Rui Abreu

Rui Abreu is a Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), Portugal, with extensive expertise in software quality, testing, and debugging. Previously, he served as Associate Professor at IST-ULisbon and Assistant Professor at the University of Porto. His research bridges academia and industry through roles including Visiting Researcher at Google NYC (2019-2020) and co-founding DashDash, a $9M Series A-funded startup for spreadsheet-based web app development.

His educational background includes a Ph.D. in Computer Science - Software Engineering from Delft University of Technology and an M.Sc. in Computer and Systems Engineering from the University of Minho. His research focuses on automating software testing and debugging, with growing emphasis on quantum software testing, vulnerability detection, and AI-assisted development tools. Recent work explores large language models for loop invariant generation, interpretable vulnerability reports, and quantum mutation testing.

His publication trends reveal a strong shift toward security-critical systems and emerging computing paradigms, with 30% of recent papers addressing quantum software challenges and 45% focusing on vulnerability detection/repair. The work consistently combines static/dynamic analysis with machine learning, targeting practical tool development for real-world engineering problems.

• 6 Best Paper Awards
• Distinguished Paper Award at ESEC/FSE 2019

Abreu actively mentors through conference committees (serving on 12+ program committees in 2024-2025) and industry engagement. His DashDash venture demonstrates successful technology transfer, while Google collaboration advanced C/C++ security tooling. Current work includes quantum software metrics and security commit standardization.

He leads research teams focused on software quality automation, with recent projects including GZoltarAction (GitHub fault localization bot) and Maestro (vulnerability repair benchmarking platform). Future directions emphasize scalable security analysis for quantum systems and human-AI collaboration in debugging workflows.