Research Groups

Fully-funded PhD scholarship in parallel programming and dependent-types

The school of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews has a fully-funded scholarship available working in the Programming Languages Research Group with Dr Christopher Brown. Applications must be received by 1 March 2025.

Background

Algorithmic skeletons provide a convenient and high-level approach to writing efficient parallel software by leveraging common patterns of parallel behaviours. A skeleton library presents the programmer with a library of high-level parallel interfaces, abstracting away the low-level complexities of manually handling concurrency primitives, e.g. locking, synchronisation and thread creation. Skeletons give an excellent compromise between ease of programming and the ability to generate highly efficient parallel software. A wide range of skeletons have been developed for several different languages, including Fastflow, TBB, PPL and OpenMP. However, despite the proliferation of skeleton libraries, there is little support for an increasingly popular class of programming languages equipped with dependent types.

 

Dependently-typed programming languages address the problem of program safety by ensuring that code conforms to its specification. This is achieved by permitting types to depend on values, thereby allowing programmers to express logical properties, and proof, as intrinsic parts of their programs. This conformance is checked at compile-time. This interest in dependent-types has resulted in a number of functional languages such as pi-forall, Agda, Idris and Coq. However, despite these developments in types, these dependently-typed languages still lack a parallel implementation, making development of safe parallel programs impossible.

 

This project will explore approaches to designing and implementing a dependently-typed parallel programming language. These approaches will consider the technical challenges, but also balancing those with the high-level usability that skeletons bring and the performance expectations of a performant system. As part of this exploration, use-cases will also need to be developed, and the scientific evaluation of the performance of the system will need to be carried out.

Topics of Interest

This project is largely exploratory in nature, and may take several different approaches and directions, including (but not limited to):

  • Extending an existing dependently-typed language, such as Idris, with new concurrency primitives.
  • Designing and implementing an efficient parallel runtime system as a backend to the language.
  • Building on top of these primitives to provide dependently-typed concurrency behaviours, such as synchronisation points, channel behaviours, etc.
  • To design and implement a set of dependently-typed algorithmic skeletons such as farms and pipelines.
  • To explore and identify new skeletons that arise from writing dependently-typed programs.
  • To use dependent-types to encode safety and soundness properties and reason about these properties in a formal way.

The Scholarship

We have one fully-funded scholarship available, starting in September 2025, which will be awarded to competitively to the best applicant. The scholarship covers all tuition fees (irrespective of country of origin) and comes with a stipend valued at £19,705 per annum. More details can be found here: https://blogs.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/csblog/2024/10/24/phd-studentships-available-for-2025-entry/

International applications are welcome. We especially encourage female applicants and underrepresented minorities to apply. The School of Computer Science was awarded the Athena SWAN Silver award for its sustained progression in advancing equality and representation, and we welcome applications from those suitably qualified from all genders, all races, ethnicities and nationalities, LGBT+, all or no religion, all social class backgrounds, and all family structures to apply for our postgraduate research programmes.

To Apply

Informal enquiries can be directed to Chris. Full instructions for formal applications can be found at https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/computer-science/prospective/pgr/how-to-apply/

The deadline for applications is 1 March 2025.

 

AI Seminar Friday 18th October – Leonardo Bezerra

The School is hosting an AI seminar on Friday 18th October at 11.30am in JCB1.33A!

Our speaker is Leonardo Bezerra from the University of Stirling.

FAIRTECH by design: assessing and addressing the social impacts of artificial intelligence systems

In a decade, social media and big data have transformed society and enabled groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) technologies like deep learning and generative AI. Applications like ChatGPT have impacted the world and outpaced regulatory agencies, who were rushed from a data-centred to an AI-centred concern. Recent developments from both the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) originated in the executive branch, and the most advanced Western binding legislation is the European Union (EU) AI Act, expected to be implemented over the next three years. In the meantime, the United Nations (UN) have proposed an AI advisory body similar to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and countries from the Global South like Brazil are following Western proposals. In turn, AI companies have been proactive in the regulation debate, aiming at a scenario of improved accountability and reduced liability. In this talk, we will briefly overview efforts and challenges regarding AI regulation and how major AI players are addressing it. The goal of the talk is to stir future project collaborations from a multidisciplinary perspective, to promote a culture where the development and adoption of AI systems is fair, accountable, inclusive, responsible, transparent, ethical, carbon-efficient, and human-centred (FAIRTECH) by design.

Speaker bio: Leonardo Bezerra joined the University of Stirling as a Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Data Science in 2023, after having been a Lecturer in Brazil for the past 7 years. He received his Ph.D. degree from Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) in 2016, having defended a thesis on the automated design of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms. His research experience spans from applied data science projects with public and private institutions to supervising theses on automated and deep machine learning. Recently, his research has concentrated on the social impact of AI applications, integrating the Participatory Harm Auditing Workbenches and Methodologies project funded by Responsible AI UK.

GAP Days Summer 2024 @ St Andrews

The School of Computer Science hosted this years Summer GAP Days between 26th August and 30th August.

GAP Days are workshops where developers and users with programming experience are invited to influence the future development of [GAP] by initiating and contributing to discussions and coding sprints.

These GAP Days have been special as we celebrated 10 years of the [Digraphs] package as well as 10 years of [GAP Days] (to the week!).

We had a great selection of speakers and attendees from varied backgrounds, which cumulated in the release of the re-vamped GAP webpage, and over 30 new versions of packages!

Distinguished Lecture series 2024

This years Distinguished Lecture series was delivered yesterday ( Tuesday 12th March) by Professor Neil Lawrence, University of Cambridge

In his talk on, ‘The Atomic Human Understanding Ourselves in the Age of AI’ he gave an overview of where we are now with machine learning solutions, and what challenges we face both in the near and far future. These include the practical application of existing algorithms in the face of the need to explain decision-making, mechanisms for improving the quality and availability of data and dealing with large unstructured datasets.

Seminar: Tangible User Interfaces 13th March 2024

We have 2 presentations next week focusing on Tangible interfaces by Laura Pruszko and Anna Carter.

Talk 1: Designing for Modularity – a modular approach to physical user interfaces

Abstract:

Designing for Modularity – a modular approach to physical user interfaces by Laura Pruszko
Physical user interfaces, future or history? While some of our old physical UIs get progressively replaced by their graphical counterparts, humans still rely on physicality for eye-free interaction. Shape-changing user interfaces — i.e. physical devices able to change their shape to accommodate the user, the task, or the environment – are often presented as a way to bridge the gap between the physicality of physical user interfaces and the flexibility of graphical user interfaces, but they come with their fair share of challenges. In this presentation, we will talk about these challenges under the specific scope of modular shape-changing interfaces: how do we design for modularity? What is the impact on the user? As these kinds of interfaces are not commonplace in our everyday lives, they introduce novel usability considerations for the HCI community to explore.

Bio:

Laura Pruszko is a lecturer in the Applied Computer Games department of Glasgow Caledonian University. Her research focuses on interaction with physical user interfaces and modular systems. She obtained her PhD from Grenoble Alpes University in 2023, as part of the multidisciplinary Programmable Matter consortium. This consortium brings together people from different horizons such as artists, entrepreneurs, HCI and robotics researchers, to collaborate towards enabling the long-term vision of Claytronics.

Talk 2: Sense of Place, Cultural Heritage and Civic Engagement

Abstract:

In this presentation, I will provide an overview of my recent work, where I implemented a range of interactive probes, exploring sense of place and cultural heritage within a regenerating city centre. Through these digital multimodal interactions, citizens actively participated in the sharing of cultural heritage, fostering a sense of belonging and nostalgia. Looking ahead, I’ll discuss how these insights inform my ongoing work at the intersection of the Digital Civics project and the Centre for Digital Citizens project. This presentation will not only offer my personal insights but also open the floor for collaborative discussions on integrating these crucial aspects into future embedded research.

Bio:

Anna Carter is a Research Fellow at Northumbria University she has extensive experience in designing technologies for local council regeneration programs, her work focuses on creating accessible digital experiences in a variety of contexts using human-centred methods and participatory design. She works on building Digital Civics research capacities of early career researchers as part of the EU funded DCitizens Programme and on digital civics, outdoor spaces and sense of place as part of the EPSRC funded Centre for Digital Citizens.

Event details:

  • When: 13th March 2024 12:00 – 14:00. There’ll be cakes and soft drinks from 12 onwards. The talks will be from 12:30 – 13:30
  • Where: Jack Cole 1.33 (Soft drinks and cake provided by F&D)

SACHI Seminar: Rights-driven Development

Abstract:

Alex will discuss a critique of modern software engineering and outline how it systematically produces systems that have negative social consequences. To help counter this trend, he offers the notion of rights-driven development, which puts the concept of a right at the heart of software engineering practices. Alex’s first step to develop rights-driven practices is to introduce a language for rights in software engineering. He provides an overview of the elements such a language must contain and outlines some ideas for developing a domain-specific language that can be integrated with modern software engineering approaches. 

Bio:

Alex Voss, who’s an Honorary Lecturer here at the school and an external member of our group. Alex was also a Technology Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and an Associate in the Department of Philosophy at Harvard.

Alex holds a PhD in Informatics and works at the intersection of the social sciences and computer science. His current research aims to develop new representations, practices and tools for rights-respecting software engineering. He is also working on the role that theories of causation have in making sense of complex socio-technical systems.

His research interests include: causality in computing, specifically in big data and machine learning applications; human-centric co-realization of technologies; responsible innovation; computing and society; computer-based and computer-aided research methods.

More about Alex: https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/persons/alexander-voss

Event details:

  • When: 28th February 2024 12:30 – 13:30
  • Where: Jack Cole 1.19

If you’re interested in attending any of the seminars in room 1.19, please email the SACHI seminar coordinator: aaa8@st-andrews.ac.uk so they can make appropriate arrangements for the seminar based on the number of attendees.

100m boost in AI research will propel transformative innovations

£100m boost in AI research will propel transformative innovations – UKRI

We are delighted to participate in the National Edge AI Hub that is funded by UKRI. The Hub comprises 12 universities and numerous industry and public sector organisations. The vision of the Hub is to develop the underlying research to secure the edge of the network using Artifical Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML).

The St Andrews team led by Dr Blesson Varghese will develop fundamental research on making AI/ML algorithms and models to work on extremely small devices in challenging environments for critical decision making.

Dr Varghese said, “We are delighted to be a part of this national initiative and contribute to the vision of making Edge AI a reality for times when it is most needed – mitigating cyber threats on our digital infrastructure”.

Dr Varghese directs the Edge Computing Hub at the University of St Andrews.

Doors Open @ CS, 11th April (10am-4pm)

On 11th April, the School of Computer Science at St Andrews will host our Doors Open event. We will be thrilled to welcome any and all visitors from outwith the School, whether you are locally based, from elsewhere in the UK, or from overseas.

As a rapidly growing school, we are looking to build relationships with new partners and are keen to find out how we can help you, your companies, and/or organisations to solve problems and improve processes.

Our Doors Open Day will have over 60 individual exhibits and activities. Our presenters will be our staff and students, with representation from 1st year undergrad through to PhD students, academic and technical members of staff.

Please register here if you would like to attend to enable us to order sufficient food!

 

Fully-funded PhD scholarship in Privacy and Trust on the Web

As part of their efforts to enhance privacy and trust on the Web, many applications need to be able to determine whether or not a relationship exists between different entities. For example, it is desirable for web browsers to be able to determine that two domain names are under the same administrative control, such that cookies and other data can be safely shared between them. While determining these relationships might be easy for humans, it is impossible to do so algorithmically.

This project will explore approaches to the defining and enforcing organisational boundaries on the Internet. These approaches will consider the technical challenges, balancing those with user behaviour and expectations, and regulatory considerations. This will include identifying use cases, evaluating and measuring existing and proposed approaches, and developing and implementing novel techniques. Where appropriate, this will involve engagement with standards development organisations, including the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Continue reading