Invited speakers

We thank the Centre de recherches mathématiques and the Faculté des sciences et de génie of Université Laval for their generous contribution, which allowed us to invite four renowned international researchers to make a presentation at MPC and AMAST 2010.

Here are quick links to information on the invited speakers:


Roland Backhouse

University of Nottingham

Talk: The algorithmics of solitaire-like games

Date: Monday, 21 June 2010
Time: 09:30 to 10:30

Roland Backhouse (source: Wikipedia)Roland Backhouse is a British computer scientist and mathematician who is currently Professor of Computing Science at the University of Nottingham where he leads the Algorithmic Problem Solving group. He is also a member of the IFIG Working Group 2.1 (Algorithmic Languages and Calculi).

His research interests lie in the mathematics of program construction and algorithmic problem solving. Together with Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut (1953-1994), he initiated the biennial series of conferences on the Mathematics of Program Construction, the first of which was held in 1989.


Jane Hillston

University of Edinburgh

Talk: Process algebras for collective dynamics

Date: Friday, 25 June 2010
Time: 09:00 to 10:00

Jane Hillston (source: Hillston's website)Jane Hillston is a professor of quantitative modelling and an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. She is affiliated to the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science and the Institute for Life Sciences Interface research institutes. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Furthermore, in 2004, she received the first Roger Needham award.

Her primary research interests lie in Markovian process algebra PEPA,and its use for the performance modelling of computer and communication systems. She is also interested in finding new applications for stochastic process algebra, particularly those related to systems biology.


Stephan Merz

INRIA Lorraine, LORIA

Talk: Reduction revisited: Verifying round-based distributed algorithms

Date: Wednesday, 23 June 2010
Time: 11:00 to 12:00

Stephan Merz (source: Merz's website)Stephan Merz is a senior researcher at INRIA. He leads the VeriDis group in Nancy, which focuses on the formal verification of distributed algorithms using automated and interactive theorem proving, and model checking. He is a member of the IFIG Working Group 2.2 (Formal Description of Programming Concepts).

His research interests lie in formal methods for system development, concurrent and distributed systems, temporal logic, and techniques and tools for theorem proving.


Catuscia Palamidessi

INRIA Saclay

Talk: Compositionality of secure information flow

Date: Thursday, 24 June 2010
Time: 09:00 to 10:00

Catuscia Palamidessi (source: Palamidessi's website)Catuscia Palamidessi is a director of research at INRIA. She leads the Comète group, which focuses on the design, implementation and applications of formal languages for mobile, secure, stochastic and distributed systems. She is also a member of the IFIG Working Group 2.2 (Formal Description of Programming Concepts).

Her research interests lie in principles of programming languages, logic and functional programming, theory of concurrency, distributed systems, and formal methods for security.