Sven Schewe

Biography

I gained a Diplom degree in Computer Science (Diplom Informatiker) with a minor in Operations Research and Planning in 1997 from the University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich. Then I worked in the Command and Control Systems Command of the German Navy as a Systems Engineer in different fields of the analysis and construction of safety-critical systems, including the specification and construction of such systems as well as quality assurance and project management. To complement this, I gave myself a treat and studied Math at the FernUniversität in Hagen, earning a degree in Mathematics (Diplom Mathematiker) in 2004. Returning to education, I joined the Reactive Systems Group at the Department of Computer Science of Saarland University in 2004, and obtained a PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in Computer Science in 2008. I was appointed Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Liverpool in September 2008.

 

Qualifications

  • Doctoral degree (Dr. rer. nat.), 2008, Universität des Saarlandes, Germany
  • Masters degree (Dipl. Math.), 2004, FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany
  • Masters degree (Dipl. Inf.), 1997, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Germany

 

Honours & Awards

 

Research Interests

I am interested in automata and game theory and its applications in the construction and analysis of safety-critical systems. This includes constructions and decision procedures for automata over infinite words and trees and games with infinite duration, as well as algorithms and tools for the automated verification and synthesis of reactive systems. My research concerns reactive computer systems and protocols: systems of concurrent processes that interact with each other and with their environment over a possibly infinite run. This family of systems contains many safety-critical applications like air traffic control systems, communication controllers in automotive systems, and security protocols. Parallelism and non-determinism make it difficult to design such systems correctly. I study automated methods that prove that an implementation satisfies a logical property (verification) and that derive implementations from logical specifications (synthesis).

 

Recent Research Projects

  • Together with Ashutosh Trivedi, I will study the Stochastic Control of Cyber-Physical Systems. Ashutosh's research visits are supported by a Liverpool India Fellowship.
  • Together with Lijun Zhang, I will study the Analysis and Control of Markovian Systems. Lijun's research visits are supported by a Visiting Fellowship.
  • Together with Idress Husien, I study the control of adaptive systems and self learning intelligent systems, supported by an overseas PhD scholarship from the Iraqi Government (since January 2014).
  • Together with Anshul Gupta, I study equilibria of non-terminating multi player games, supported by a studentship of the School of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Computer Science (since February 2013).
  • Together with Thomas Praveen Methrayil Varghese, I study finite automata over infinite objects, supported by the competitive International Doctoral Studentship, funded by the EPSRC (since November 2011).
  • Together with John Fearnley (RA), Lesie Ann Goldberg (CI till June 2013), Tom Shenton (CI), and Dominik Wojtczak (CI since June 2013), I (PI) have studied the control of Markov games and decision processes in the EPSRC project Synthesis and Verification in Markov Game Structures (October 2010--November 2013).
  • I have visited Anca Muscholl on a Visiting Professorship from Université Bordeaux I in September 2012 and January 2013.
  • I have visited Farn Wang on a travel grant for international scholars from the National Taiwan University in October 2012.
  • Together with Doron Peled, I have studied the synthesis of concise systems in February 2012, supported by a travel grant of the ESF Networking Programme on Games for Design and Verification.
  • Together with Nathlie Bertrand, I have studied the Analysis of Probabilistic Systems. Nathalie's sabbatical visit from November 2011 till July 2012 was supported by a Leverhulme Visiting Fellowship.
  • Together with Doron Peled, I have studied the control of distributed monitors on our Royal Society grant Synthesising Permissive Monitors (Nov 2010–Feb 2011).

Recent Professional Activities

  • Member of the Steering Committee of the Workshop on Synthesis (SYNT)
  • 2nd Special Session on Formal Approaches to Parallel and Distributed Systems (4PAD), PDP 2015, PC member.
  • Acta Informatica, special issue on Synthesis, Editor (with Doron Peled)
  • School for young researchers about Modelling and Verifying Parallel processes (MOVEP 2014), Invited Tutorial.
  • 21st International Symposium on Temporal Representation and Reasoning (TIME 2014), PC member.
  • Workshop on Verification and Program Transformation (VPT 2014), PC member.
  • 17th International Conference on Foundations of Software Science and Computation Structures (FoSSaCS 2014), PC member.
  • 31st International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2014), PC member.
  • 20th International Symposium on Temporal Representation and Reasoning (TIME 2013), PC member.
  • Workshop on Verification and Program Transformation (VPT 2013), PC member.
  • Second Workshop on Synthesis (SYNT 2013), PC member.
  • Third Workshop on Automated Verification, Analysis, and Synthesis (WAVAS 2012), Keynote Speaker.
  • Annual Meeting of GT Jeux 2012, Keynote Speaker.
  • Annual Workshop of the ESF Networking Programme on Games for Design and Verification (GAMES 2012), PC member.
  • Third International Symposium on Games, Automata, Logics and Formal Verification (GandALF 2012), PC member.
  • 4th Workshop on Games for Design, Verification and Synthesis (GASICS 2012), Invited Speaker.
  • Workshop on Synthesis (SYNT 2012), Co-Chair.
  • Fourth International Workshop on Foundations of Interface Technologies (FIT 2012), PC member.
  • Ninth International Symposium on Automated Technology (ATVA 2011), PC member.
  • Annual Workshop of the ESF Networking Programme on Games for Design and Verification (GAMES 2011), Invited Tutorial.

 

Selected Publications

  1. Anshul Gupta and Sven Schewe. Quantitative Verification in Rational Environments. TIME 2014.
  2. Sven Schewe and Thomas Varghese. Determinising Parity Automata. MFCS 2014.
  3. Sven Schewe and Thomas Varghese. Tight Bounds for Complementing Parity Automata. MFCS 2014.
  4. Ernst Moritz Hahn, Yi Li, Sven Schewe, Andrea Turrini, and Lijun Zhang. IscasMC: A Web-Based Probabilistic Model Checker. FM 2014.
  5. Savas Konur, Michael Fisher, and Sven Schewe. Combined Model Checking for Temporal, Probabilistic, and Real-Time Logics. Theoretical Computer Science, 2013.
  6. John Fearnley and Sven Schewe. Time and Parallelizability Results for Parity Games with Bounded Tree and DAG Width. Logical Methods in Computer Science, 2013.
  7. Markus Rabe and Sven Schewe. Optimal Time-Abstract Schedulers for CTMDPs and Continuous-Time Markov Games. Theoretical Computer Science, 2013.
  8. Bernd Finkbeiner and Sven Schewe. Bounded Synthesis. International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer, 2013.
  9. Chung-Hao Huang, Sven Schewe, and Farn Wang. Model-Checking Iterative Games. TACAS 2013.
  10. Thomas Brihaye, Julie De Pril, and Sven Schewe. Multiplayer Cost Games with Simple Nash Equilibria. LFCS 2013.
  11. John Fearnley, Doron Peled, and Sven Schewe. Synthesis of Succinct Systems. ATVA 2012.
  12. Sven Schewe and Thomas Varghese. Tight Bounds for the Determinisation and Complementation of Generalised Büchi Automata. ATVA 2012.
  13. Markus Rabe and Sven Schewe. Finite Optimal Control for Time-Bounded Reachability in CTMDPs and Continuous-Time Markov Games. Acta Informatica, 2011.
  14. John Fearnley, Markus Rabe, Sven Schewe, and Lijun Zhang. Efficient Approximation of Optimal Control for Continuous-Time Markov Games. FSTTCS 2011.
  15. Gal Katz, Doron Peled, and Sven Schewe. Synthesis of Distributed Control through Knowledge Accumulation. CAV 2011