Claudia Szabo

A/Prof Claudia Szabo

Associate Prof/Reader

School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


My main research interests lie in the area of complex systems and their practical applications to domains such as biology, social networks, and Defence. I lead the Complex Systems program within the Centre for Distributed and Intelligent Technologies. My education research interests lie in the areas of curriculum design, cognitive load theories, and software engineering best practices.

Interested in a PhD or master? Read more detailed descriptions of topics in my profile.

Three critical questions remain when thinking about applying complex systems theories to specific application domains:

  1. How can we engineer decision making in complex systems? 
  2. How do we engineer and/or define and measure emergent properties in a complex systems of systems?
  3. How do we design systems that reap the benefits of self-organisation? Once these systems are designed and prototyped, how do we measure the impact and benefit of self-organisation? Beyond self-organisation, another interesting property is adaptability and the same questions above apply to it as well.

Interested in a PhD or Master in this topic? Please send me an email with your CV, transcripts, and a 2-page proposal.

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2019 - ongoing Director, Digital Technologies Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences
    2019 - ongoing Associate Professor The University of Adelaide
    2017 - 2018 Senior Lecturer The University of Adelaide
    2014 - 2019 Associate Dean (Diversity and Inclusion) The University of Adelaide
    2013 - 2016 Lecturer The University of Adelaide
    2011 - 2012 Associate Lecturer The University of Adelaide
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    2011 National University of Singapore Singapore PhD
    'Politehnica' Institute of Bucharest Romania Bachelor of Science (Computer Science)
  • Research Interests

2024 - 2025, Evaluation of Decision Techniques for Context Aware Collaborative Active Protection Systems, C. Szabo, I. Honhaga, A Iqbal, DST Group $282,508

2024 - 2024, Defence Innovation Partnership - Collaborative Research Grant: Warm Starts and Goal-based Heuristics to Improve MARL Performance in Advanced Distributed Defence, C. Szabo, M. Guo, F. Neumann, E. Galanhage, J. Cuo, Defence Innovation Partnership, $150,000

2024 - 2024, Research Project: Optimized Hybrid MARL Techniques for Complex, Dynamic Environments, C. Szabo, M. Guo, DST Group, $175,533 

2023 - 2024, Evaluation of Decision Techniques for Context Aware Collaborative Active Protection Systems - Competitive Environments, C. Szabo, I Honhaga, DST Group, $280,000

2023 - 2024, Evaluation of Decision Techniques for Context Aware Collaborative Active Protection Systems, C. Szabo, C. Szabo, I Honhaga, DST Group, $142,500

2023 - 2024, SMARTNet Research and Development, C. Szabo, D. Craggs, D. Balasoiu, DST Group, $393,180

2022 - 2022, Approaches to Partial Knowledge Sharing for Cooperative Decision-Making in Complex Adaptive Systems, C. Szabo, DST Group,  $64,340

2021 - WSC Foundation, for the sponsorship of Simulation Around the World,  US$150,000 (managed by the WSC Board)

2021 - 2023 - SMARTNet Version 5 Research and Development, C. Szabo, D. Craggs, D. Balasoiu, DST Group, $255,059

2022 - CADR-RAS - Technical Services, M. Webb, C. Szabo, C-C. Lim, DST Group, $7,750,986

2022 - 2023, Distributed Orchestration and Decision Making, C. Szabo, DST Group,  $116,497

2020 - 2022, SMARTNet Version 4 Research & Development: Mission Context Aspects, C. Szabo, D. Craggs, D. Balasoiu, DST Group, $161,598

2020 - 2021, Distributed micro-service orchestration in resource constrained environments, C. Szabo, DST Group, $67,322

2019 -  2019, SMARTNet Version 4 Research & Development: Operational Mission Context Aspects, C. Szabo, D. Craggs, D. Balasoiu, DST Group, $174,667

2018 - 2020, SMARTNet Research & Development: Operational Mission Aspect, C. Szabo, D. Craggs, D. Balasoiu, DST Group, $276,000

2018 - 2018 - Measuring value in self-managing adaptive systems for military land vehicles, C. Szabo,DST Group, $18,607 

2017 - 2017 - SEM Environment: Deployment Platform and Instrumentation Research, K. Falkner, C. Szabo, D. Fraser, $150,000

2016 - 2020 - Expanded Rollout and Support of University of Adelaide Digital Technology MOOCs – Closing the Digital Divide for Disadvantaged Students, K. Falkner, R. Vivian, N. Falkner, C. Szabo, ($6,900,000)

2017 – 2020 Women Leaders in STEM Careers, C. Szabo, L. O’Reilly, Department of Industry, Innovation, and Science, ($231,726)

2017 - 2018 Resilient and Contextually Integrated ISR Information Dissemination, C. Szabo, DST Group ($96,718)

2017 Understanding Australia’s Teaching Culture with Respect to Gender Diversity, C. Szabo, K. Falkner, A. Szorenyi, D. Michell, Google ($26,764)

2016-2019 SEM Environment: Deployment Platform and Instrumentation Research, K. Falkner, C. Szabo, D. Fraser et al. , DST Group ($642,000)

2016-2017 SEM Environment: Deployment Platform and Instrumentation Research, K. Falkner, C. Szabo, D. Fraser et al. , DST Group ($150,000)

2016 – 2019 Expanded Rollout and Support of University of Adelaide Digital Technology MOOCs – Closing the Digital Divide for Disadvantaged Students - K. Falkner, R. Vivian, N. Falkner, C. Szabo, Department of Education, Science and Training ($6,900,000)

2016 Alien vs. Wombat: Predicting the Impact of Invasive Plant Species on the Dynamics of Herbivore Populations, C. Szabo, S. Heideler et al., ($10,000) University Interdisciplinary Grant

2016 Computing Infrastructure Performance and Interoperability Research Generic Vehicle Architecture, K. Falkner and C. Szabo, DST Group ($100,000)

2015-2016 Pathways to Computer Science: Enabling Equity and Diversity. K. Falkner, C. Szabo, A.Szorenyi and D. Michell, Google Research Contract ($55,000)

2015 – Mega barcoding: Next Generation ‘de novo’ barcoding for health, agriculture and environment, M. Wilkinson, C. Szabo, A. Croxford, Y. Yarom, C. Ford, Australian Genome Research Facility ($15,000)

2015 Fiddler on the Cloud: Understanding form and function evolution in crustaceans - C. Szabo and P. Munguia, The University of Adelaide Interdisciplinary Research Grant ($27,000) 

2014-2015 Addressing the Challenge of the Digital Technologies Curriculum (Years 7&8). K. Falkner, R. Vivian, N. Falkner and C. Szabo, Digital Careers Sponsorship Agreement ($119,588)

2015 – $110,000 - Model Driven Systems Engineering: Advanced Modelling of Communication Protocols. K. Falkner and C. Szabo, DSTO Research Contract

2013 – 2015 $420,000 – K. Falkner, C. Szabo, Review of Model Driven Software Engineering Practice: System Execution Modelling Environment. DSTO Research Contract

2014-2015 Addressing the Challenge of the Digital Technologies Curriculum (Years 7&8). K. Falkner, R. Vivian, N. Falkner and C. Szabo, Digital Careers Sponsorship Agreement ($119,588)

2015 – $110,000 - Model Driven Systems Engineering: Advanced Modelling of Communication Protocols. K. Falkner and C. Szabo, DSTO Research Contract

2014 – $130,000 - Model Driven Systems Engineering: Advanced Modelling of Communication Protocols. K. Falkner and C. Szabo, DSTO Research Contract

2014 – $10,000 - C. Izu, C. Szabo, C. Pope Google CS4HS Education Grant, Google Inc. 

2013 – 2015 $420,000 – K. Falkner, C. Szabo, Review of Model Driven Software Engineering Practice: System Execution Modelling Environment. DSTO Research Contract

2012- 2013 $75,000 -  K. Falkner, N. Falkner, C. Szabo, Review of Model Driven Software Engineering Practice: System Execution Modelling Environment. DSTO Research Contract

2012- 2013  $490,000 - K. Falkner, N. Falkner, C. Szabo, Review of Model Driven Software Engineering Practice: System Execution Modelling Environment. DSTO Research Contract

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Principal Supervisor Large Language Models for Adaptive Microservice Composition and Orchestration Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Jeffrey Chan
    2024 Co-Supervisor Foundation models for goal-oriented reinforcement learning and intrinsic exploration Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Dustin Wyly Craggs
    2024 Principal Supervisor Leveraging Machine Learning Agents for Military Application Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Josh Dylan Francis
    2023 Principal Supervisor Warm-Starting Reinforcement Learning in Complex Environments Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Miss Lauren Yvette Taylor
    2023 Principal Supervisor Collaborative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Rohit Gopalan
    2022 Principal Supervisor Developing Self-Adaptive Architecture for Scalable Microservice-based Systems Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Hussain Ahmad
    2022 Principal Supervisor A framework of risk analysis in contested and dynamic environments Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Eyoel Worku Teffera
    2021 Principal Supervisor Developing a robust distributed multi-agent system for cyber defence Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Maxwell James Standen
    2017 Principal Supervisor Adaptive Agent Behaviours and Communications in Contested Environments Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Alexis Conan Pflaum
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2022 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Socio-Technical Frameworks for Secure Software Delivery in the DevOps Paradigm Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Roshan Namal Rajapakse
    2022 - 2024 Co-Supervisor Towards Supporting Developers for Securing Containerized Software Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Mubin Ul Haque
    2019 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Promoting Lifestyle Change in the Preconception Period: Development of the Begin Better eHealth Intervention Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Jodie Michelle Scott
    2016 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Swarm Control for Mass UAS Deployments in Disconnected Environments Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Bradley Robert Fraser
    2015 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Detecting Students At-Risk Using Learning Analytics Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ayman Saleh S Albassam
    2015 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Enterprise Security Architecture - Mythology or Methodology? Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Michelle Rey Graham
    2014 - 2017 Principal Supervisor Adaptive Anomalous Behavior Identification in Large-Scale Distributed Systems Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Javier Alvarez
    2013 - 2016 Co-Supervisor Source Profiling for Smart City Sensing Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Yihong Zhang
    2012 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Semantic Component Selection Based on Non-Functional Requirements Master of Science in Mathematical and Computer Sciences Master Part Time Mr Amir Kanan Kashefi
    2012 - 2016 Co-Supervisor Formal Verification of Transactional and Configurable Service-Oriented Processes Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Scott Stanier Bourne
    2011 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Deployment Optimisation Insights for Evolving Software Systems within a Constrained Computing Environment Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Gavin Stanley Puddy
  • Position: Associate Prof/Reader
  • Phone: 83136744
  • Email: claudia.szabo@adelaide.edu.au
  • Fax: 83134366
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Ingkarni Wardli, floor 4
  • Org Unit: Computer Science

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