. Modgil, V.Patkar, M. South. Argumentation-based Inference and Decision-Making - A Perspective from the Medical Field. In: IEEE Intelligent Systems: Special Issue on Argumentation Technology, 22(6),34-41,2007

  • Pancho Tolchinsky, Ulises Cortes, Sanjay Modgil, Francisco Caballero and Antonio Lopez-Navidad Increasing the Availability of Human Organs for Transplantation Through Argumentation Based Deliberation Among Agents. In: IEEE Intelligent Systems: Special Issue on Intelligent Agents in Healthcare, 21(6), 30-37, Nov/Dec 2006.

  • J. Fox and S.Modgil. From Arguments to Decisions: Extending the Toulmin View. Book chapter in: Arguing on the Toulmin Model New Essays in Argument Analysis and Evaluation. Series: Argumentation Library , Vol. 10 Hitchcock, David; Verheij, Bart (Eds.) 2006. ISBN: 1-4020-4937-4

  • Carlos Chesnevar, Jarred McGinnis, Sanjay Modgil, Iyad Rahwan, Chris Reed, Guillermo Simari, Matthew South, Gerard Vreeswijk, Steven Willmott. Towards an Argument Interchange Format.. In: The Knowledge Engineering Review, 21(4), 293-316, Cambridge University Press, 2007.

  • J. Fox, D. Glasspool, S. Modgil. A canonical agent model for healthcare applications. In: IEEE Intelligent Systems: Special Issue on Intelligent Agents in Healthcare, 21-28, Nov/Dec 2006.

  • Nammuni K., Pickering C., Modgil S., Montgomery A., Hammond P., Wyatt J.C., Altman D.G., Dunlop R., Potts H. Design-a-Trial: A Rule- Based Decision Support System for Clinical Trial Design. In: Knowledge Based Systems, 17(2-4), pp. 121-129, 2004.

  • Modgil S., Hammond P. Decision Support Tools for Clinical Trial Design. In: Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Journal, 27(2), pp. 181-200, 2003.

  • Modgil S., Hutton T., Hammond P., Davenport J. Combining Biometric and Symbolic Models for Customised, Automated Prosthesis Design. In: Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Journal, 25(3), pp. 227-245, 2002.

  • Hammond P., Modgil S., Wyatt J. Safety and Computer Aided Design of Chemotherapy Plans. In: Topics in Health Information Management Journal, 20(4), pp. 55-66, 2000.



    Technical Reports

  • S. Modgil, H. Prakken. Revisiting preferences and argumentation: Technical report..2011.

    Refereed conference and Workshop papers

    2013

  • C. Hadjinikolis, Y. Siantos, S. Modgil, E. Black, P. McBurney. Opponent Modelling in Persuasion Dialogues. In: F. Rossi (Editor): Proceeedings of the 23rd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 2013), August 2013, Beijing, China. (to appear).

    2012

  • C. Hadjinikolis, S. Modgil, E. Black, P. McBurney, M. Luck. Investigating Strategic Considerations in Persuasion Dialogue Games. In: Proceedings of the Sixth Starting AI Researchers' Symposium (STAIRS), 2012, IOS Press.

  • C. Hadjinikolis, S. Modgil, E. Black, P. McBurney. Mechanisms for Opponent Modelling. In: Imperial College Computing Student Workshop (ICCSW), 2012, OpenAccess Series in Informatics, Schloss Dagstuhl.

  • S. Modgil and H. Prakken. Resolutions in Structured Argumentation. To appear in: Fourth International Conference on Computational Models of Argument(COMMA-2012), 2012.

  • H. Prakken and S. Modgil. Clarifying some misconceptions on the ASPIC+ framework. To appear in: Fourth International Conference on Computational Models of Argument(COMMA-2012), 2012.

    2011

  • S. Modgil and H. Prakken. Revisiting Preferences and Argumentation. In: Twenty-second International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI-11), 1021-1026, 2011.

    2010

  • P.Dunne, S. Modgil and T. J. M. Bench-Capon. Computation in Extended Argumentation Frameworks. In: 19th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI 2010), 119-124, 2010.

  • S. Modgil and H.Prakken. Reasoning about Preferences in Structured Extended Argumentation Frameworks. In: 3rd International Conference on Computational Models of Argument (COMMA’10), 347-358, September 2010.

  • S. Modgil and T. J. M. Bench-Capon. Integrating Dialectical and Accrual Modes of Argumentation. In: 3rd International Conference on Computational Models of Argument (COMMA’10), 335-346, September 2010.

    2009

  • P. Groth, S. Miles, S. Modgil, N. Oren, M. Luck, and Y. Gil. Determining the Trustworthiness of New Electronic Contracts. In: Proc. 10th International Workshop on Engineering Societies in the Agents’ World (ESAW09), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 5881, 132-147, Springer 2009.

  • S. Modgil. Labellings and Games for Extended Argumentation Frameworks. In: Twenty-first International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI-09), 873-878, California USA, July 2009.

  • S. Modgil and M.Luck. Argumentation based Resolution of Conflicts Between Desires and Normative Goals. In: Proc 4th Workshop on Normative Multi-Agent Systems (Normas 2009), Dagstuhl, Germany, March 2009, winner of best paper Normas 2009. Also in: Proc. Fifth International Workshop on Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems (ArgMAS 2008), 252-263, Portugal, 2008.

  • T.J.M. Bench-Capon and S. Modgil. Case Law in Extended Argumentation Frameworks. In: Twelfth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law (ICAIL 2009), 118-127 ,Barcelona, June 2009.

  • S. Modgil, N. Faci, F. Meneguzzi, N. Oren, S. Miles, M. Luck. A Framework for Monitoring Agent-Based Normative Systems. In: Eighth International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS09), 153-160, Budapest, Hungary, 2009.

  • F. R. Meneguzzi, S. Modgil, N. Oren, S.Miles, M. Luck, N. Faci, C. Holt, M. Smith. Monitoring and Explanation of Contract Execution: A Case Study in the Aerospace Domain. In: Eighth International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS09), Industry and Applications Track, Budapest, Hungary, 2009.

    2008

  • N. Faci, S. Modgil, N. Oren, F. Meneguzzi, S. Miles, M. Luck. Towards a Monitoring Framework for Agent-Based Contract Systems. In: Twelfth International Workshop on Cooperative Information Agents (CIA 2008), pp 292 - 305, Prague, Czech Republic, Sept. 2008.

  • N. Oren, S. Panagiotidi, J. Vazquez-Saceda, S. Modgil, S. Miles, M. Luck. Towards a Formalisation of Electronic Contract Environments. In: Coordination, Organizations, Institutions and Norms (COIN@AAAI), pages 61-68, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 2008.

  • S. Modgil and T.J.M Bench-Capon. Integrating Object and Meta-level Value Based Argumentation. In: 2nd International Conference on Computational Models of Argument (COMMA 08), pp 240-251, Toulouse, France, May 2008.

  • S. Modgil and H.Prakken. Applying Preferences to Dialogue Graphs. In: 2nd International Conference on Computational Models of Argument (COMMA 08), pp 252-263, Toulouse, France, May 2008.

  • F. R. Meneguzzi, S. Miles, M. Luck, C. Holt, M. Smith, N. Oren, N. Faci, M. Kollingbaum and S. Modgil. Electronic contracting in aircraft aftercare: A case study. In: Proc. Seventh International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS08), Industry and Applications Track, pp 63-70, Estoril, Portugal, 2008.

  • Simon Miles, Nir Oren, Mike Luck, Sanjay Modgil, Noura Faci, Camden Holt, Gary Vickers. Modelling and Administration of Contract-Based Systems. In: Symposium on Behaviour Regulation in Multi-Agent Systems (BrMAS 2008), Aberdeen, Scotland, April 1-4, 2008.

    2007

  • S. Modgil. An Argumentation Based Semantics for Agent Reasoning. In: Proc. Languages, methodologies and development tools for multi-agent systems, pp 37 - 53, Durham, UK, September 2007.

  • S. Modgil. An Abstract Theory of Argumentation That Accommodates Defeasible Reasoning About Preferences. In: 9th European Conference on Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty (ECSQARU 07), pp.648-659, Tunisia, September 2007.

  • P. Tolchinsky, K. Atkinson, P. McBurney, S. Modgil and U. Cortes. Agents Deliberating Over Action Proposals Using the ProCLAIM Model. In: 5th International Central and Eastern European Conference on Multi-Agent Systems (CEEMAS 07), September 2007, Leipzig, Germany.

  • S. Modgil and J. McGinnis. Towards Characterising Argumentation Based Dialogue in the Argument Interchange Format. To appear in: Proc. 4th International Workshop on Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems (ArgMAS 2007), Hawaii, May, 2007.

    2006

  • Sanjay Modgil. Hierarchical Argumentation. In: Proc. 10th European Conference on Logics in Artificial Intelligence (JELIA 2006), pp 319-332, Liverpool, UK, September 2006.

  • Sanjay Modgil. Value Based Argumentation in Hierarchical Argumentation Frameworks. In: Proc. 1st International Conference on Computational Models of Argument (COMMA 06), pp 297-308, Liverpool, UK 11th - 12th September 2006

  • P. Tolchinsky, S. Modgil, U. Cortes, and M.Sanchez-Marre. CBR and argument schemes for collaborative decision making. In: Proc. 1st International Conference on Computational Models of Argument (COMMA 06), IOS Press, pp 71-82, Liverpool, UK, September, 2006.

  • Katie Atkinson, Trevor Bench-Capon, Sanjay Modgil. Argumentation for Decision Support. Accepted for publication in: 17th International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications DEXA 2006 (http://www.dexa.org), September 4-8, 2006, Krakow, Poland.

  • Steven Willmott, Gerard Vreeswijk, Carlos Chesnevar, Matthew South, Jarred McGinnis, Sanjay Modgil, Iyad Rahwan, Chris Reed, and Guillermo Simari. Towards an Argument Interchange Format for Multi-Agent Systems. In: Proc. Third International Workshop on Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems (ArgMAS 2006 at AAMAS 2006), Hakodate, Japan, May 2006.

  • John Fox, David Glasspool, Sanjay Modgil, Pancho Tolchinksy, Liz Black and members of the ASPIC project. Towards a canonical framework for designing agents to support healthcare organisations. Accepted for publication in: ECAI-06 Workshop on Agents Applied in HealthCare, 17th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, ECAI-2006 Riva del Garda, Italy August 28th - September 1st, 2006.

  • P. Tolchinsky, S. Modgil, and U. Cortés. Argument schemes and critical questions for heterogeneous agents to argue over the viability of a human organ. In AAAI 2006 Spring Symposium Series; Argumentation for Consumers of Healthcare, 2006.

  • Fox J, Black E, Glasspool D, Modgil S, Oettinger A, Patkar V, Williams M. Towards a general model for argumentation services. In AAAI 2006 Spring Symposium Series; Argumentation for Consumers of Healthcare, 2006.

    2005

  • S. Modgil, P. Tolchinsky, and U. Cortés. Towards formalising agent argumentation over the viability of human organs for transplantation. In: Advances in Artificial Intelligence, 4th Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence(MICAI 05), pages 928–938,Monterrey, Mexico, November 2005.

  • Modgil S. Nested Argumentation and its Application to Decision Making over Actions. In: Proc. Second International Workshop on Argumentation in Multi-Agent Systems (ArgMAS 2005 at AAMAS 2005), Utrecht, Netherlands, July 2005.

    2004

  • Modgil S. and Fox J. A Guardian Agent Approach to Safety in Medical Multi-Agent Systems. In: Proc. First International Workshop on Safety and Security in Multiagent Systems (SASEMAS 2004 at AAMAS 2004), New York, July 2004.

    2003

  • Nammuni K., Pickering C., Modgil S., Montgomery A., Hammond P., Wyatt J.C., Altman D.G., Dunlop R., Potts H. Design-a-Trial: A Rule-Based Decision Support System for Clinical Trial Design. In: Proc Twenty-third SGAI International Conference on Innovative Techniques and Applications of Artificial Intelligence, Cambridge, December 2003. Winner of award for best application paper

  • Modgil S. Rule Based Computation of updates to Terminologies. In Proceedings of the 2003 InternationalWorkshop on Description Logics - DL'03, Rome, Italy, pp. 19-27, September, 2003.

  • Modgil S. Linking Rules to Terminologies and Applications in Medical Planning. In: Proc. 9th Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine in Europe, AIME2003, Protaras Cyprus, (eds. Dojat, Keravnou, Barahona), LNAI 2780, pp. 214- 218, October 2003.

    2001

  • Modgil S., Hammond P. Generating Symbolic and Natural Language Partial Solutions for Inclusion in Medical Plans. In: Proc. 8th Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine in Europe, AIME2001, Cascais Portugal, (eds. Quaglini, Barahona, Andreassen), LNAI 2101, pp. 239- 248, July 2001.

  • Modgil S., Hammond P, Wyatt J., Potts H. The Design-A-Trial Project: Developing A Knowledge-Based Tool for Authoring Clinical Trial Protocols. In: Proceedings of First European Workshop on Computer-based Support for Clinical Protocols., (eds. B. Heller, M. Loffler, M. Mussen, M. Stefanelli), IOS Press 83, pp. 71-85, 2001.

    1999

  • Hammond P., Wells P., Modgil S. Animating Medical and Safety Knowledge. In: AIMDM, 99, Joint European Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Medical Decision Making, Aalborg, Denmark, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1620 Springer, pp. 443-447, June 1999

    Theses

  • Modgil S. A Labelled System for Practical Reasoning. Thesis submitted for doctorate of philosophy in Computing Science. Supervisors: Professor D. Gabbay and Dr. K. Broda

  • Modgil S. Transaction Management in a Deductive Database. Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.Sc. in Computing Science. Supervisor: Dr. F. Sadri.