(Apologies if you receive multiple copies of this announcement)

                   Formal Aspects of Safety Critical Systems
             BCS-FACS, the Safety-Critical Systems Club, and FME

                                  9 December 2008

                              BCS London Offices
                              First Floor, The Davidson Building
                              5 Southampton Street
                              London WC2E 7HA



Formal methods have long been advocated as techniques for defect
avoidance in the development of safety-critical systems. They rely
on the use of rigorously defined mathematical abstractions to permit
precise modelling, analysis and verification of designs and code.
Although they have been seen as expensive 'high-end' technology,
advances in tool support, coupling of formal techniques with other
methods such as static analysis, and technical advances in areas
such as model checking have the potential to improve the
cost-effectiveness of formal techniques.

This workshop will bring together practitioners, researchers and
developers of methods and tools from both the formal methods
and safety-critical systems communities. Through invited
presentations and contributed talks, it will help participants
assess the state of the art in formal methods and their role
in safety-critical systems development and certification.

We welcome short contributions on any aspect of the topic,
including, but not limited to:

• Experiences of the industrial application of formal methods for
safety-critical systems

• Tools for the design, validation and verification of safety-critical
systems

• Challenges for current formal methods technology

• Evidence generated by the use of formal techniques, and their
contribution to safety cases.

Contributions should take the form of extended abstracts (up to 2 sides
of A4) and should be accessible to a general audience. Contributions
will be selected by the organisers for presentation (around 30 minutes)
and will appear in the informal proceedings available at the event. We
intend to invite authors of accepted contributions to prepare a paper
based on their presentation, for publication by the BCS as an eWiC
[electronic Workshop in Computing], after the event.

There will be invited talks from

- Rod Chapman, Praxis High Integrity Systems
- Neil Evans, AWE
- Martyn Thomas, Martyn Thomas Associates


Important Dates
============

>>> 3 October 2008 <<<
Extended abstracts to be submitted as .pdf files to [log in to unmask]

24 October 2008
Notification of acceptance

14 November 2008
Final versions of extended abstracts


Registration
=========

To members of the Safety-Critical Systems Club, the British Computer Society,
and Formal Methods Europe the cost of this one-day event is £95, including
lunch, refreshments and VAT. To non-members it is £125.

To register for this event, please download the booking form from

http://www.bcs-facs.org/events/xmas2008/RegistrationForm.pdf

and follow the instructions on the form for its return. Early registration
would be greatly appreciated and may help to avoid disappointment.
Joining instructions and final programme will be sent to registered
delegates approximately two weeks prior to the event. Delegates are
responsible for arranging their own accommodation (if required).


Organisers
========

Paul Boca, BCS-FACS
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Chris Dale, SCSC
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John Fitzgerald, FME
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You are very welcome to contact any of the organisers for further information.