Lucia Rapanotti

I’m the Associate Dean Curriculum for the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and a Senior Lecturer in the Computing and Communication Department, The Open University, UK, with a Laurea Cum Laude (Milan, Italy) and a PhD (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) in Computer Science. I’m an Editorial Member of Expert Systems, The Journal of Knowledge Engineering and of the IARIA Journal On Advances in Internet Technology, a Fellow of the BCS, The Chartered Institute of IT, and a Member of BCS ELITE (Effective Leadership in Information Technology). I’m also External Examiner for the MSc in Computer Science (Software Engineering) at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Previously, I held research positions at Milan University (Italy), Oxford University and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK), I was Editor-in-Chief of Expert Systems, and Secretary of the BCS Requirements Engineering Specialist Group. I have published widely in international conferences and journals and I am a member of numerous international programme committees.

I joined The Open University in 1996, and have worked on many undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, with roles which span from educational software designer to academic author and editor, to module, award and programme Chair, to research supervisor and examiner. In my current AD role I'm responsible for curriculum strategy, governance and quality, and I lead the strategic development of our STEM apprenticeship programme.

My main research focuses on the development of design theories, methods and tools to help people tackle complex real-world problems, whether in the development of software, systems, processes or other artefacts. With Dr Jon G. Hall, also in the Computing and Communications department, I have invented the Problem Oriented Engineering (POE), a design theoretic problem solving framework.
I also research infrastructures to support disperse research communities and the apprenticeship of new researchers mediated by online technology.

In my scholarship I aim to make learning Computing in schools and academia more effective and relevant for students, employers and society at large.

I supervise research projects at MSc, Phil and PhD levels.