- FMIndia - mail.cmi.ac.in

ISLA 2026: Second Call for Participation
by Abhisekh Sankaran 21 May '26

21 May '26

TCS Confidential ================================================================= CALL FOR PARTICIPATION Indian School on Logic and its Applications (ISLA) 2026 + https://isla26.vercel.app/ + June 25 - 30, 2026 + Krea University, Sri City, Andhra Pradesh + Co-located with the Formal Methods Update Meeting (FM Update) 2026 ================================================================= Dear all, The 11th Indian School on Logic and its Applications (ISLA 2026) will be held at Krea University, Sri City, Andhra Pradesh (near Chennai), from June 25 to 30, 2026. The school will be followed by the Formal Methods Update Meeting on July 2 - 3, 2026. ISLA 2026 website: https://isla26.vercel.app/ ABOUT THE SCHOOL ISLA is a biennial school on logic organized by the Association for Logic in India (ALI, https://logicindia.org) It aims to bring together students and researchers from mathematics, computer science, philosophy, and linguistics who share an interest in logic and its applications. The school is especially intended for PhD students, researchers and others interested in exploring logic across disciplines. VENUE Lectures will be held in NAB 2G in the New Academic Building on the Sri City campus of Krea University. SPEAKERS + K. V. Krishna (IIT Guwahati) + Shikha Rajpurohit (Krea University) + Eric Snyder (Ashoka University) + S. P. Suresh (Chennai Mathematical Institute) COURSES + Computability Theory - K. V. Krishna + Proofs vs Programs Correspondence - S. P. Suresh + Reference to Abstract Entities - Eric Snyder + Abhaava: Categorising what there is not - Shikha Rajpurohit IMPORTANT DATES + School Dates: June 25 - 30, 2026 REGISTRATION Registration for the school is open. Details regarding registration fees and the registration process are available at: https://isla26.vercel.app/registration.html Participation is limited, and registration will be on a _first-come, first-served_ basis. REACHING SRI CITY Sri City is 60 kms away from the city of Chennai both by taxi services and local trains (to Tada). It lies on the railway route connecting Chennai to Vijayawada / Hyderabad / Kolkata / New Delhi, and the nearest major railway station is Sullurpeta (around 22 kms away). Further details are available on the ISLA 2026 website. PROGRAMME COMMITTEE + Arun Kumar (Chair), BHU + Govind R (Chair), IMSc Chennai + Abhishek De, Krea University + T. V. H. Prathamesh, Krea University LOCAL ORGANIZATION + Abhishek De, Krea University + T. V. H. Prathamesh, Krea University CONTACT isla2026(a)krea.edu.in<mailto:isla2026@krea.edu.in> We look forward to your participation. Best regards, Organising Committee ISLA 2026 https://isla26.vercel.app/ =====-----=====-----===== Notice: The information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it may contain confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, use, review, distribution, printing or copying of the information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it are strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us by reply e-mail or telephone and immediately and permanently delete the message and any attachments. Thank you

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CFP: GandALF 2026
by B Srivathsan 19 May '26

19 May '26

********************************************************************************* 2nd Call for Papers - GandALF 2026 ********************************************************************************* The Seventeenth International Symposium on Games, Automata, Logics, and Formal Verification will take place in Aalborg, Denmark, September 15-17, 2026. Web page:https://gandalfsymposium.github.io/2026/ The aim of the symposium is to bring together researchers from academia and industry which are actively working in the fields of Games, Automata, Logics, and Formal Verification. The symposium covers an ample spectrum of themes, ranging from theory to applications, and encourages cross-fertilization. Papers focused on formal methods are especially welcome. Authors are invited to submit original research or tool papers on all relevant topics in these areas. Papers discussing new ideas that are at an early stage of development are also welcome. The topics covered by the conference include, but are not limited to, the following: Automata Theory Automated Deduction Computational aspects of Game Theory Concurrency and Distributed computation Decision Procedures Deductive, Compositional, and Abstraction Techniques for Verification Finite Model Theory First-order and Higher-order Logics Formal Languages Formal Methods for Systems Biology, Hybrid, Embedded, and Mobile Systems Games and Automata for Verification Game Semantics Logical aspects of Computational Complexity Logics of Programs Modal and Temporal Logics Model Checking Models of Reactive and Real-Time Systems Program Analysis and Software Verification Run-time Verification and Testing Specification and Verification of Finite and Infinite-state Systems Synthesis ## Proceedings: The proceedings will be published by Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science. Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit a revised version of their work to a special issue of Logical Methods in Computer Science. The previous editions of GandALF already led to special issues of the International Journal of Foundations of Computer Science (GandALF 2010), Theoretical Computer Science (GandALF 2011 and 2012), Information and Computation (GandALF 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020), Acta Informatica (GandALF 2015) and Logical Methods in Computer Science (GandALF 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024). ## Submissions: Submitted papers should not exceed fourteen (14) pages using EPTCS format (please use the LaTeX style provided athttps://style.eptcs.org) be unpublished and contain original research. For papers reporting experimental results, authors are encouraged to make their data available with their submission. Submissions must be in PDF format and will be handled via EasyChair Conference system at the following address: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=gandalf2026 ## Important Dates: Abstract submission: June 18, 2026 Submission deadline: June 22, 2026 Notification: August 3, 2026 Camera ready: September 7, 2026 Conference Dates: September 15-17, 2026 ## Invited Speakers: Ezio Bartocci (TU Wien) Sarah Winter (IRIF - Université Paris Cité) ## Program Committee: Giorgio Bacci (Aalborg University, Denmark) - chair Mickaël Randour (Université de Mons, Belgium) - chair Bartosz Bednarczyk (University of Wrocław, Poland, and TU Wien, Austria) Laurent Doyen (CNRS & LMF, ENS Paris-Saclay, France) Marie Fortin (IRIF, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, France) Hadar Frenkel (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) Raffaella Gentilini (University of Perugia, Italy) Aline Goeminne (ENS Rennes, France) James C. A. Main (University of Oxford, United Kingdom) Alessio Mansutti (IMDEA Software Institute, Spain) Angelo Matteo (University of Udine, Italy) Matteo Mio (CNRS/ENS-Lyon, France) Petr Novotný (Masaryk University, Czech Republic) Charles Paperman (Université de Lille, France) Julie Parreaux (University of Warsaw, Poland) Igor Potapov (University of Liverpool, United Kingdom) David Purser (University of Liverpool, United Kingdom) Jeremy Sproston (University of Turin, Italy) B Srivathsan (Chennai Mathematical Institute, India) Marie Van Den Bogaard (Université Gustave Eiffel, France) Chana Weil-Kennedy (CEA List, France) ## Steering Committee: Luca Aceto (Reykjavik University) Javier Esparza (University of Munich) Salvatore La Torre (University of Salerno) Angelo Montanari (University of Udine) Mimmo Parente (University of Salerno) Jean-François Raskin (Université libre de Bruxelles) Martin Zimmermann (Aalborg University)

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Highlights 2026 Vienna: CfP submission deadline May 29th
by Supratik Chakraborty 17 May '26

17 May '26

# HIGHLIGHTS’26 (Vienna, Austria 7-11 September 2026) AND CREW (14-18 September) **HIGHLIGHTS’26** is scheduled **from September 7 to September 11, 2026** at **TU Wien**. It is co-organized by ISTA, TU Wien and Wolfgang Pauli Institute. Highlights'26 will take place at the main building of TU Wien, Karlsplatz 13, in the center of Vienna. HIGHLIGHTS’26 will be followed by the **Highlights' Collaborative Research Week (CREW)**, from **September 14 to 18, 2026**, at **ISTA**. **HIGHLIGHTS’26** is the fourteenth in the series of international conferences “Highlights of Logic, Games and Automata”, aiming at integrating the community working in algorithmic model theory, automata theory, databases, games for logic and verification, logic and verification. Papers from these areas are dispersed across many conferences, which makes them difficult to follow. A visit to the HIGHLIGHTS conference should offer a wide picture of the latest research in the field and a chance to meet everybody in the community, not just those who happen to publish in one particular proceedings volume. There are no publications. **HIGHLIGHTS’26** key features: - HIGHLIGHTS is a conference without publications, where speakers give short presentations of their best work. - A chat of the conference is available during the event, and throughout the year. - There is an early round of submissions and notifications to help with travel planning - The _Highlights’ Collaborative REsearch Week_ (**CREW**) offers means for research collaborations/discussions between participants. CREW is scheduled after the conference. - The _Highlights Extended Stay Support Scheme_ (**HESSS**) helps participants find collaborators and organise visits in the vicinity of HIGHLIGHTS. We encourage you to attend and present your best work - be it already published or not - at **HIGHLIGHTS’26**. ## SCOPE Representative areas include, but are not restricted to: - Algebraic and categorical models of computation - Algorithmic model theory - Automata theory - Databases - Games for logic, verification, and semantics - Logic - Verification ## IMPORTANT DATES AND INFORMATION - HIGHLIGHTS'26 webpage: https://highlights-conference.org/2026/ - Registration to the chat at https://highlights-conference.org/2026/zulip (no need if you did it last year) - Registration page: TBA - Early-submission deadline: April 17, 2026 - Early notification: May 08, 2026 - Regular-submission deadline: May 29, 2026 - Regular Notification: June 19, 2026 - Early-bird registration deadline: July 17, 2026 - Registration deadline: August 17, 2026 - Conference: September 7- 11, 2026. - Highlights’ Collaborative Research Week (CREW): September 14 - 16, 2026. - Registration fee: TBA (tentative 160 EUR) ## MODALITIES OF ATTENDANCE **HIGHLIGHTS’26** is an event that will take place on-site (barring unforeseen circumstances), and the preferred form of participation is in person. Remote attendance via a video stream will also be offered, but with limited possible interactions for these participants. Submission for a presentation at Highlights'26 is open to everyone, and attendance to the conference is not a requirement. The selection procedure will not take into account in-person attendance. Authors who do not intend to attend Highlights'26 in-person must commit to this choice when submitting their talk proposal. If accepted, authors of such talk proposals will have the opportunity to share a prerecorded video of their talk, which will be made available on the conference website. Before coming from far away, please review how your trip and international flights are contributing to climate change. We encourage you to take the train as much as possible, possibly taking the opportunity for visiting colleagues on the way and thus decomposing the travel into smaller pieces. More generally, we encourage you to make the most of your stay. This means extending your journey to the previous and/or following weeks for more scientific activities in Vienna and around. Several initiatives are here to help you in this task: - You can participate to the **Highlights’ Collaborative Research Week** (**[CREW](https://highlights-conference.org/2026/hcrw), September 14 - 18**) in the week after HIGHLIGHTS, in ISTA. - You can use the **Highlights Extended Stay Support Scheme** (**[HESSS](https://highlights-conference.org/2026/hesss)**) for finding collaborators and organising visits. ## SUBMISSIONS AND GUIDELINES Submissions should take the form of a short abstract describing the content of the presentation and its interest. It should serve as a proposal for a presentation. Hence, submissions should have a single author — the speaker. They can concern any recently published, to be published, or ongoing work of the speaker. We expect you to present your favourite result of the year, so there should be at most one submission per speaker. The abstract should list co-authors, if any. Optionally, an extended abstract of up to two pages may be attached as a PDF file. We encourage both young and senior researchers to present. The **regular round of submissions is open until May 29, 2026**, with a notification by June 19, 2026. Submissions will not lead to publications. There are no formal proceedings and we encourage the presentation of work published or presented elsewhere. The talk (which is short, around 10 minutes) can be doubled with a poster. Further information about poster submissions will be provided. **Submission page:** https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=highlights26 ## HIGHLIGHTS' COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH WEEK (CREW) **HIGHLIGHTS’26** will be followed by the _Highlights’ Collaborative Research Week_ (**CREW**), **from September 14 to 18 at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria**. Note that this is located outside of Vienna, ISTA being 20 km North of Vienna. Special hosting arrangements on site during CREW will be made available for a limited number of participants on a first-come-first-served basis. The Highlights CReW is not a workshop nor a conference: it is simply a week in which researchers gather to work together, to collaborate on their current projects or to start new ones. Participants will be asked to bring open problems they are interested in and to present it on Day 1, so that they can then decide on the topics they work on throughout the week. We expect researchers from all generations and all countries. Expected registration fees will be 70€ for students, 120€ for non-students (early registration), subject to pending public funding applications. This will cover lunch, coffee breaks, and a social dinner. Some accommodation (in shared rooms) will also be provided at subsidised prices, on a first-come first-served basis. We encourage participants to declare their intent to come and offer activities in advance using the chat of highlights. ## HIGHLIGHTS EXTENDED STAY SUPPORT SCHEME (HESSS) The **HESSS** is an incentive for collaborations between participants of the conference and researchers working in research groups reachable by train from the conference location. The objective is to foster interactions with low carbon footprint. The mechanism is as follows: - Research groups willing to participate in the scheme will be listed on the webpage: https://highlights-conference.org/2026/hesss. These groups are offering to fund collaborations between HIGHLIGHTS participants and their members. - The pair of a HIGHLIGHTS participant and a member of a listed research group submit a proposal, which takes the form of an email containing names, period of collaboration, and a sentence describing the planned activity. It has to be sent to the **HESSS** contact person of the research unit. - The decision of acceptance is up to the research group. In particular, it may be subject to scientific scope, number of requests, or e.g., favouring distant participants. - The only strict rule is that the visit should be around HIGHLIGHTS, and no airplane should be taken by the visitor to travel from HIGHLIGHTS to the visit location. ## INVITED SPEAKERS ### TUTORIALS - Daniela Petrisan - TBA ### KEYNOTE SPEAKERS - Cécilia Pradic - Anthony Lin - Mirco Giacobbe - K. S. Thejaswini ### PROGRAM COMMITTEE HIGHLIGHTS'26 A. R. Balasubramanian, MPI-SWS Manuel Bodirsky, TU Dresden Lorenzo Clemente, University of Warsaw (chair) Javier Esparza, TU Müchen Emmanuel Filiot, Univerté Libre de Bruxelles Zeinab Galal, Kyoto University Shankaranarayanan Krishna, IIT Bombay Ugo dal Lago, University of Bologna Nathan Lhote, Aix-Marseille University Christof Löding, Aachen Uniersity Rupak Majumdar, MPI-SWS Tito Nguyen, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University Karin Quaas, Leipzig University Ocan Sankur, CNRS, Rennes University ### ORGANISING COMMITTEE Laura Kovacs, TU Wien c/o WPI Michael Sammler, ISTA ### STEERING COMMITTEE - Antoine Amarilli (environmental chair) - León Bohn (webmaster) - Antonio Casares - Supratik Chakraborty - Thomas Colcombet (chair) - Bartek Klin - K. S. Thejaswini (publicity chair) - Sophie Tison

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DPM 2026 - CFP - Data Privacy Manamgement, co-located with ESORICS 2026
by Guillermo Navarro-Arribas 14 May '26

14 May '26

(appologies for cross-posting) CALL FOR PAPERS ****************************************************** Data Privacy Management (DPM 2026) 21th International Workshop September 17, 2026, Rome, Italy (co-located with ESORICS 2026) website: https://deic.uab.cat/dpm/dpm2026/ ****************************************************** IMPORTANT DATES ====================== Submission Deadline: -- June 16, 2026 Notification: -- July 22, 2026 Camera Ready: -- August 24, 2026 ====== SCOPE ====== DPM is an annual international workshop covering research in data privacy management. Organizations are increasingly concerned about the privacy of information that they manage (as witnessed, for example, by lawsuits filed against organizations for violating the privacy of customer's data). Thus, the management of privacy-sensitive information is very critical and important for every organization. This poses several challenging problems, such as how to translate the high-level business goals into system-level privacy policies, administration of privacy-sensitive data, privacy preserving data integration and engineering, privacy preserving access control mechanisms, information-oriented security, and query execution on privacy-sensitive data for partial answers. Starting from these observations, the aim of DPM is to discuss and exchange ideas related to data privacy management. We invite papers from researchers and practitioners working in privacy, security, trustworthy data systems and related areas to submit their original papers in this workshop. Submissions by PhD students as well as controversial ideas are encouraged. Case studies (successful or not) are also encouraged. TOPICS ======== Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: - Privacy in Machine Learning - Privacy Information Management - Privacy Policy-based Infrastructures and Architectures - Privacy-oriented Access Control Languages and Models - Privacy in Trust Management - Privacy in Cryptocurrencies - Privacy Data Integration - Privacy Risk Assessment and Assurance - Privacy Services - Privacy Policy Analysis - Data Protection Regulations in Practice - Cryptographic Protocols for Privacy - Query Execution over Privacy Sensitive Data - Privacy Preserving Data Mining - Privacy for Integrity-based Computing - Privacy Monitoring and Auditing - Privacy in Social Networks - Privacy in Ambient Intelligence (AmI) Applications - Individual Privacy vs. Corporate/National Security - Privacy in computer networks - Privacy and RFIDs - Privacy and Big Data - Privacy in sensor networks - Privacy in the Internet of Things PAPER SUBMISSIONS =================== Submitted papers must not substantially overlap papers that have been published or that are simultaneously submitted to a journal or a conference with proceedings. Papers can be submitted as Full Papers or Short Papers. Full papers should be at most 16 pages in the LNCS format, including the bibliography and well-marked appendices. Short papers should be at most 8 pages in the LNCS format, including the bibliography and well-marked appendices. Program Committee members are not required to read the appendices, so papers should be intelligible without them. Authors should indicate whether their paper is a short paper to differentiate them from full papers. All submissions must be written in English. It is planned to have accepted papers published by Springer in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series, the LNCS template can be found at: http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs/lncs+authors. Submission should be done through the ESORICS 2026 Easychair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=esorics2026 and the select the track: 21st International Workshop on Data Privacy Management. Only PDF files will be accepted (a Latex source file will be required for the final version of the accepted papers). All papers will be refereed. Submissions are not anonymous (single blind review). Accepted papers must be presented at the Workshop. At least one author of each accepted paper must register to the workshop, by the early date indicated by the organizers, and present the paper. PROGRAM CHAIRS =============== Joaquin Garcia-Alfaro (Institut Polytechnique de Paris) Guillermo Navarro-Arribas (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) PROGRAM COMMITTEE ================= Abderrahim Ait Wakrime (UM5R) Nicolas Anciaux (INRIA) Ken Barker (University of Calgary) Elisa Bertino (Purdue University) Jordi Casas-Roma (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) Jordi Castella-Roca (Universitat Rovira i Virgili) Depeng Chen (Anhui University) Mathieu Cunche (University of Lyon / Inria) Sabrina De Capitani di Vimercate (Universita degli Studi di Milano) Sara Foresti (Universita degli Studi di Milano) SÃ©bastien Gambs (Universita du Quebec a Montreal) Lorena GonzÃ¡lez Manzano (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) M. Emre Gursoy (Department of Computer Engineering) Florian Kammueller (Middlesex University London) Christophe Kiennert (Telecom SudParis) Hiroaki Kikuchi (Meiji University) Seongkwang Kim (Korea University) Evangelos Kranakis (Carleton University) Patrick Lacharme (Ensicaen) Romain Laborde (Universita de Toulouse) Lukas Malina (Brno University of Technology) Brad Malin (Vanderbilt University) Chris Mitchell (Royal Holloway, University of London) Cristina Perez-Sola (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) Isabel Praca (GECAD / ISEP) Ruben Rios (University of Malaga) Julian Salas (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute) Pierangela Samarati (Universita degli Studi di Milano) David Sanchez (University Rovira i Virgili) Alexandre Viejo (Universitat Rovira i Virgili) Isabel Wagner (University of Basel) Jens Weber (University of Victoria) Lena Wiese (Fraunhofer Institute) Nicola Zannone (Eindhoven University of Technology)

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IARCS Verification Seminar Series -- Talk by Soumyadip Bandyopadhyay on May 12 at 1900 hrs IST
by VSS IARCS 11 May '26

11 May '26

Dear all, The next talk in the IARCS Verification Seminar Series will be given by Soumyadip Bandyopadhyay, an industrial researcher and engineer at ABB, specializing in verification and evolution of safety-critical automation software.. The talk is scheduled on Tuesday, May 12, at 1900 hrs IST (add to Google calendar <https://calendar.google.com/calendar/event?action=TEMPLATE&tmeid=NDR2dTZtcn…> ). The details of the talk can be found on our webpage ( https://fmindia.cmi.ac.in/vss/) and also appended to the body of this email. The Verification Seminar Series, an initiative by the Indian Association for Research in Computing Science (IARCS), is a monthly, online talk-series, broadly in the area of Formal Methods and Programming Languages, with applications in Verification and Synthesis. The aim of this talk-series is to provide a platform for Formal Methods researchers to interact regularly. In addition, we hope that it will make it easier for researchers to explore newer problems/areas and collaborate on them, and for younger researchers to start working in these areas. All are welcome to join. Best regards, Organizers, IARCS Verification Seminar Series ============================================================= Title: Formal Verification of PLC Software Evolution Across Migration and Upgrade Meeting Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89164094870?pwd=eUFNRWp0bHYxRVpwVVNoVUdHU0djQT09 (Meeting ID: 891 6409 4870, Passcode: 082194) Abstract: Industrial plants rely on Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and Distributed Control Systems (DCS) for automation. As industrial requirements evolve, control software undergoes *migration* from legacy languages such as Taylor™ Control Language (TCL) to IEC 61131-3 compliant Sequential Function Charts (SFC), as well as *upgradation* of existing SFC programs through the addition of new features. Both processes risk introducing unintended behavioural deviations that may compromise safety. This work addresses automatic behavioural verification during PLC software evolution. We present a Petri net based framework that models TCL and SFC programs as formal behavioural representations. The approach verifies behavioural equivalence for migration and checks containment between older and upgraded SFC versions using a symbolic path-based equivalence checking algorithm, ensuring the preservation of existing functionality while accommodating new features. Bio: Soumyadip Bandyopadhyay is an industrial researcher and engineer specializing in verification and evolution of safety-critical automation software. He currently works at ABB, contributing to the development and validation of industrial control systems based on Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and Distributed Control Systems (DCS). His work focuses on ensuring correctness, reliability, and safe modernization of legacy control software through formal verification, behavioral equivalence checking, and automated software migration techniques. With prior experience as an Assistant Professor at BITS Pilani and a postdoctoral researcher at the Hasso Plattner Institute, Germany, he bridges academic research and industrial practice. His interests include formal methods for industrial automation, trustworthy AI for engineering workflows, and verification of software upgrades in large-scale industrial systems.

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IARCS Verification Seminar Series -- Talk by Soumyadip Bandyopadhyay on May 12 at 1900 hrs IST
by VSS IARCS 05 May '26

05 May '26

Dear all, The next talk in the IARCS Verification Seminar Series will be given by Soumyadip Bandyopadhyay, an industrial researcher and engineer at ABB, specializing in verification and evolution of safety-critical automation software.. The talk is scheduled on Tuesday, May 12, at 1900 hrs IST (add to Google calendar <https://calendar.google.com/calendar/event?action=TEMPLATE&tmeid=NDR2dTZtcn…> ). The details of the talk can be found on our webpage ( https://fmindia.cmi.ac.in/vss/) and also appended to the body of this email. The Verification Seminar Series, an initiative by the Indian Association for Research in Computing Science (IARCS), is a monthly, online talk-series, broadly in the area of Formal Methods and Programming Languages, with applications in Verification and Synthesis. The aim of this talk-series is to provide a platform for Formal Methods researchers to interact regularly. In addition, we hope that it will make it easier for researchers to explore newer problems/areas and collaborate on them, and for younger researchers to start working in these areas. All are welcome to join. Best regards, Organizers, IARCS Verification Seminar Series ============================================================= Title: Formal Verification of PLC Software Evolution Across Migration and Upgrade Meeting Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89164094870?pwd=eUFNRWp0bHYxRVpwVVNoVUdHU0djQT09 (Meeting ID: 891 6409 4870, Passcode: 082194) Abstract: Industrial plants rely on Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and Distributed Control Systems (DCS) for automation. As industrial requirements evolve, control software undergoes *migration* from legacy languages such as Taylor™ Control Language (TCL) to IEC 61131-3 compliant Sequential Function Charts (SFC), as well as *upgradation* of existing SFC programs through the addition of new features. Both processes risk introducing unintended behavioural deviations that may compromise safety. This work addresses automatic behavioural verification during PLC software evolution. We present a Petri net based framework that models TCL and SFC programs as formal behavioural representations. The approach verifies behavioural equivalence for migration and checks containment between older and upgraded SFC versions using a symbolic path-based equivalence checking algorithm, ensuring the preservation of existing functionality while accommodating new features. Bio: Soumyadip Bandyopadhyay is an industrial researcher and engineer specializing in verification and evolution of safety-critical automation software. He currently works at ABB, contributing to the development and validation of industrial control systems based on Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and Distributed Control Systems (DCS). His work focuses on ensuring correctness, reliability, and safe modernization of legacy control software through formal verification, behavioral equivalence checking, and automated software migration techniques. With prior experience as an Assistant Professor at BITS Pilani and a postdoctoral researcher at the Hasso Plattner Institute, Germany, he bridges academic research and industrial practice. His interests include formal methods for industrial automation, trustworthy AI for engineering workflows, and verification of software upgrades in large-scale industrial systems.

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2nd Call for Papers: SYNT 2026 (FLoC workshop), 25 July, Lisbon (deadline extended to May 15)
by Supratik Chakraborty 01 May '26

01 May '26

SYNT 2026 : 15th International Workshop on Synthesis 25th July 2026 Co-located with FLoC 2026, Lisbon, Portugal --- The SYNT workshop aims to bring together researchers interested in the broad area of synthesis of computing systems. The workshop fosters the development of frontier techniques in automating the development of computing systems and is inclusive in its interpretation of the term “synthesis”. SYNT 2026 encourages submissions that can be broadly categorized into one of the tracks: reactive synthesis, functional synthesis and neuro-symbolic synthesis. However, submissions in other areas related to synthesis are also welcome. --- Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: - Algorithms and tools for synthesis of computing systems, broadly interpreted - Reactive (discrete-time, timed, hybrid, ...) synthesis - Functional (program, circuit, …) synthesis - Neuro-symbolic synthesis - Specification languages and optimization in synthesis, - Complexity and decidability results for synthesis, - Case studies of software or hardware synthesis, - Connections between verification and synthesis, - Synthesis by model learning, - Connections between synthesis and inductive programming, - New approaches or applications for synthesis, - Description and analysis of benchmark families for synthesis. --- **SYNT 2026 submission instructions** SYNT 2026 welcomes submissions of extended abstracts up to 3 pages, excluding references. All submissions should be in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) format: <https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…> As in previous years, there will be no published proceedings of SYNT 2026. However, /authors of selected abstracts may be invited to submit an extended version to a special issue of Acta Informatica./ Submissions will be judged on how interesting they are to the SYNT community. Overlap with previously published work should be indicated but does not disqualify a submission if the presentation can be expected to be of enough interest. Parallel submissions are welcome as well, since there will be no published proceedings. --- **WORKSHOP URL:** <https://synt2026.github.io/> **SUBMISSION URL:** <https://submissions.floc26.org/synt/> --- **IMPORTANT DATES:** - Submission: (extended to) 15th May (AoE) - Author Notification: 29th May (AoE) - Early registration for workshop ends on: 1st June - Workshop: 25th July --- Organisers: Supratik Chakraborty (Indian Institute of Technology Bombay) K. S. Thejaswini (Université libre de Bruxelles)

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Three Research Assistant + PhD Positions in Program Synthesis
by Aalok Thakkar 01 May '26

01 May '26

Dear all We are pleased to announce three research assistant positions at the post-bachelor's (pre-PhD/pre-doc) and two PhD positions in the ANRF-funded project "Scalable, Robust, and Trustworthy Program Synthesis". The project investigates automated synthesis when the specification is partial or contradictory, combining techniques from SAT , SMT, and reinforcement learning. Both the positions are at Ashoka University, Sonipat (NCR). Research Assistant Positions: Duration: 12 months to up to 36 months, with renewal after every year based on the performance of the candidate. The positions are available immediately. Applicants must have at least a three-year undergraduate degree in Computer Science (or be in the process of concluding one by June 2026). A master's degree is preferred but not necessary. Required qualifications: strong level of familiarity with algorithms, logic, and formal methods; s trong programming skills; familiarity with automata, games, and complexity is appreciated PhD Positions: PhD program will be the regular program at Ashoka University ( https://www.ashoka.edu.in/programme/new-horizons-in-computer-science-ph-d-p… ). I will be glad to answer further questions and look forward to receiving your application for this exciting research opportunity! If interested, please contact me and send y our CV and the name of one reference. For more details, contact me at thakkar(a)ashoka.edu.in. Thank you Aalok Thakkar -- *Confidentiality Notice:* This email and any attachments may contain confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender by replying to this message, and then delete the email and any attachments permanently. Thank you.

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Three Research Assistant + PhD Positions in Program Synthesis
by Aalok Thakkar 01 May '26

01 May '26

Dear all We are pleased to announce *three research assistant positions* at the post-bachelor's (pre-PhD/pre-doc) and *two PhD positions* in the ANRF-funded project "Scalable, Robust, and Trustworthy Program Synthesis". The project investigates automated synthesis when the specification is partial or contradictory, combining techniques from SAT , SMT, and reinforcement learning. Both the positions are at Ashoka University, Sonipat (NCR). *Research* *Assistant* *Positions:* Duration: 12 months to up to 36 months, with renewal after every year based on the performance of the candidate. The positions are available immediately. Applicants must have at least a three-year undergraduate degree in Computer Science (or be in the process of concluding one by June 2026). A master's degree is preferred but not necessary. Required qualifications: strong level of familiarity with algorithms, logic, and formal methods; s trong programming skills; f amiliarity with automata, games, and complexity is appreciated ** *PhD* *Positions:* PhD program will be the regular program at the Vachani School of Advanced Computing ( https://www.ashoka.edu.in/programme/new-horizons-in-computer-science-ph-d-p… ). I will be glad to answer further questions and look forward to receiving your application for this exciting research opportunity! If interested, please contact me and send y our CV and the name of one reference. For more details, contact me at thakkar(a)ashoka.edu.in. Thank you *Aalok Thakkar* *(* *આલોક ઠક્કર)* Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science +91 98982 29865 | aalok-thakkar.github.io ( http://aalok-thakkar.github.io ) Please note: this email may have been sent at a time that aligns with my schedule. Managing work and life responsibilities is unique to each person; kindly respond at a time that works best for you. Sent via Superhuman ( https://superhuman.com/refer/1a2nj18b?utm_medium=signature&utm_source=produ… ) -- *Confidentiality Notice:* This email and any attachments may contain confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender by replying to this message, and then delete the email and any attachments permanently. Thank you.

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ISLA 2026: Call for Participation
by Abhisekh Sankaran 23 Apr '26

23 Apr '26

TCS Confidential ======================================================================================== Call for Participation Indian School on Logic and its Applications (ISLA) 2026 + https://isla26.vercel.app/ <https://isla26.vercel.app/%20%0b> + June 25 - 30, 2026 + Krea University, Sri City, Andhra Pradesh + Co-located with the Formal Methods Update Meeting (FM Update) 2026 + Early registration deadline: May 15, 2026 ======================================================================================== Dear all, The 11th Indian School on Logic and its Applications (ISLA 2026) will be held at Krea University, Sri City, Andhra Pradesh (near Chennai) , from June 25 to 30, 2026. The school will be followed by the Formal Methods Update Meeting on July 2 – 3, 2026. ISLA 2026 website: https://isla26.vercel.app/ About the school: ISLA is a biennial school on logic organized by the Association for Logic in India (ALI, https://logicindia.org) It aims to bring together students and researchers from mathematics, computer science, philosophy, and linguistics who share an interest in logic and its applications. The school is especially intended for PhD students, researchers and others interested in exploring logic across disciplines. Venue: Lectures will be held in NAB 2G in the New Academic Building on the Sri City campus of Krea University. Speakers: + K. V. Krishna (IIT Guwahati) + Shikha Rajpurohit (Krea University) + Eric Snyder (Ashoka University) + S. P. Suresh (Chennai Mathematical Institute) Courses: + Recursion Theory — K. V. Krishna + Proofs vs Programs Correspondence — S. P. Suresh + On Reference to Abstract Entities — Eric Snyder Important Dates: + Early Registration Deadline: May 15, 2026 + School Dates: June 25 – 30, 2026 Participation is limited, and registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration: Details regarding registration fees and the registration process are available at: https://isla26.vercel.app/registration.html Reaching Sri City: Sri City is 60 kms away from the city of Chennai both by taxi services and local trains (to Tada). It lies on the railway route connecting Chennai to Vijayawada / Hyderabad / Kolkata / New Delhi, and the nearest major railway station is Sullurpeta (around 22 kms away). Further details are available on the ISLA 2026 website. Programme Committee: + Arun Kumar (Chair), BHU + Govind R (Chair), IMSc Chennai + Abhishek De, Krea University + T. V. H. Prathamesh, Krea University Local Organisation: + Abhishek De, Krea University + T. V. H. Prathamesh, Krea University Contact: isla2026(a)krea.edu.in<mailto:isla2026@krea.edu.in> We look forward to your participation. Best regards, Organising Committee ISLA 2026 https://isla26.vercel.app/ =====-----=====-----===== Notice: The information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it may contain confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, use, review, distribution, printing or copying of the information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it are strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us by reply e-mail or telephone and immediately and permanently delete the message and any attachments. Thank you

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