British Colloquium for Theoretical Computer Science
Past Speakers
Invited speakers at BCTCS in chronological order:
BCTCS40 – University of Bath, 2024
| Anupas Das | Proof Theoretic Approaches for Regular Languages (and Beyond) |
| Alex Kavvos | Two-dimensional Kripke Semantics |
| Stuart Matthews | Software Engineering with Formal Methods: Quality, Time and Cost |
| Monika Seisenberger | Logic in Railway Verification |
BCTCS39 – University of Glasgow, 2023
| Ruth Hoffmann | Composable Constraint Models for Permutation Patterns and their enumeration |
| Steve Linton | Three trips around the "virtuous circle": theory, algorithms, software and experiments |
| David Manlove | Models and Algorithms for the Kidney Exchange Problem |
| Faron Moller | Technocamps: Transforming Digital Education Throughout Wales |
| Syed Waqar Nabi | Navigating Pedagogies: Teaching Theory-Heavy Courses to Software Engineering Student |
BCTCS38 – Swansea University, 2022
| Cliff Jones | Formal Methods in the UK – A (Personal) History |
| Alexander Knapp | Specifying Event/Data-based Systems |
| Mike Paterson | Algorithms and Complexity Theory in the UK – A (Personal) History |
| Rick Thomas | Some Interactions Between Automata Theory and Algebraic Structures in the UK – A (Personal) History |
| Francesca Toni | Argumentative Explainable AI |
| John Tucker | A (Personal) History of Logic in Computer Science |
BCTCS37 – University of Liverpool, 2021
| Eleni Akrida | Temporal Graphs: Algorithms and Complexity |
| Herbert Edelsbrunner | Random triangles and random inscribed polytopes |
| Kousha Etessami | The Complexity of Computing a Fixed Point of a Monotone Function, and Some Applications |
| Jan Krajíček* | Proof Complexity |
| Alessandra Russo | Logic-based learning for Interpretable AI |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS36 – Swansea University, 2020
| Simon Chadwick** | Formal Verification – The Journey from Theory towards Practice |
| Robert Constable* | Implementing Elements of Intuitionistic Mathematics in Nuprl |
| Edith Elkind*** | Hedonic diversity games |
| Anne Haxthausen** | The RobustRailS Verification Method for Railway Interlocking Systems |
| Bas Luttik** | Supporting Railway Infrastructure Managers with Formal Models and Analyses |
| David Manlove | Assigning junior doctors to hospitals – what makes it so hard? |
| Jan Peleska** | Advances in Railway Control Systems Architectures and Related Challenges for Verification and Validation |
| MS Ramanujan*** | Lossy kernelization |
| Patrick Totzke*** | Playing with counters: how to solve games on infinite arenas |
| Kristina Vuskovic*** | The induced disjoint paths problem on (theta, wheel)-free graphs |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
**AlgoUK Invited Talk on Railway Verification
***AlgoUK Invited Talk on Algorithmics
BCTCS35 – Durham University, 2019
| Andrew Adamatzky** | Liquid Computers |
| Ulrich Berger | IFP – A Logic for Program Extraction |
| Maria Chudnovsky* | Detecting Odd Holes |
| Richard Jozsa** | Clifford operations and the verification of quantum computations |
| Vivian Kendon** | Continuous-time quantum computing |
| Kitty Meeks*** | From decision to (approximate) counting |
| Bahar Rastegari*** | Stable marriage with groups of similar agents |
| Bernhard von Stengel*** | Fast algorithms for rank-1 bimatrix games |
| Susan Stepney** | Unconventional design of unconventional computers |
| James Worrell*** | Synthesising polynomial program invariants |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
**AlgoUK Invited Talk on Non-Standard Computing
***AlgoUK Invited Talk on Algorithmics
BCTCS34 – Royal Holloway University of London, 2018
| Agata Ciabattoni | Intermediate Logics: from Hypersequents to Parallel Computations |
| John E. Hopcroft* | Research in Deep Learning |
| Marta Kwiatkowska | Safety Verification for Deep Neural Networks |
| Thomas Sauerwald | Randomised Distributed Algorithms |
| Alexandra Silva | Probabilistic Program Equivalence for NetKAT |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS33 – University of St Andrews, 2017
| László Babai* | Graph Isomorphism |
| Edwin Brady | State Machines All The Way Down |
| Felix Fischer | Truthful Outcomes from Non-Truthful Position Auctions |
| Conor McBride | Syntax: What’s it like? |
| Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh | Monoids, Vectors, and Tensors for Natural Language |
| Perdita Stevens | Bisimulations, Bidirectionality, and the Future of Software Engineering |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS32 – Queen’s University Belfast, 2016
| Michael J Butler | Verification Patterns for Refinement |
| Rob Gilles | Consent in Network Formation: Game Theoretic Solutions |
| Magnús Halldórsson | “What problem should I solve?” and Efficiency in Wireless Networks |
| Matthew Hennessy | Behavioural Theories for Co-operating Transactions |
| Bruce Kapron | Gambling, Computational Information, and Encryption Security |
| Valerie King * | Tossing a Collective Coin and Coming to Agreement |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS31 – Middlesex University, 2015
| Samson Abramsky | Contextuality: At the Border of Paradox |
| Timothy Gowers | Extreme Human-Oriented Theorem Proving |
| Thomas Hales* | The Formal Proof of the Kepler Conjecture |
| Tony Hoare | Laws of Programming with Concurrency |
| Andrei Krokhin | The Complexity of General-Valued CSPs |
| Per Martin-Löf | Spreads, Repetitive Structures, Functional Causal Models |
| Joseph Sifakis | Rigorous System Design |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS30 – Loughborough University, 2014
| Leszek Gąsieniec | Distributed Maintenance of Mobile Entities |
| Achim Jung | A modal Belnap logic |
| Timo Kötzing | Recent Advances in Inductive Inference |
| Jeffrey Shallit* | Open Problems in Automata Theory |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS29 – University of Bath, 2013
| Susanne Albers* | Energy Efficient Algorithms |
| Samson Abramsky | From Quantum Mechanics to Logic, Databases, Constraints, and Complexity |
| Assia Mahboubl | Computer-checked Mathematics |
| Angela Wallenburg | Proof and Test: Will They Blend? |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS28 – University of Manchester, 2012
| Rod Downey* | Fundamentals of Parametrized Complexity |
| Mike Edmunds | The Antikythera Mechanism and the Early History of Mechanical Computing |
| Reiner Hähnle | Formal Verification of Software Product Families |
| Daniel Kroening | SAT over an Abstract Domain |
| Nicole Schweikardt | On the expressive power of logics with invariant uses of arithmetic predicates |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS27 – Birmingham University, 2011
| David S. Johnson* | Bin Packing: From Theory to Experiment and Back Again |
| Cliff Jones | AI4FM – How To Say “Why” In Proofs |
| Prakash Panangaden | Epistemic Strategies and Games on Concurrent Processes |
| Peter Selinger | Logical Methods in Quantum Information Theory |
| Nigel Smart | Homomorphic Encryption |
| Carsten Witt | Bio-Inspired Computation Meets Theoretical Computer Science |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS26 – Edinburgh University, 2010
| Erik Demaine | Algorithms Meet Art, Puzzles, and Magic |
| Johan Håstad | Approximation Resistance |
| Gil Kalai* | Analysis and Probability of Boolean Functions |
| Kim Larsen | Verifying LEGO: Validation and Synthesis of Embedded Software |
| Catuscia Palamidessi | Information-Theoretic Approaches to Information Flow |
| Ulrike Sattler | Automated Reasoning for Ontology Engineering |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS25 – Warwick University, 2009
| Noga Alon* | Combinatorial Reasoning in Information Theory |
| Paul Goldberg | Recent Progress in Computing Approximate Nash Equilibrium |
| Andrew Gordon | Principles and Applications of Refinement Types |
| Jane Hillston | Stochastic Process Algebra: Bringing Performance to Life (Tutorial) |
| Alistair Sinclair | Phase Transitions and Mixing Times |
| Bill Wadge | Infinitesimal Logic |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS24 – Durham University, 2008
| Martin Abadi | Towards Correct Programming with Transactional Memory |
| José Félix Costa | Physics and Computation: An Essay on the Unity of Science through Computability |
| Artur Czumai | Sublinear-time Algorithms |
| Martin Henson | Varieties of Schema Calculus |
| Leonid Libkin | Databases Meet Verification; or Nested Words and XML Documents |
| Rolf Niedermeier | Trends in Parameterized Algorithmics |
| Gerhard Woeginger* | Three Assignment Problems and One Theorem |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS23 – Oxford University (Oxford Brookes University), 2007
| Dimitris Achlioptas | Random Constraint Satisfaction Problems: from Physics to Algorithms |
| Steven Alpern | Search Games and Utilitarian Postman Paths on Networks |
| Julian Bradfield | How user-friendly is independence-friendly logic? |
| Georg Gottlob | Living with Computational Complexity |
| Richard Jozsa | Quantum Computation – Principles and Achievements |
| Kristina Vuskovic* | The Use of Decomposition in the Study of Graph Classes defined by Excluding Induced Subgraphs |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS22 – Swansea University, 2006
| Hajo Broersma* | Toughness in Graphs: Structural and Algorithmic Aspects |
| Stephen Cook | A Tutorial on Proof Complexity |
| Tony Hoare | Unifying theories of concurrency |
| Mark Jerrum | A Tutorial on Efficient Sampling |
| Peter Mosses | The Meaning of It All: Programming Language Semantics, From Scott and Strachey to Semantics/Online |
| Moshe Vardi | Alternation as an Algorithmic Construct |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS21 – University of Nottingham, 2005
| Roland Backhouse | Games for Algorithmic Problem Solving (Tutorial) |
| Alan Gibbons* | The Soft Machines: Computing with the Code of Life |
| Andrew Gordon | Samoa: Formal Tools for Securing Web Services |
| Ralf Hinze | Number Systems and Data Structures |
| Conor McBride | Dependently Typed Programming: An Epigram Induction (Tutorial) |
| Rajeev Raman | Succinctness |
*LMS-sponsored Keynote Lecturer in Discrete Mathematics
BCTCS20 – Pitlochery (Stirling University), 2004
| Luca Cardelli | Membrane Interactions |
| Sharon Curtis | Functional Fractal Image Compression |
| Jose Fiadeiro | Software Architectures in 3D |
| Rob Irving | Fifty Years of Stable Marriage |
| Rachel Normal | Modelling of Biological Systems (Tutorial) |
| Rick Thomas | Formal Languages and Word Problems of Groups (Tutorial) |
| Ken Turner | Test Generation for Radiotherapy Accelerators |
BCTCS19 – University of Leicester, 2003
| Achim Jung | Probabilities in Semantics – Some Progress, Some Open Problems |
| Bill Lawvere | The Boolean Algebra Classifying Topos and the Complexity of Finite Automata |
| Kurt Mehlhorn | Certifying Algorithms |
| S Muthu Muthukrishnan | Data Stream Algorithmics |
| Jean-Eric Pin | Logic and Automata |
BCTCS18 – HP Labs Bristol, 2002
| Neil Davies | Engineering with Randomness |
| Anuj Dawar | Complexity as Expressive Power |
| Demetres Kouvatsos | An Extended Analytic Methodology for Arbitrary Queueing Networks |
| Brian McBride | A Tail of a Dog |
| Robin Milner | Biographical Reactive Systems |
| Paul Spirakis | Algorithmic Aspects of Game Theory |
| John Tucker | Computable and Hierarchical Models of Physical Systems |
BCTCS17 – Glasgow University, 2001
| Muffy Calder | A Day in the Life of a Spin Doctor |
| Ursula Martin | Computational Math: The New Challenge for Computational Logic |
| Faron Moller | Techniques for Decidability and Undecidability for Bisimilarity (Tutorial) |
| Joachim Parrow | An Introduction to the pi-Calculus (Tutorial) |
| Mike Paterson | Getting Your Message Across, But Nicely: An Introduction to Contention Resolution |
| Simon Peyton-Jones | Asynchronous Exceptions in Concurrent Haskell |
| Alexander Rabinovich | Temporal Logic over Branching Time: Expressiveness and Complexity |
BCTCS16 – Liverpool University, 2000
| Paul Dunne | Computational Problems (Some Directions but No Solutions) |
| Grzegorz Rozenberg | DNA Computing In Vivo – Gene Assembly in Ciliates |
| Leslie Valiant | Robust Logic |
| Kurt Weihrauch | Computable Analysis |
| Mike Wooldridge | The Verification Problem for Agent Communication Languages |
| Xin Yao | Some Theoretical Issues in Evolutionary Computation |
BCTCS15 – Keele University, 1999
| Wan Fokkink | Within ARMs Reach: Compilation of Rewrite Systems |
| Martin Hofmann | Linear Types and Non-Size Increasing Polynomial Time Computation |
| Bill McColl | BSP Computing |
| Ian Pratt | Qualitative Spatial Reasoning and the Semantic Knife-edge |
| David Pym | Reasource Semantics, Bunched Logic and a Relevant Logical Framework |
| Glynn Winskel | Linearity in Distributed Computation |
| Mike Worboys | Computing with Geospatial Data: Challenges to Theory |
BCTCS14 – University of St Andrews, 1998
| Rod Burstall | Teaching Logic to Programmers |
| John Davenport | Is Computer Algebra the Same as Computer Symbolic Mathematics? |
| Abbas Edalat | Exact Real Number Computation Using Linear Fractional Transformations |
| Ian Gent | Two Become One: Theory and Experiment |
| Leslie Goldberg | Contention Resolution in Mulitple-Access Channels |
| Angus MacIntyre | Connections between model theory and volume estimates |
| Luke Ong | Game Semantics |
| Rick Thomas | Syntactic Monoids – A Survey |
BCTCS13 – University of Sheffield, 1997
| Martyn Amos | The Complexity and Viability of DNA Computation (tutorial) |
| Trevor Bench-Capon | Machines Can’t Think |
| Paul Dunne | An Overview of Lower Bound Techniques in Monotone Boolean Function Complexity |
| Javier Esparza | Model-Checking Pushdown Automata |
| Matthew Fairtlough | Abstraction, Constraints and the Lambda Calculus (Tutorial) |
| Mike Gordon | Event and Cycle Semantics of Hardware Description Languages |
| Edmund Robertson | Combinatorial and Decidability Questions in Semigroups of Words |
| Edmund Robinson | Logic and Logical Relations |
| Chris Tofts | Ants, Shrimps, and Other Asynchronous Hardware |
BCTCS12 – University of Kent at Canterbury, 1996
| Peter Aczel | Formalising Abstract Algebra in Constructive Type Theory |
| Graham Birtwistle | Specifying and Verifying AMULET in CCS |
| Ed Brinksma | Formal Models for Testing: An Interaction between Theory and Practice |
| Keith Hanna | Reasoning about Digital Systems |
| Ursula Martin | The Princess and the Plumber: The Role of Mathematics in Computer Science |
| Michiel Smid | Spanners: Approximating the Complete Euclidean Graph |
| Jacobo Toran | On the Complexity of the Graph Isomorphism Problem |
| David Turner | Total Functional Programming |
BCTCS11 – University of Wales Swansea, 1995
| Jaco de Bakker | Metric Semantics |
| Jan Heering | Algebraic Specifications and Proofs by Induction |
| Matthew Hennessy | Higher-Order Processes and Their Models |
| Roger Hindley | Counting the Inhabitants of a Type |
| Faron Moller | The Computational Complexity of Bisimilarity |
| Iain Stewart | Descriptive Complexity Theory (Tutorial) |
| David Rydeheard | Category Theory and Game Semantics |
| John Tucker | Synchronous Concurrent Algorithms |
BCTCS10 – University of Bristol, 1994
| Richard Bird | Relational Program Derivation |
| David Bree | The Semantics of Natural Language Temporal Prepositions and Conjunctions |
| Robert Cori | Building Automata with Time Stamps |
| Paul Dunne | Introduction to Boolean Function Complexity (Tutorial) |
| Mike Holcombe | X-Machines – What Are They? (Tutorial) |
| Mark Jerrum | The Computational Complexity of Counting |
| Paul Spirakis | Paradigms for Fast Parallel Approximations to Problems that are Hard to Parallelise |
BCTCS9 – University of York, 1993
| Malcolm Atkinson | The Capability of Priority Queues as Data Transformers |
| John Lloyd | Declarative Logic Programming |
| Gordon Plotkin | A Logic for Parametric Polymorphism |
| Jean-Marc Steyaert | On the Average Complexity of Rewriting Systems |
| Bob Tennant | Correctness of Data Representations in Algol-Like Languages |
BCTCS8 – University of Newcastle, 1992
| Jose Luis Balcazar | The Structural Approach to Complexity Theory |
| Alan Gibbons | Implementing P-RAM Algorithms on Distributed Memory Models of Parallel Computation |
| Yuri Gurevich | Evolving Algebras |
| Wilfred Hodges | The Logical Background to Specification |
| Tom Maibaum | Design Structures: Configuring Specifications |
| John Savage | VLSI Analysis, Synthesis and Theory |
| Colin Stirling | Verification via Model Checking |
BCTCS7 – University of Liverpool, 1991
| Henk Barendregt | Feasible Full Formalisation |
| Alan Bundy | Automatic Generation of Program Synthesis Proofs |
| Martin Dyer | Volume and Related Computational Problems |
| John Hughes | Naturality, Polymorphism and Compile-Time Analysis |
| Cliff Jones | Interference Resumed |
| Colm O’Dunlaing | Computational Problems in Geometry |
| Carl Sturtivant | Some Issues in Algebraic Complexity |
| Brigitte Vallee | Algorithms for Integer Factorization |
BCTCS6 – University of Manchester, 1990
| Howard Barringer | The Future of Imperative Logic |
| Philippe Flajolet | Some Recent Trends in the Average-Case Analysis of Algorithms |
| Shafi Goldwasser | Zero Knowledge Interactive Proofs |
| Martin Hyland | Synthetic Domain Theory – The Story So Far |
| Chris Lengauer | Systolic Design and Systolising Compilation |
| Ursula Martin | What Can You Do with an Equational Reasoning Theorem Prover? |
| Lincoln Wallen | From Proof Theory to Proof Search: Some Remarks on the Design of Proof Procedures |
BCTCS5 – Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, 1989
| Alberto Apostolico | Parallel Algorithms on Words |
| Roland Backhouse | Making Formalism Work for Us |
| Richard Cole | A Promising Approach to Complexity Measures for Computation over Splay Trees |
| John Dixon | Computations in Galois Theory |
| Joseph Goguen | Object Oriented Programming as a Natural Extension of Functional Programming |
| Roger Hindley | The Coppo-Denzani Type System |
| John Lloyd | Current Theoretical Issues in Logic Programming |
| Mike Smyth | The Thesis that Computable Functions are Uniformly Continuous |
BCTCS4 – University of Edinburgh, 1988
| Samson Abramsky | A Cooks Tour of the Finitary Non-Well-Founded Sets |
| Furio Honsell | The Edinburgh LF – A Framework for Describing Logical Systems |
| Robin Milner | What Use are Process Algebras? |
| Leslie Valiant | Computationally Feasible Learning |
| Chee Yap | Grobner Bases: Complexity and Applications |
BCTCS3 – University of Leicester, 1987
There were no invited speakers per se at BCTCS3, though there were 9 one-hour talks given by:
- Howard Barringer,
- Meurig Beynon,
- Zhou Chaochen,
- Mike Holcombe,
- Costas Iliopoulos,
- Cliff Jones,
- Nicholas Measor,
- Paul Taylor, and
- Brian Wichmann,
and 16 half-hour talks given by:
- B. Banieqbal,
- Mads Dams,
- Paul Dunne,
- Mark Jerrum,
- Richard Kennaway,
- R.D. Lins,
- Bill Mitchell,
- Luke Ong,
- Prakash Panangaden,
- Mike Shields,
- Alistair Sinclair,
- Mike Stannett,
- Muffy Thomas,
- Simon Thompson,
- W.P. Weijland, and
- Guo Quiang Zhang.
BTCSC2 – University of Warwick, 1986
There were no invited speakers per se at BCTCS2, though there were 12 45-minute talks given by:
- Rod Burstall,
- Tony Cohn,
- Paul Dunne,
- Matthew Hennessy,
- Mark Jerrum,
- Ursula Martin,
- Mike Paterson,
- Lawrence Paulson,
- John Tucker,
- Stan Wainer,
- Dominic Welsh, and
- Glynn Winskel,
and 29 shorter talks given by:
- Marek Bednarczyk,
- John Buckle,
- Bernard Carre,
- R.J. Cook,
- Paul Dunne,
- Tim Flannagan,
- Alan Gibbons,
- Carl Gunter,
- S.A. Hill,
- Mark Jerrum,
- Richard Kennaway,
- R.D. Lins,
- P. Marcer,
- Steve Matthews,
- Kevin McEvoy,
- Karl Meinke,
- Eugenio Moggi,
- Maurice Naftalin,
- Mogens Nielsen,
- Bill Roscoe,
- David Rydeheard,
- Wojciech Rytter,
- Mike Shields,
- Colin Stirling,
- Paul Taylor,
- Ben Thompson,
- Simon Thompson,
- John Tucker, and
- Steven Vickers.
BTCSC1 – University of Leeds, 1985
There were no invited speakers per se at BCTCS1, though there were 10 1-hour talks given by:
- Jos Baeten,
- Meurig Beynon,
- Robin Gandy,
- W.F. Handley,
- Tony Hoare,
- Mark Jerrum,
- Bill McColl,
- Ben Moszkowski,
- K.W. Regan, and
- Bill Roscoe
and 25 half-hour talks given by:
- John Buckle,
- Roy Dickhoff,
- G. Farr,
- A.J. Fisher,
- Tim Flannigan,
- Mike Holcombe,
- C. Jervis,
- Richard Kennaway,
- D. Kfoury,
- A.M.A. Khamiss,
- P. Lindsay,
- Steve Matthews,
- G. Megson,
- Eugenio Moggi,
- Alan Mycroft,
- K.V.S. Prasad,
- David Rydeheard,
- Alistair Sinclair,
- Alan Stoughton,
- Ben Thompson,
- John Tucker,
- Stan Wainer,
- Mike Warboys,
- U. Webb, and
- Glynn Winskel.