Kousha Etessami

Kousha Etessami is a Professor in the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science within the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. His research spans theoretical computer science with a focus on automated verification, logic, algorithms and computational complexity, algorithmic game theory, stochastic systems, automata theory and model checking.

Research Interests:

• Automated verification and model checking
• Logic and computational complexity
• Algorithmic game theory and equilibrium computation
• Analysis of probabilistic systems, Markov decision processes and stochastic games
• Automata theory and infinite-state systems
• Finite model theory and descriptive complexity

His publications reveal a strong profile in algorithmic game theory, stochastic modelling, and verification of complex systems. Recent work focuses on equilibrium computation complexity, reachability in stochastic games, and fixed-point methods for probabilistic models. He has contributed extensively to both foundational theory and practical algorithms, with journal publications in top venues including SIAM Journal on Computing, Journal of the ACM, Information and Computation, and Games and Economic Behavior.

Students & Collaborators:

• PhD graduates: Thomas Webster (2024), Emanuel Martinov (2021), Alistair Stewart (2014), Dominik Wojtczak (2009)
• Postdoc: Václav Brožek (Newton Fellow, now at Google-Munich)

Teaching Contributions: Professor Etessami teaches and has taught courses on Algorithmic Game Theory, Randomized Algorithms, Discrete Mathematics, Stochastic Modelling and Simulation, and Compiling Techniques at the University of Edinburgh.

Contact:
Email: kousha@inf.ed.ac.uk
Office: Informatics Forum, Room 5.20, 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AB, Scotland, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)131 650 5197