- Centre for Parallel Computing
About me
Francesco is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Westminster. His research focuses on the architecture and management of large-scale Distributed Systems, with a particular emphasis on their intersection with networking, security, and privacy.
He holds a PhD in Advanced Technologies for Information Engineering from the University of Messina (2012). Francesco's career spans over a decade of international research, beginning with post-doctoral positions at the University of Messina and later at University College London (UCL). Throughout his post-doctoral work, he was a key contributor to several high-profile EU-funded research projects focused on federated cloud infrastructures and network slicing, establishing his expertise within the European research community. This deep research background is complemented by hands-on experience designing and managing the large-scale, high-performance computing infrastructures that power modern research, which directly informs both his teaching and research activities.
Teaching
Francesco's teaching philosophy is centred on guiding students through their learning process, helping them connect theoretical concepts with practical application. He aims to cultivate an engaging and supportive environment where students feel empowered to develop not only their technical skills but also their critical thinking abilities.
He leads the Object-Oriented Programming module for the MSc in Software Engineering (Conversion) and also teaches the undergraduate Object-Oriented Programming module for Computer Science and Software Engineering students. Additionally, he contributes to the teaching of the Client-Server Architectures and Software Development Group Project undergraduate modules.
Research
Francesco's research interests lie at the intersection of theory and practice in distributed systems. His expertise includes Virtualisation, Cloud and Fog/Edge Computing, High-Performance Computing (HPC), Federated Resource Management, Information Security, and the Internet of Things (IoT). He is currently investigating novel Fog Computing paradigms for IoT, Serverless Computing with Function as a Service (FaaS), and the application of privacy-preserving homomorphic encryption techniques to cloud and network domains.
He has co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed conference and journal papers and is the co-editor of the book "Achieving Federated and Self-Manageable Cloud Infrastructures: Theory and Practice". He has a strong track record of securing research funding and contributing to major international collaborations. Over the past decade, he has contributed to several key EU-funded projects, including 5GEx, SONATA, VISION Cloud, and RESERVOIR. More recently, he served as a Co-Investigator on the Horizon 2020 project Novel Enablers for Cloud Slicing (NECOS), Federated Data Sharing and Analysis for Social Utility (Harpocrates), and the Horizon Europe project Application-level Swarm-based Orchestration Across the Cloud-to-Edge Continuum (Swarmchestrate).
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.