Foundations of Computation

We provide the underlying principles that drive the development of new algorithms to extract knowledge from data, keep data secure, and reduce errors in software and hardware design.

No scientific field can be built without solid foundations. In computing, this is about mathematical techniques required to understand the notion of computation itself, its efficiency, properties and guarantees.

We must know how to estimate the complexity of data analysis tasks to avoid doing the impossible, how to ensure that data and computation is secure, how to lower the risk of hardware design or programming errors.

Research on foundations is structured across several major themes: algorithms and complexity; data management; foundations of AI; security; models of computation including parallel and quantum.

Computer science is a young discipline which makes working in foundations very exciting: the path from blue-sky research to applications with immediate impact to everyday life is amazingly short.