Summer Term 2026
Formal Methods in Software Engineering
| Event Type: | Seminar |
|---|---|
| Target Group: | Master Computer Science |
| Scope: | 2 SWS / 3 ECTS |
| Events: | |
| Event Number: | 2400025 |
| ILIAS Course: | |
| Lecturers: |
Prof. Bernhard Beckert |
| Registration: | Register via the Wiwi portal |
| Allocation of Places: | Topics will be distributed at the kickoff event. Priority will be given on a FCFS basis, considering preferences from registration. |
| Prerequisites: | No formal requirements, but prior experience with program analysis, verification or automated reasoning is helpful. |
| Language: | English |
Tasks
For successful participation in the seminar, each participant is expected to achieve the following:
- Reading Assignment: Independently develop the content of the research topic to be presented (usually based on 1 or 2 papers). You will receive the necessary support in regular meetings with a supervisor.
- Presentation and Discussion: Prepare a 25-min presentation on the topic. After the presentations there will be an in-class discussion (roughly around 20 mins) that every student is expected to attend and participate in.
- Postprocessing: Write a report (7-8 pages, ACM Generic Journal Manuscript format) on the motivation of the research topic, state-of-the-art approaches, identify any shortcomings, write the relevant discussions from the class and mention how this research contributes to the broader landscape.
- Peer review: review other student's draft reports in a single-blind peer review process. Incorporate review comments on your own manuscript into your final report
Timeline
| April 23, 13-14 | first session (Room 301) |
| April-July | individual supervision |
| end of June | submission of draft report to easychair |
| 2nd & 9th July | Presentations on chosen topics (2nd: Room 010, 9th: Room 128) |
| end of July | Reviews due on easychair |
| end of semester | Final Reports due |
Subject Area
This semester, the presentations will centre on the use of formal methods for software-engineering problems. Although this sounds practical at first glance, we will consider both pragmatic, application-oriented uses of formal methods in software-engineering contexts and deeper theoretical and conceptual foundations of formal methods across various aspects of software engineering. The planned topics for the articles to be presented include the following:
- Bidirectional transformations: Pierce’s concept of lenses
- Verification of graph rewriting systems
- Formal synthesis of reactive systems
- Powerful logic-based planning algorithms
- (Optional) Category theory in software engineering
- Have something you're interested in? Suggest your own topic! (a topic should reference at least one published paper)
Some papers will be primarily application-oriented; others will be more theoretical and foundational. The exact selection of papers available for presentation will be announced soon. Stay tuned.
Slides and Material