Events
Explore upcoming seminars, guest lectures, workshops, and other events hosted by the School of Computing Science.
Our events bring together students, researchers, industry partners, and the wider community to share ideas, showcase research, and foster collaboration.
This Week’s EventsAll Upcoming EventsPast EventsWebapp
This Week’s Events
CVAS: Generating Human-Human Close Interactions with Contacts
Group: Computer Vision for Autonomous Systems (CVAS)
Speaker: Wenning Xu
Date: 10 April, 2026
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: SAWB 423, Sir Alwyn Williams Building
Generating human-human interactions from textual descriptions is a fundamental task with broad applications in character animation, virtual reality, and humanoid robotics. Existing approaches suffer from two primary gaps: the reliance on shape-normalized training data that neglects the critical impact of body proportions, and the inherent contact mismatches within current large-scale interaction datasets. We propose Human-Human in Contact (HHC), a novel two-stage framework for generating contact-aware human-human interactions. The first stage, HHC Masked Transformer (HHC-M), employs a shape-aware two-person VQ-VAE and a kinematic-cascade masked transformer to establish a physically plausible initial interaction across diverse body shapes. The second stage introduces a model-agnostic optimization pipeline that leverages Large Language Models (LLMs) to translate textual intent into precise geometric constraints, allowing it to refine interactions and remove any remaining contact errors.
Upcoming events
CVAS: Generating Human-Human Close Interactions with Contacts
Group: Computer Vision for Autonomous Systems (CVAS)
Speaker: Wenning Xu
Date: 10 April, 2026
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Location: SAWB 423, Sir Alwyn Williams Building
Generating human-human interactions from textual descriptions is a fundamental task with broad applications in character animation, virtual reality, and humanoid robotics. Existing approaches suffer from two primary gaps: the reliance on shape-normalized training data that neglects the critical impact of body proportions, and the inherent contact mismatches within current large-scale interaction datasets. We propose Human-Human in Contact (HHC), a novel two-stage framework for generating contact-aware human-human interactions. The first stage, HHC Masked Transformer (HHC-M), employs a shape-aware two-person VQ-VAE and a kinematic-cascade masked transformer to establish a physically plausible initial interaction across diverse body shapes. The second stage introduces a model-agnostic optimization pipeline that leverages Large Language Models (LLMs) to translate textual intent into precise geometric constraints, allowing it to refine interactions and remove any remaining contact errors.
Upwards x GWiCS Seminar: Academia or Industry – Post-PhD Career Paths of Two Recent SoCS Graduates
Group: School of Computing Science
Speaker: Dr Jacqueline Borgstedt / Dr Robert Szafarczyk, ETH Zurich / Qualcomm
Date: 13 April, 2026
Time: 12:00 - 13:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 422 Seminar Room
Topic: Academia or Industry – Post-PhD Career Paths of Two
Recent SoCS Graduates
Speakers:
- Dr
Jacqueline Borgstedt
(Postdoc at ETH Zurich, https://sbs.ethz.ch/
people/postdocs/jacqueline-borgstedt.html)
- Dr Robert
Szafarczyk
(Senior Engineer at Qualcomm, https://
robertszafa.github.io/)
Location:
- in Room SAWB
422
- and on Zoom: https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/88322102253?
pwd=VyI6hGJosem9FzUZbYMSwHxmoo6fY4.1
This is a joint
Upwards and GWiCS seminar.
As always, everyone in SoCS is welcome, but this session is aimed mainly
at PhD students and postdocs.
What will this session be about?
It is up to the speakers to set the agenda for their Upwards/GWiCS
talks, but the idea of this seminar instance is to hear what two SoCS graduates
have been up to since completing their PhDs in our School recently.
Some of the questions we suggested for the two talks are: What were the
different options you considered after your PhD? Why did you decide to go on in
academia/industry? Why for a postdoc at ETH / engineering role at Qualcomm? How
is your role now different from being a PhD student in the School of Computing
Science at Glasgow? What did you do in your PhD project, and what do you do now
in your project as a postdoc/engineer? What are your longer-term career
aspirations?
What is Upwards?
Upwards is the School of Computing Science’s research culture seminar,
covering all facets of developing, conducting, and disseminating research and
related topics (e.g. managing a research team, time management to do research,
connections between research and teaching). It is open to everyone in the
School, but a specific aim is to support ECR development and some sessions are
aimed mainly at PGRs and/or PDRAs.
How are the seminars held?
Upwards seminars are held in person in the School to bring
people together. In addition, the sessions are streamed on Zoom to allow to join
remotely, if attending in person is not an option. To preserve the off-the-
record atmosphere of the seminars, which allows the speakers to speak more
freely about their personal experiences, the seminars are not recorded and the
slides are not shared. For the same reason, AI tools (such as those that
automatically take meeting notes) will not be permitted.
Unexpected Inputs, Unsafe Actions: Reasoning About PLC Safety from Binaries
Group: Systems Seminars
Speaker: Fangzhou "Bonnie" Dong, Arizona State University
Date: 14 April, 2026
Time: 16:00 - 17:00
Location: Room 422, Sir Alwyn Williams Building and Zoom
Abstract: Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) are industrial computers that
control devices with real-world physical effects. As a result, the safety
vulnerabilities in these systems can lead to catastrophic consequences in the
physical world.
Prior research has used model checking to
systematically detect safety issues in PLC programs. However, most existing
approaches require access to design specifications or source code, which are
often unavailable to analysts or end users. Because the implementation lacks the
high-level structure and semantics from design documents, it further exacerbates
the state explosion problems for model checking-based solutions.
In
this talk, I will present Ta’veren, my recent work on analyzing PLC
programs to automatically discover one class of safety vulnerabilities, named
Blind-Trust Vulnerabilities (BTVs). These vulnerabilities arise from missing or
incomplete safety checks on inputs in PLC programs. Ta’veren is a novel
static analysis-based framework that identifies such vulnerabilities directly
from PLC binaries by recovering their finite state machines, enabling repeated
safety analyses under various policy specifications. I will describe the design
of Ta’veren, the main techniques behind its state-machine recovery, and
evaluation results.
Bio: Fangzhou “Bonnie” Dong is a PhD student in SEFCON Lab at Arizona State University, advised by Dr. Fish Wang. Her research is in system security, program analysis and cyber-physical system security, with a focus on scalable testing and verification solutions for CPS. Her work has been published in top venues including NDSS, USENIX Security, CCS, and IEEE S&P. Website: https://bonnie1256.github.io/.
SICSA Seminar - Dr Carl Strathearn presents AI-driven Humanoid Robots for Education
Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 15 April, 2026
Time: 04:00 - 17:00
Location: Merchiston Campus, Edinburgh Napier University, 10 Colinton Road, Edinburgh, EH10 5DT
AI-driven Humanoid Robots for Education: Insights from UK Rapid Technology Assessments with Dr Carl Strathearn Abstract: AI-driven humanoid robots are gradually moving out of laboratories and into factories around the world. However, more challenging domains such as education, domestic environments, and healthcare are significantly more unpredictable and difficult to evaluate in terms of effectiveness, social interaction, and risk. Last year, Dr Strathearn contributed to the development of two rapid technology assessments published by the UK Government Office for Science on humanoid and AI-driven robots. These reports examined the feasibility and challenges of deploying such systems in their current state to help inform policymakers across government. In this talk, he will provide a deep dive into the current state of the art in humanoid robotics, covering large language models (LLMs), vision-language models (VLMs), and emerging vision-language-action (VLA) models, and discuss some of the key challenges involved in deploying this technology in education going forward. Dr Carl Strathearn is a lecturer in computer science and researcher in AI and humanoid robots at Edinburgh Napier University. This seminar will be hybrid from Edinburgh Napier University’s Merchiston Campus. Register to receive meeting link.
[FATA Seminar] TBA
Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: Wietze Koops, Lund University
Date: 16 April, 2026
Time: 11:00 - 12:00
Location: Lilybank Gardens, F121 Conference Room
TBA
SICSA Writing Retreat 2026
Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 27 April, 2026
Time: 15:00 - 14:00
Location: Scottish Centre for Ecology and the Natural Environment (SCENE), G63 0JS
The 2026 SICSA Writing Retreat will bring together researchers from across Scotland for a two-day intensive writing event. The programme will consist of networking and skill sharing activities, in addition to individual and group writing blocks. Postdoctoral researchers from any SICSA institution are invited to apply to attend the writing retreat by completing the online form by 1 February 2026. Spaces are very limited and the SICSA Directorate will be judging applications based on clear and achievable writing plans, quality outputs and benefits to both individual researchers and wider groups. Proposals that involve and benefit multiple SICSA institutions are particularly encouraged. Apply Date Start: 15:00 Monday 27 April 2026 Finish: 14:00 Wednesday 29 April 2026 Location Scottish Centre for Ecology and the Natural Environment (SCENE)
SICSA Writing Retreat 2026
Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 27 April, 2026
Time: 15:00 - 14:00
Location: Scottish Centre for Ecology and the Natural Environment (SCENE), G63 0JS
The 2026 SICSA Writing Retreat will bring together researchers from across Scotland for a two-day intensive writing event. The programme will consist of networking and skill sharing activities, in addition to individual and group writing blocks. Postdoctoral researchers from any SICSA institution are invited to apply to attend the writing retreat by completing the online form by 1 February 2026. Spaces are very limited and the SICSA Directorate will be judging applications based on clear and achievable writing plans, quality outputs and benefits to both individual researchers and wider groups. Proposals that involve and benefit multiple SICSA institutions are particularly encouraged. Apply Date Start: 15:00 Monday 27 April 2026 Finish: 14:00 Wednesday 29 April 2026 Location Scottish Centre for Ecology and the Natural Environment (SCENE)
Synergistic Hardware-Software Co-Design for Approximate Real-Time Systems
Group: Systems Seminars
Speaker: Shounak Chakraborty, Durham University
Date: 28 April, 2026
Time: 14:00 - 15:00
Location: Room 422, Sir Alwyn Williams Building and Zoom
Abstract: Modern data centers in hubs consume hundreds of
megawatts to support global services. To address this energy crisis, we must
optimize the performance-per-watt across the entire stack—from application
layers down to the device level. This seminar introduces PRECIOUS, a framework
designed to maximize Quality of Service (QoS) for dependent real-time tasks on
heterogeneous Chip Multi-Processors (CMPs). The core of PRECIOUS is a hybrid
offline-online strategy. Offline, we utilise an Integer Linear Programming (ILP)
scheduling approach to optimally assign task versions and cores while satisfying
power and timing constraints. Online, the framework leverages the density of
Multi-Level Cell (MLC) MRAM-based Last-Level Caches (LLC). By employing novel
cell-splitting and intelligent write-steering, we reduce cache miss rates by 19%
and improve throughput by 5.7%. Validated on 64-core systems, PRECIOUS achieves
up to 76% normalised QoS, outperforming traditional heuristic methods.
Furthermore, the framework converts architectural efficiency into dynamic
runtime slacks, enabling a 9.0% QoS boost and cluster power-gating without
additional energy overhead.
Speaker's Bio: Dr.
Shounak Chakraborty is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer
Science at Durham University and a member of the Scientific Computing Research
Group. He also serves as a Visiting Fellow at the University of Essex and was
previously a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow as well as an ERCIM Postdoctoral
Fellow at NTNU, Norway. Beyond his academic background, he brings two years of
industry experience as a Computer System Architect at ZeroPoint Technologies AB
in Sweden, where he researched memory compression mechanisms to enhance energy
efficiency. His research is situated at the intersection of computer
architecture and compilers, with a focus on improving the energy and thermal
efficiency of modern Chip Multi-Processors. Dr. Chakraborty's recent work, which
includes a project supported by APRIL AI Hub, investigates the use of emerging
non-volatile memory technologies and 3D-FETs to optimize Quality of Service in
time-critical systems. His research has been published in several journals such
as IEEE TC, IEEE TCAD, IEEE TPDS, ACM TECS, ACM TACO, etc. some conferences
including the DAC, IPDPS, CF, DATE, ASAP, etc.
[FATA] MSci Talks
Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: Cara Lowe and Duncan Mather
Date: 28 April, 2026
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB
[FATA] MSci Talks
Group: Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)
Speaker: Andrei Boghean and Josh Duffy
Date: 05 May, 2026
Time: 15:00 - 16:00
Location: Room 422, SAWB
Theory Day 2026
Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 07 May, 2026
Time: 01:00 - 01:00
Location: University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom
Join us on 7 May 2026 for Theory Day, bringing together researchers from across Scotland working on Theory and adjacent topics. Staff and students are encouraged to register and submit a proposal to be included in the programme.
Pallas: A Data-Plane-Only Approach to Accurate Persistent Flow Detection on Programmable Switches in High-Speed Networks
Group: Networked Systems Research Laboratory (NETLAB)
Speaker: Weihe Li, University of Edinburgh
Date: 07 May, 2026
Time: 10:00 - 11:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 423 Seminar Room
Abstract:
In high-speed data center networks, persistent flows are repeatedly observed over extended periods, potentially signaling threats such as stealthy DDoS or botnet attacks. Monitoring every flow in production-grade hardware switches that feature limited memory, however, is challenging under typical high flow rates and data volumes. To tackle this, approximate data structures, like sketches, are often employed. Yet many existing methods rely on per-time-window flag resets, which require frequent control-plane interventions that make them unsuitable for high-speed traffic. This paper introduces Pallas, a fully data-plane-implementable sketch for detecting persistent flows in high-speed networks with high accuracy, obviating the need for time-window-based resets. We further propose Opt-Pallas, an enhanced variant of Pallas that improves detection accuracy by incorporating flow arrival patterns. We present a rigorous error bound analysis for both Pallas and Opt-Pallas, along with extensive performance evaluations using a P4-based prototype on an Intel Tofino switch. Pallas scales persistent flow detection to line-rate capacity, while state-of-the-art solutions fail to operate beyond a few Mbps. Our results show that Pallas and Opt-Pallas can accurately detect persistent flows in traffic volumes over 60× higher than those handled by the best existing approach. Additionally, even under low-speed traffic, Pallas and Opt-Pallas achieve 4.21% and 7.85% higher lookup accuracy while consuming only 8.5% and 9.7% of switch resources, respectively. Extensive trace-driven results on a CPU platform further validate the high detection accuracy of Opt-Pallas compared to existing methods.
Bio:
Weihe Li is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh. He received his Ph.D. in Informatics from the University of Edinburgh in 2025. His research focuses on the design of approximate data structures for fast and accurate flow detection in high-speed networks, with an emphasis on practical deployment on programmable switches. His first-author work has appeared in top-tier venues, including ACM SIGMOD 2025, ACM WWW 2024 and 2025 (Best Student Paper Award, 2024), IEEE ICNP 2025, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking (ToN), and IEEE Transactions on Computers (TC). He has also conducted research in related networking areas, including video streaming and load balancing in data center networks.
"Abuse Risks are Often Inherent to Product Features": Exploring AI Vendors' Bug Bounty and Responsible Disclosure Policies
Group: Networked Systems Research Laboratory (NETLAB)
Speaker: Yangheran Piao, University of Edinburgh
Date: 21 May, 2026
Time: 10:00 - 11:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 423 Seminar Room
Abstract:
As vendors adopt AI technologies, security researchers are working to uncover and fix related vulnerabilities, which is important given AI systems handle sensitive data and critical functions. This process relies on vendors receiving and rewarding AI vulnerability reports. To assess current practices, we analyzed the vulnerability disclosure policies of 264 AI vendors. We employed a mixed-methods approach, combining snapshot and longitudinal qualitative analysis, as well as comparing alignment with 320 AI incidents and 260 academic articles. Our analysis reveals that 36% of AI vendors have no established policy, and only 18% mention AI risks. Data access, authorization, and model extraction vulnerabilities are most consistently declared in-scope. Jailbreaking and hallucination are most commonly declared out-of-scope. We identify three profiles that reflect vendors' different positions toward AI vulnerabilities: proactive clarification (n = 46), silent (n = 115), and restrictive (n = 103). Our alignment results suggest that vendors may address AI vulnerability disclosure later than academic research and real-world incidents.
Bio:
Yangheran (Lawrence) Piao is a third-year PhD student at the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh. His research explores usable security, security economics, and cybercrime, with a specific focus on the vulnerability disclosure ecosystem, bug bounties, and AI vulnerability reporting. Yangheran’s work has been published and presented at premier security venues, including USENIX Security, IEEE S&P (Oakland), and WEIS.
Scottish Argumentation Day 2026
Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 29 May, 2026
Time: 01:00 - 01:00
Location: University of Dundee
Scotland has a particularly high concentration of research groups working in the AI subfield of computational argumentation. Scottish Argumentation Day has previously been attended by researchers based both in Scotland and further afield, and has enabled the Scottish argumentation community to present their work in an informal setting, share feedback, and strengthen professional links. SAD began with Aberdeen 2011, and most recently took place in Edinburgh 2024. In continuing this series, our aim is threefold: (i) enable Scottish argumentation researchers, and especially PhD students, to mutually present their work; (ii) affirm Scottish argumentation research as a recognisable presence; (iii) provide a concrete opportunity for Scottish researchers to network. At SAD 2026 we aim to improve visibility for Scotland-based researchers, especially PhD students and early-career researchers, to encourage knowledge- and skill-exchange at all levels, and to foster cross-institution relations and collaborations. Participation is free but registration is required. ————————————————– We invite abstracts of up to 250 words to be presented as a short talk or poster. Participants at all levels are encouraged to present work, so that everyone can come away with a view of the current Scottish argumentation landscape. We invite abstracts at a range of levels, including: Overview of a specific research project or a lab’s area of work Recent work Work in progress, recent findings or initial results PhD projects and project plans PhD students are especially encouraged to present their projects and project plans to benefit from wider feedback in a supportive atmosphere. Abstract submission form: https://forms.gle/qCVGqi1sahCKATJv6 ————————————————– The day will be scaffolded by three keynote talks by John Lawrence of the University of Dundee, Elena Musi of the University of Liverpool and Henning Wachsmuth of Leibniz University Hannover. ————————————————–
TBC
Group: Networked Systems Research Laboratory (NETLAB)
Speaker: Jinming Yang
Date: 04 June, 2026
Time: 10:00 - 11:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 423 Seminar Room
EASE 2026: International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering
Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 09 June, 2026
Time: 01:00 - 01:00
Location: James McCune Smith Learning Hub, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QW
EASE is an internationally leading venue for academics and practitioners to present and discuss their research on evidence-based software engineering, and its implications for software practice. EASE is ranked as A conference in CORE. The 30th edition of EASE will take place in Glasgow, Scotland. EASE 2026 welcomes high-quality submissions, describing original and unpublished research for the following tracks: full research papers, short papers & emerging results, industry, posters & vision, journal-first, and a doctoral symposium. There will also be co-located events, including workshops and tutorials, and a track planned for journal-first presentations. See conference website for submission tracks and deadlines. EASE 2026
S3CIX 2026 - Symposium and Summer School on Computational Interaction
Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 16 June, 2026
Time: 01:00 - 01:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, University of Glasgow, 18 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow, G12 8QN, United Kingdom
Registration for the 10th Symposium and Summer School on Computational Interaction will open 1 February and close 14 March 2026. View programme, event details and registration process at S³CIX 2026. This year S³CIX is expanding from a Summer School format to also include a 4 day long academic Symposium. We anticipate about 30 students and 40 academics and invited speakers to attend. There will also be two workshops. Computational interaction often involves elements from machine learning, signal processing, information theory, optimisation, inference, control theory and formal modelling. Computational interaction would typically involve at least one of: an explicit mathematical model of user-system behaviour; a way of updating that model with observed data from users; an algorithmic element that, using this model, can directly synthesise or adapt the design; a way of automating and instrumenting the modelling and design process; the ability to simulate or synthesise elements of the expected user-system behaviour.”
TBC
Group: Networked Systems Research Laboratory (NETLAB)
Speaker: Muhammad Arif
Date: 18 June, 2026
Time: 10:00 - 11:00
Location: Lilybank Gardens, F121 Conference Room
10th Summer School and Symposium on Computational Interaction (S³CIX)
Group: Inference, Dynamics and Interaction (IDI)
Speaker: multiple
Date: 20 June, 2026
Time: 09:00 - 16:00
Location: Sir Alwyn Williams Building, 422 Seminar Room
Welcome to the Symposium and Summer School on Computational Interaction! This year we are expanding from a Summer School format to also include a 4 day long academic Symposium. We anticipate about 30 students and 40 academics and invited speakers to attend. There will also be two workshops.
SPLV’26: Scottish Programming Languages and Verification Summer School 2026
Group: Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA)
Speaker: SICSA Event, SICSA
Date: 03 August, 2026
Time: 01:00 - 01:00
Location: TBA
The 2026 edition of SPLV will be held at the University of Glasgow, with the main courses running from within the Gilbert Scott Building. The school is aimed at PhD students in programming languages, verification and related areas. Researchers and practitioners are welcome, as are strong undergraduate and masters students with the support of a supervisor. Participants should have a background in computer science, mathematics or a related discipline. Prospective students may contact the organisers if they have any concerns about background knowledge. Registration will open March 2026. View full programme at SPLV 2026 | SPLV
Past events
To view past events, please click hereEvents Webapp
- Try out the events webapp (available to staff and students).