Jacopo Massa, PhD

Research Fellow Department of Computer Science, University of Pisa

Hi! 👋🏼 I am a Research Fellow in Computer Science at the University of Pisa, for the NOUS European project. My research primarily focuses on declarative approaches for multi-service applications and network management, emphasising data-awareness and simulation-emulation of the Cloud-Edge continuum.

To this end, I am one of the main authors and maintainers of ECLYPSE, a Python framework for the simulation and emulation of Cloud-Edge environments. I am actively involved in the academic community, serving as a Program Committee member and reviewer for various international conferences and journals.

Experience

Research grant

University of Pisa • Pisa, Italy

09/2024 - now

Scholarship Holder

University of Pisa • Pisa, Italy

11/2021 - 09/2024

Education

Ph.D. in Computer Science

University of Pisa / CNR-ISTI

Thesis

11/2021 - 11/2025

This thesis investigates declarative methodologies for managing applications and networks across the Cloud-Edge continuum, focusing on data-aware placement and intent-based networking. The work introduces models and prototypes that enable automated, context-sensitive distributed service deployment, based on data properties and infrastructure dynamics. It also proposes novel approaches for intent modelling, translation, and conflict resolution to support scalable orchestration of application and network configurations. The solutions are validated through simulation, emulation, and real-world case studies.

M.Sc. in Computer Science

University of Pisa

Thesis

10/2019 - 10/2021

This thesis proposes declarative modelling of Cloud-IoT infrastructures and multi-service applications that separately model computing and data services. Through formal logic reasoning, the methodology determines eligible service placements and data traffic routing over Cloud-IoT resources. The proposed methodology is prototyped in Prolog and assessed via simulation over a life-like use case.

B.Sc. in Computer Science

University of Pisa

09/2016 - 10/2019

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a hybrid voice-graphical interface for smart building environments, enabling natural language interaction with IoT devices through Amazon Alexa and a touchscreen display. The system integrates multiple microservices within the GIÒ framework, allowing users to access contextual information, manage smart room goals, and control devices via voice commands or graphical input. The solution is prototyped using Python and the Alexa Skills Kit, and its usability is evaluated through real-user testing in a university setting.

Research interests

My current research interests include, but are not limited to, what follows:

cloud-edge continuumdistributed systemsdeclarative programmingintent-based networkingsoftware-defined networkingsimulationemulation

Publications

Please find below a comprehensive list of my publications, following the DBLP colour scheme.

Indexed publications are also listed on: DBLP , Google Scholar , ResearchGate , Scopus , Web of Science .

Source	Documents	Citations	h-index	i10-index
Google Scholar	Documents 22	Citations 107	h-index 6	i10-index 5
ResearchGate	Documents 21	Citations 91	h-index 6	i10-index —
Scopus	Documents 17	Citations 68	h-index 5	i10-index —
Web of Science	Documents 16	Citations 45	h-index 4	i10-index —

Research

SL-CR

Continuous Reasoning Prototype for Application Placement

GitHub

06/2026

Prolog

SL-CR is a declarative prototype for continuous reasoning over application placement in Cloud-Edge environments. It separates a deployment into valid and invalid fragments, preserves valid assignments, and repairs only affected components through Prolog-based reasoning, reducing unnecessary recomputation and migrations after application or infrastructure changes.

EdgeWiseCR

Declarative and Optimization-based Edge-Cloud Service Placer

GitHub

07/2025

Prolog Python

EdgeWiseCR is a data-aware framework for placing multi-service applications in Cloud-Edge environments, combining declarative reasoning and MILP optimisation to minimise operational costs and data transfers. It extends EdgeWise with continuous reasoning, reusing existing placements to reduce recomputation and service migrations while preserving placement stability under dynamic infrastructure conditions.

ECLYPSE

Edge-CLoud pYthon Platform for Simulated runtime Environments

GitHub

11/2024

Python

ECLYPSE (Edge-CLoud pYthon Platform for Simulated runtime Environments) is a simulation library entirely written in Python for experimenting with deployment strategies under varying infrastructure conditions. It provides an interface to simulate deployments of service-based applications onto realistic infrastructures, both with and without an actual application implementation. It was also used in the European FREEDA project.

dgLBF

Declarative Guaranteed Latency Based Forwarding

GitHub

06/2024

Prolog

The guaranteed Latency Based Forwarding (gLBF) approach features per-hop bounded delays to meet end-to-end latency requirements of data flows based on application needs. dgLBF introduces a Prolog-based specification of gLBF for path selection and delay configuration. The prototype determines paths and delays to meet latency targets, offering a concise and extensible solution.

MultiDIPS

Multi-Intent Declarative Intent-based Provisioning System

GitHub

10/2023

Prolog

MultiDIPS is a Prolog tool that extends DIPS to model and process multiple VNF-based service provisioning intents. It enables providers to specify high-level requirements such as service type, location constraints (e.g., edge deployment), Quality of Service (latency, bandwidth), and non-functional properties like privacy or logging. MultiDIPS leverages Prolog inference to translate multiple intents into consistent provisioning specifications.

EdgeWise

Declarative and Optimization-based Edge-Cloud Service Placer

GitHub

09/2023

Prolog Python

EdgeWise shows a declarative programming approach combined with a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulation to identify eligible placements that minimise operational costs and reduce the number of nodes involved, limiting data transfers. After evaluating both approaches, EdgeWise reconciles them through a hybrid methodology that leverages declarative pre-processing to accelerate the MILP solver while computing optimal solutions.

DIPS

Declarative Intent-based Provisioning System

GitHub

07/2023

Prolog

DIPS (Declarative Intent Provisioning System) is a Prolog tool that uses a declarative methodology for modelling and processing VNF-based service provisioning intents. It enables providers to specify high-level requirements such as service type, edge placement constraints, Quality of Service (latency, bandwidth), and non-functional properties like privacy or logging. DIPS leverages Prolog inference to translate intents into provisioning specifications.

DA-Placer

Data-Aware Application Placer for Edge-Cloud Environments

GitHub

12/2022

Prolog

DA-Placer proposes a declarative solution that accounts for both functional and non-functional aspects to determine service placements and SDN data routings that satisfy application requirements. The solution leverages a Prolog reasoner and continuous reasoning to speed up placement and routing decisions at runtime.

GiòSkill

Conversational Interfaces for Ambient Intelligence Services

GitHub

06/2019 - 12/2025

Python

GiòMap

Interactive Map and Indoor Navigation Service

GitHub

06/2019 - 12/2025

Python JavaScript

A catalyst for EuropeaN ClOUd Services

09/2024

Pisa, Italy

hOlistic Sustainable Management of distributed softWARE systems

11/2022 - 12/2024

Pisa, Italy

High Performance Computing Laboratory

01/2022

The HPC Lab focuses on scalable algorithms and systems for computational and data-intensive problems, including cloud systems, big data analytics, and machine learning. They develop efficient solutions for managing large datasets in near real-time, optimizing for resource constraints and application-specific trade-offs.

Pisa, Italy

Service-Oriented, Cloud and Fog Computing (SOCC) Research Group

05/2021

Pisa, Italy

A Fog Computing Testbed for Research & Education

06/2019

Pisa, Italy

Forthcoming Events
ACR 2027	5^th International Conference on Advances in Computing Research	Dublin, Ireland, 12-14 July 2027	PC member
ASCIC 2026	1^st African Smart Cities & Innovation Congress	, 27-29 October 2026	PC member
I3E 2026	25^th IFIP Conference on e-Business, e-Services, and e-Society	Tampere, Finland, 15-17 September 2026	PC member
local chair, web chair	21^st International Conference on the Economics of Grids, Clouds, Systems, and Services	Pisa, Italy, 9-11 September 2026	local chair
GECON 2026	21^st International Conference on the Economics of Grids, Clouds, Systems, and Services	, 9-11 September 2026	web chair
ESOCC 2026	12^th European Conference On Service-Oriented And Cloud Computing	Bolzano, Italy, 7-8 September 2026	PC member
PC member, web chair	4th Workshop on Big Data and High-Performance Computing @ Euro-Par 2026	Pisa, Italy, 24-25 August 2026	PC member
SSDBM 2026	38th International Conference on Scalable Scientific Data Management	San Diego, California, USA, 12-13 August 2026	PC member

Past Events
2026	AHPC³ 2026 @ PDP 2026 (AHPC³ 2026) , IEEE SOSE 2026 (IEEE SOSE 2026) , CSC 2026 (CSC 2026) , HPDC 2026 (HPDC 2026) , ACR 2026 (ACR 2026) , MoCS 2026 @ IEEE ISCC 2026 (MoCS 2026) , CLOUD COMPUTING 2026 (CLOUD COMPUTING 2026) , IEEE CCNC 2026 (IEEE CCNC 2026)
2025	AHPC³ 2025 @ IC2E 2025 (AHPC³ 2025) , AHPC³ 2024 @ PDP 2025 (AHPC³ 2024) , I3E 2025 (I3E 2025) , Smart-City 2025 (Smart-City 2025) , CSC 2025 (CSC 2025) , IEEE SOSE 2025 (IEEE SOSE 2025) , ACR 2025 (ACR 2025) , MoCS 2025 @ IEEE ISCC 2025 (MoCS 2025) , CauSE 2025 (CauSE 2025) , Cloud Continuum @ SAC 2025 (Cloud Continuum) , CLOSER 2025 (CLOSER 2025) , ESOCC 2025 (ESOCC 2025)
2024	CSC 2024 (CSC 2024) , IEEE SOSE 2024 (IEEE SOSE 2024) , HPDC 2024 (HPDC 2024)
2023	Microservices 2023 (Microservices 2023) , ACSOS 2023 (ACSOS 2023) , ESOCC 2023 (ESOCC 2023)

Editor
IJNDC	International Journal on Networked and Distributed Computing

Junior Editor
IJNDC	International Journal on Networked and Distributed Computing

Teaching

Leonardo Signore (ongoing)

Gestione adattiva dei flussi di rete tramite continuous reasoning

03/2026

Supervisors: Stefano Forti, Jacopo Massa, Giulia Punzi