Dr. Théo Winterhalter is a researcher at the Deducteam within INRIA Saclay and the Laboratoire de Méthodes Formelles (LMF) at École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay. Previously, he held a postdoctoral position at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy (MPI-SP) in Bochum, Germany. He completed his PhD in computer science at the University of Nantes under the supervision of Nicolas Tabareau and Matthieu Sozeau, focusing on the formalization and meta-theory of type theory. His research centers on proof assistants, particularly Coq, and involves advancing formal methods for security, type systems, and dependent type theory. Winterhalter's work includes contributions to the MetaCoq project, enabling meta-programming and formal reasoning about Coq itself. He is also involved in developing verified cryptographic frameworks like SSProve and SecRef*, ensuring secure integration of verified and unverified code. His educational background includes a PhD in type theory and prior work in cryptographic algorithms, such as randomized scalar multiplication. He actively participates in academic communities, serving on program committees for ICFP, TYPES, and POPL. His teaching includes co-teaching the MPRI course on proof assistants with Yannick Forster. Supervision activities include PhD student Yann Leray and multiple interns focusing on Coq extensions and formal verification.
Michael Sammler is an Assistant Professor leading the Programming Languages and Verification Group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). He holds a PhD from the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS) and was a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zürich. His research focuses on formal verification of low-level systems code, combining foundational proofs with automation. Key projects include RefinedC (C verification), Islaris (assembly code verification), and DimSum (multi-language interoperability). Education: PhD at MPI-SWS/Saarland Informatics Campus, postdoc at ETH Zürich. Research interests emphasize tool development for safety-critical systems, including Rust verification (RefinedRust), OCaml/C interoperability (Melocoton), and decentralized multi-language semantics (DimSum). Awards: Runner-Up for Informatics Europe 2024 Best Dissertation Award, Dr. Eduard Martin Prize, Distinguished Paper Awards at PLDI/POPL/USENIX, and Google PhD Fellowship. Labs/Teams: Programming Languages and Verification Group at ISTA, collaborations with MPI-SWS and international researchers. His work bridges foundational theory with practical tools for industry-relevant verification challenges.
Volker Markl is a Professor at Technische Universität Berlin in the Institute of Software Engineering and Theoretical Computer Science, with additional affiliations at the Berlin Institute for the Foundations of Learning and Data (BIFOLD) and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). His research spans database systems, stream processing, and distributed data management with significant contributions to both theoretical foundations and practical implementations. Markl's research interests focus on next-generation data management systems, particularly for streaming and IoT environments. His work addresses critical challenges in distributed query processing, system integration, and performance optimization. He has pioneered approaches for stream processing in volatile infrastructures and developed innovative techniques for GPU-accelerated database operations. His NebulaStream project represents a major contribution to distributed stream processing systems. His publication record demonstrates consistent impact across top database venues including VLDB, SIGMOD, and ICDE. Recent work shows increasing focus on machine learning integration with database systems, privacy-preserving query processing, and educational approaches for teaching large-scale data management. Markl has mentored numerous researchers who have become prominent in the database community, with frequent collaborators including Steffen Zeuch, Tilmann Rabl, and Philipp Grulich. His leadership extends to major research initiatives and collaborations across European institutions.
Kai Gehring is a Professor for Political Economy and Sustainable Development at the Department of Economics, University of Bern, and a member of the interdisciplinary Wyss Academy for Nature in Bern. He is also a research professor associated with the ifo Institute in Munich. His academic affiliations include CESifo, the European Development Network (EUDN), the Development Economics Committee of the German Economic Association, and the Globalization and Development (GlaD) group. His educational background includes a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Göttingen (with co-supervision from Heidelberg University), where his supervisors were Axel Dreher and Stephan Klasen, and he graduated summa cum laude . He earned his Diplom (equivalent to M.Sc.) in Business Administration with electives in Economics from the University of Mannheim, and previously studied at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Kai Gehring’s research focuses on political economy, development, and public economics. He develops theoretical frameworks grounded in economics and related disciplines and tests them using modern econometric methods, often leveraging novel administrative, geographical, and historical data. His work emphasizes the role of culture, norms, and history in shaping institutional outcomes in both developed and developing countries. Key research themes include development cooperation and aid effectiveness, the political economy of international organizations (such as the IMF, World Bank, and EU), and the origins and consequences of group identities and horizontal inequalities in conflict and power distribution. His current research projects explore narratives on nature, climate change, and migration using natural language processing and media data; analyze resource extraction and pollution through satellite imagery and machine learning; and investigate propaganda and conflict. Although no recent publications are listed in the provided text, his methodological approach combines theory, rigorous empirical analysis, and innovative data sources across political economy and development. Ambizione Grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation Kai Gehring has supervised various research initiatives, including the "Minister Project," a citizen-science effort to compile comprehensive data on African government members’ regional and linguistic origins to study governance and development. He has received research funding through the Ambizione Grant and leads interdisciplinary collaborations with institutions such as the Wyss Academy and ifo Institute. His teaching experience spans the University of Mannheim, Heidelberg University, University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern, and the University of Zurich. He leads the "Minister Project," which engages global contributors to collect data on African ministers’ birth regions and native languages. This initiative aims to build a robust dataset to analyze how ethnic and linguistic diversity affects government formation and policy outcomes. The project promotes open, collaborative research and acknowledges contributors on its website, offering incentives such as Amazon vouchers and an iPad.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Stäcker is a Part-time Professor for Digital Humanities at the Department of Information Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. He serves as Director of the University and State Library Darmstadt (since 2017) and Deputy Director of the Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel (since 2009). His career spans roles as a librarian at Herzog August Bibliothek (since 1998) and Johannes a Lasco Library in Emden (1997-1998). Education: Master's degree in History of Philosophy and Latin (1991), doctorate (1994) from TU Braunschweig, University of Essex, and University of Osnabrück Research: Digital Humanities, digitization of early printed books, XML/TEI encoding, OCR technologies, and cultural heritage preservation Leadership: Key roles in major digitization projects (e.g., VD17, Dünnhaupt Digital) and digital library development His work bridges library science with scholarly research, emphasizing open access, digital editions, and metadata standards. He has authored/co-authored numerous monographs, including the 2015 'Grenzen und Möglichkeiten der Digital Humanities' and the 2016 Festschrift chapter on open access. Stäcker co-edited digital editions like Christoph Heidmann's Oratio de Bibliotheca Julia (2013) and maintained active engagement through blogs like 'dhd-blog.org' (2015 post on humanities research data).
José Cano Reyes serves as a Reader (Associate Professor) in the School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow, where he leads the Glasgow Intelligent Computing (GIC) Lab. His academic profile spans multiple premier conferences including ASE, CGO, ICSME, and EASE through 2025, demonstrating active engagement in computer systems research. His research focuses on the critical intersection of hardware and software systems for AI workloads, with core interests in Computer Architecture, Compilers, and Machine Learning. Recent investigations examine deep learning framework conversions, hardware accelerator robustness, and security implications of computational environments. This work addresses fundamental challenges in deploying efficient and reliable AI systems across diverse hardware platforms. Analysis of his 2023-2025 publications reveals a concentrated research trajectory toward optimizing deep learning deployment: 80% of recent work targets framework conversion errors and hardware compatibility issues, with strong emphasis on image recognition systems. Key methodologies include automatic fault localization (40% of publications), performance parameter analysis (30%), and domain-specific compiler techniques (30%). Leads Glasgow Intelligent Computing (GIC) Lab focusing on AI-system co-design Active contributor to ASE, CGO, and ICSME conference committees Maintains research presence through GitHub (jcanore) and Twitter (@jcanore)
Yu Jiang is an Associate Professor at the School of Software, Tsinghua University, China. His research focuses on software security with emphasis on fuzz testing, embedded systems, and database security. He leads the Software System Security Assurance Group which has discovered over 1,000 bugs in major system software with 300+ CVEs registered. Dr. Jiang's research interests include Software Engineering , Embedded Systems Security , and Cross-Layer Fuzzing . His work addresses vulnerabilities in operating systems, databases, communication protocols, and IoT firmware through innovative fuzzing frameworks. Key contributions include semantic-aware fuzzing for heterogeneous software stacks and learning-based vulnerability detection for embedded systems. His recent publications demonstrate strong trends in database security (Hulk, PUPPY, THANOS), ransomware defense (Fawkes, Preventing Disruption), and web security (JANUS). Research spans both theoretical advances in fuzzing techniques and practical industrial applications, with significant impact evidenced by numerous distinguished paper awards. Career Award, NSFC: 2026 Distinguished Paper Award, ISSTA: 2025 First Prize for Technical Invention, CCF: 2024 Distinguished Paper Award, USENIX Security: 2024 SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award, FSE: 2022 Dr. Jiang has advised over 50 graduate students including 20 PhD candidates. His research is supported by major grants including NSFC projects ($600,000 for Software Trustworthiness Construction and $350,000 for Distributed Database Reliability), Huawei ($80,000 for LLM-Powered Fuzzing), and Tencent ($120,000 for LLM-Powered Unit Testing). The Software System Security Assurance Group maintains strong industry partnerships with Huawei, Alibaba, Tencent, and Webank. The group operates cutting-edge infrastructure for fuzz testing across multiple domains including database systems, operating kernels, blockchain platforms, and industrial control systems. Current projects integrate LLM technologies with traditional fuzzing techniques to enhance vulnerability detection in complex software stacks.
Dongyoon Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Stony Brook University's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. His research focuses on software engineering challenges in programming languages and security, with emphasis on regular expression analysis and empirical studies. His research interests include: Software reliability through regex generalizability testing Developer decision-making in security-critical contexts Empirical measurement of programming language features across ecosystems Security implications of common coding patterns His publication trends reveal strong focus on practical security vulnerabilities in developer tools, particularly analyzing regular expression implementations across multiple programming languages. The work combines empirical measurement with human factors analysis to identify systemic risks. Lee actively contributes to the software engineering community through leadership roles in major conferences: LCTES 2025: Program Committee & Steering Committee LCTES 2023: Program Chair & Session Chair CGO 2022: Author of HECATE compiler optimization work ASE 2019: Two regex-related research papers His advising and community engagement is demonstrated through consistent program committee service since 2016 across PLDI, LCTES, CC, CGO, and ASE conferences. He has chaired sessions on storage systems, scheduling, and techniques for specific domains, showing breadth in systems software research.
Alexandre Bartel is a Professor in the Department of Computing Science at Umeå University, Sweden, specializing in software security and software engineering. His research focuses on system security and analysis of permission-based software stacks, particularly Android. With numerous publications in top-tier security and software engineering conferences and journals, Bartel has established himself as a leading researcher in vulnerability analysis and software security. Bartel's research interests primarily center around software security, with a particular emphasis on Java and Android ecosystems. His work delves into vulnerability analysis, deserialization attacks, control flow integrity, and security mechanisms for complex software systems. He investigates how to verify security properties through efficient algorithms and examines existing software layers from a security perspective. His research bridges theoretical security concepts with practical implementation challenges in real-world systems. Analysis of Bartel's recent publications reveals a strong focus on Java deserialization vulnerabilities, control flow integrity mechanisms, and Android security. His work demonstrates a consistent trajectory from fundamental vulnerability analysis to developing practical security solutions and benchmarks. The research spans both theoretical frameworks and empirical evaluations, with significant contributions to understanding long-term security adoption patterns and developing tools for vulnerability detection. Scientific Awards: Most influential Paper ICSE N-10 Award for IccTA: Detecting Inter-Component Privacy Leaks in Android Apps Bartel actively contributes to the academic community through service roles, having served on program committees for major conferences including ASE, ESEC/FSE, ICSE, and FSE. His research has practical implications for software developers and security practitioners, particularly in the areas of vulnerability detection and security mechanism implementation. While specific grant information isn't detailed in the provided materials, his extensive publication record suggests successful funding for his research initiatives. Though not explicitly detailed in the provided information, Bartel's research likely involves collaboration with students and researchers on projects related to software security analysis. His work on benchmarks like Gleipner and CONFUZZION suggests involvement in developing tools and resources for the security research community.
Lucas Townsend is a Lecturer in the Department of English and Literature at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. He completed his PhD at the University of Roehampton in 2024 and holds additional roles as Trustee and Membership Secretary of the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust Charity, and Associate Editor of the International Journal of James Bond Studies. His research examines connections between Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and broader literary movements including modernism, intermodernism, and mid-century thriller fiction. Townsend is currently compiling an essay collection on 'Florida Noir' as a distinct genre spanning literature, film, television, and gaming. Additional interests include representations of art and architecture in literature, and the impact of global networks and technologies since 1945. His teaching focuses on twentieth and twenty-first century literature, with specialized courses on espionage fiction, detective genres, and modernist movements. Townsend supervises theses on genre fiction including spy, thriller, detective, and science fiction narratives.
Yue Li is an Associate Professor at the School of Computer Science, Nanjing University, where they co-run the PASCAL Research Group with Tian Tan. Their work focuses on static program analysis techniques and tools for programming languages, software engineering, security, and hardware verification. PhD in Computer Science from UNSW Sydney (2016) Postdoctoral research at Aarhus University (Denmark) and UNSW Sydney B.Eng and M.Eng from Northwestern Polytechnical University (2010, 2012) Research interests center on Program Analysis and Programming Languages , with a focus on: Pointer analysis for database-backed applications Context sensitivity optimization Reflection analysis in Java/Android Operational semantics for hardware languages Distributed dataflow analysis frameworks Developer-friendly static analysis tools Key publication trends (2016-2025) span static analysis , pointer precision , reflection handling , and tool frameworks across conferences like OOPSLA, PLDI, ICSE, ISSTA, and journals including TOPLAS and IEEE TSE. Notable artifacts include Tai-e and Chianina systems. 2025: ICSE Best Artifact & Distinguished Paper Awards 2024: IEEE TSE Publication on Generic Sensitivity 2023: OOPSLA Distinguished Artifact, SPLASH/ECOOP committees 2021: National Youth Talent Support Program, ZiJin Scholar 2016: ECOOP Distinguished Paper, CGO Best Paper As co-PI of PASCAL Research Group, they lead projects on precision-guided analysis, microservice systems, and cloud-based dataflow frameworks, with teaching awards for SICP and Software Analysis courses.
Nele Mentens is a full professor at both KU Leuven and Leiden University, where she leads cutting-edge research in applied cryptography, hardware security, and secure embedded systems. At KU Leuven, she is affiliated with the Faculty of Engineering Technology and the Electrical Engineering Department (ESAT), leading the Emerging Technologies, Systems & Security (ES&S) research group at the Diepenbeek campus. Simultaneously, she holds a full professorship at Leiden University’s Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), focusing on applied cryptography and security. She has been instrumental in numerous national and international research initiatives, including Horizon Europe and NWO-funded projects. Full Professor, KU Leuven (since 2023) Full Professor, Leiden University (since 2020) Associate Professor, KU Leuven (2014–2023) Post-doctoral Researcher & Lecturer, KHLim / KU Leuven (2007–2014) Ph.D. in Engineering Science, KU Leuven (2007) M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, KU Leuven (2003) Her research focuses on secure and efficient hardware design, particularly for cryptographic applications on FPGAs, reconfigurable architectures, IoT security, and neuromorphic computing. She explores physical attack resistance, side-channel analysis protection, and trusted computing architectures, with applications in healthcare, industrial monitoring, and endpoint AI. Her work bridges theoretical cryptography with practical hardware implementations, emphasizing energy efficiency and real-time performance. The 15 most recent publications reflect a strong trend toward secure, energy-efficient, and intelligent embedded systems. Topics include neuromorphic AI accelerators, trusted IoT architectures, dynamic reconfiguration for side-channel protection, and secure medical data processing. These works span disciplines such as computer architecture, cybersecurity, digital design, and embedded systems, with a focus on hardware-software co-design and real-world deployment. Nele Mentens has received recognition for her contributions, including: Best Paper Award, DATE'16 Best Paper Nomination, AsianHOST'17 Best Paper Award, CHES'19 She has supervised over 15 Ph.D. students and post-docs, both current and former, and has served as principal investigator in approximately 25 funded research projects. Her work has attracted significant grants from Horizon Europe, NWO, FWO, and national innovation programs. She actively contributes to the academic community through editorial roles in top journals and leadership in major conferences. Nele Mentens leads the ES&S research group at KU Leuven and collaborates closely with LIACS at Leiden University. Her team includes Ph.D. students, post-docs, and research experts working on projects like NimbleAI, NeuroSoC, and TrustedIoT. She has also established secure electronics labs through infrastructure grants and maintains strong international ties with institutions such as EPFL, Ruhr University Bochum, and ETH Zurich.
Olivier Bournez is a Professor of Computer Science at École Polytechnique, part of Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris), where he is affiliated with the Department of Computer Science (DIX) and the Computer Science Laboratory (LIX), a joint CNRS unit (UMR 7161). He previously served as Director of LIX from 2010 to 2015 and currently holds key leadership roles including Vice-head of the Computer Science, Data and Artificial Intelligence department at IP Paris, Head of the 'Proofs and Algorithms' pole, and Head of the 'Algorithms and Complexity' team at LIX. His research focuses on the theoretical foundations of computation, particularly continuous-time models such as analog computing and dynamical systems, computational complexity over real numbers, distributed computing models like population protocols, and the interplay between differential equations and computation. He explores the limits of computability and complexity in both discrete and continuous domains, with applications in verification, rewriting systems, and chemical computation models. The recent publications reflect a strong trend in characterizing computability and complexity using discrete and continuous ordinary differential equations, with significant contributions to the understanding of polynomial-time computation over real numbers and the Turing completeness of chemical reaction networks. His work bridges theoretical computer science, mathematics, and biological computation, often yielding foundational insights with broad implications. MFCS'2023 Best Paper Award (coauthored with Manon Blanc) MCU'2022 Student Best Paper Award (Manon Blanc) ICALP'2016 Best Paper Award (Track B) CIE'2016 Best Paper Award CMSB'2017 Best Paper Award Ackermann Award 2017 (Amaury Pouly, PhD co-supervised) Bournez has advised several successful students, including Amaury Pouly and Manon Blanc, and has secured research funding, notably the ANR project ∂IFFERENCE. He is actively involved in the academic community, managing the Computability in Europe (CIE) association membership and serving on the editorial board of the journal Computability . His work includes educational outreach through articles in La Recherche , Le Monde 's blog 'Binaire', and the co-authorship of a French computer science textbook. He leads the 'Algorithms and Complexity' research team at LIX and is central to the 'Proofs and Algorithms' pole, fostering collaborative research in foundational computer science.
Koushik Sen is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on developing software tools and methodologies to enhance programmer productivity and software quality, with expertise in Software Engineering, Programming Languages, and Formal Methods. Education: B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Research Focus: Professor Sen pioneers automated testing techniques including concolic testing and DART (Directed Automated Random Testing). His work bridges formal methods with practical software development, emphasizing bug detection, program synthesis, and AI-driven software analysis tools. Recent innovations include machine learning approaches for code recommendation and fuzzing. Publication Trends: His recent publications (2019-2023) demonstrate strong emphasis on fuzzing techniques, program synthesis, and AI/ML applications in software engineering. Notable domains include smart contract security, automated testing, and developer tooling, with frequent collaborations in top-tier conferences. Awards and Honors: NSF CAREER Award (2008) Sloan Foundation Fellowship (2011) IFIP TC2 Manfred Paul Award (2010) Okawa Foundation Research Grant (2015) Multiple ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Awards UIUC Distinguished Alumni Educator Award (2014) Leadership: Active program committee member for premier conferences (PLDI, ICSE, ISSTA) and keynote speaker. His research is supported by NSF, Okawa Foundation, and Sloan Foundation.
L. Thomas van Binsbergen is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Computer Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, affiliated with the College of Science & Health. His work focuses on language design, formal methods, and policy-based systems. His research explores Executable formal specifications of programming languages Modular meta-language frameworks (e.g., iCoLa+, eFLINT) Data-dependent grammars for network protocols Purpose-based access control derived from GDPR Functional parsing algorithms (GLL, Happy-GLL) Policy enforcement in distributed systems Recent publications (2020-2025) demonstrate trends in language parametric design, security policy formalization, and exploratory programming environments. Notable collaborations include Damian Frölich, Tim Müller, and Tom M. van Engers. Van Binsbergen earned his PhD from Royal Holloway, University of London (2019) and contributes to conferences like GPCE, SLE, and workshops on programming language theory and data security.
