[TYPES/announce] AI4FM 2015: Call for Short Contributions

[Iain Whiteside]

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AI4FM 2015 - the 6th International Workshop on
the use of AI in Formal Methods

 http://www.ai4fm.org/ai4fm-2015/

Edinburgh, 1st September, 2015
In association with AVoCS 2015
https://sites.google.com/site/avocs15
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 --- First Call for Contributions ---

Important Dates
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Submission deadline: 1st August, 2015
Notification of acceptance: 10th August, 2015
Final version due: 21st August, 2015
Workshop: 1st September, 2015

General
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This workshop will bring together researchers from formal methods, 
automated reasoning and AI; it will address the issue of how AI can 
be used to support the formal software development process, including 
requirement analysis, modelling and proof. Previous AI4FM workshops 
have included a mix of industrial and academic participants and we 
anticipate attracting a similarly diverse audience. 

Rigorous software development using formal methods allows the construction 
of an accurate characterisation of a problem domain that is firmly based 
on mathematics; by applying standard mathematical analyses, these methods 
can be used to prove that systems satisfy formal specifications. Research 
has shown that with tools backed by mature theory, formal methods are 
becoming cost effective and their use is easier to justify, not as an 
academic exercise, legal requirement or niche markets -- but as part of 
a business case. However, while industrial use of formal methods is 
increasing, in order to make it more mainstream, the cost of applying 
formal methods, in terms of mathematical skill level and development 
time, must still be reduced. We believe that AI can help with these 
issues.


Scope
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We encourage submissions presenting work in progress, tools under
development, and PhD projects, in order that the workshop can become 
a forum for active dialogue between the groups involved in  automated 
reasoning, formal methods and artificial intelligence.  Particular 
areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

- The use of AI and automated reasoning to support and guide the formal 
modelling process.
- The use of AI and automated reasoning in the requirement capture process.
- The use of AI to reuse formal models, programs and proofs.
- The use of machine learning to support interactive theorem proving.
- The use of machine learning to enhance automated theorem proving.
- The development of search heuristics.
- The use of AI for term synthesis, invariant generation, lemma discovery 
and concept invention.
- The use of AI for counter-example generation.
- The use of constraint solvers in formal methods. 
- The role of AI planning for formal systems developments, from requirements 
to the end product (including software and hardware).
- The interplay between reasoning and modelling and the role of AI in this 
framework.
- Ontologies in the formal engineering process.
- Novel ideas on how to use AI (e.g. machine learning, pattern recognition) 
in proof automation.
- Use of cloud elasticity for: scalability on large scale developments, 
proof/lemma exploration.
- Techniques for bridging the development to maintenance gap.

We want to continue the area of research beyond our sponsored project 
(at Newcastle and Edinburgh universities), which has come to an end.
This means we would particularly encourage the submission of position 
papers on new ideas or research directions for the use of AI techniques 
in the proof discovery process as well as in modelling best practices. 

Student grants
---------------

Thanks to sponsorships from FME and SICSA we can offer financial support 
for a limited number of students registering for AVoCS in the form of a 
registration fee waiver (full or partial). As this is limited, we ask the students 
that would like to take the advantage of this support to submit a short application. 
The details on how to apply will be available in due course from the AVoCS 
webpage.

History
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This will be the fifth workshop in the series. Previous workshops were held at:
- Singapore, May 2014 @ FM (www.ai4fm.org/ai4fm-2014/)
- Rennes, France, July 2013 @ ITP (www.ai4fm.org/ai4fm-2013/)
- Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany, July 2012 (www.dagstuhl.de/12271)
- Edinburgh, UK, April 2011 (www.ai4fm.org/ai4fm-2011.php)
- Newcastle, UK, May 2010 (www.ai4fm.org/ko-meeting.php)


Submission
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The main aim for the workshop is discussion, thus submissions do not 
need to be original. Extended versions of submissions may have been 
published previously, or submitted concurrently with or after AI4FM 
2015 to another workshop, conference or a journal.

Submission is by email to:

ai4fm2015 at ai4fm.org

Please submit an abstract up to 3 pages in a PDF format. The extended 
abstracts will be handed out to all participants, and will be made 
into a technical report prior to the workshop. 

Acceptance for presentation at the workshop will be made by the 
organisers based on relevance to the workshop.


Organisers
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* Leo Freitas (Newcastle University, UK)
* Iain Whiteside (University of Edinburgh, UK)
* Gudmund Grov (Heriot Watt University, UK)

Contact Details
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If you have any queries, please email the organisers at the following 
email address:

ai4fm2015 at ai4fm.org