Peter SewellView profile
Professor
Peter Sewell is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, where he builds rigorous foundations for real-world computer systems to enhance robustness, security, and formal verification of hardware-software interactions. His educational background includes undergraduate studies at the University of Cambridge and University of Oxford, followed by a PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1995 under Robin Milner's supervision. Professor Sewell's research focuses on concurrency models (x86, ARM, Power, C/C++11), verified compilation, formal semantics for C/linking/filesystems/TLS, and applied semantics tools. He pioneers executable ISA specifications through projects like Sail and Cerberus, addressing relaxed-memory concurrency and capability-based security architectures. His 2020-2026 publications reveal a clear trajectory toward formal verification of hardware security properties, with increasing emphasis on capability systems (Arm Morello, CHERI) and real-world applicability of concurrency models across ARM, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures. Scientific recognition: Royal Society University Research Fellowship (1999-2007) He leads major research initiatives in systems security formalization, supported by Cambridge positions and collaborative projects with industry partners. His work bridges theoretical formal methods and practical systems engineering through executable semantics frameworks. As a core member of Cambridge's Systems Research Group, he directs projects including Sail (ISA semantics), Cerberus (C semantics), and verification frameworks for capability architectures, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration across hardware and software security domains.
