Advancing software dependability and risk research
Updated: 13-Nov-2026
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UPCOMING SEMINAR — 18 November 2026📅 11:00 a.m. 18 Nov 2026 📍Teams Meeting
Prof Robin E Bloomfield, FREng
The Centre of Software Reliability are delighted to be hosting a seminar by Prof Robin E Bloomfield, which will take place on November 18th, 11:00am - 12:00pm.
Prof. Robin Bloomfield is Professor of Software and System Dependability at the Centre for Software Reliability (CSR), City St George’s, University of London. His research focuses on the dependability of computer-based systems, covering reliability, safety and security, and his work combines policy formulation, technical consulting and underpinning research. He is a founder member of the consultancy Adelard. Before that, he worked for the UK electricity utility (CEGB) on the design and validation of control and safety systems for nuclear power stations. He has served on a range of advisory bodies, including the UK Nuclear Safety Advisory Group and the UK Treasury’s Engineering Infrastructure and Interdependencies Expert Group. He has also chaired the European Workshop on Industrial Computer Systems (EWICS) and is a long-standing member of the SAFECOMP programme committee. His recent work centres on Assurance 2.0 and on the role of confidence and understanding in assurance cases.
About the talk
This seminar builds on a keynote presented at SASSUR 2026, “Engineering of Understanding with Assurance 2.0”, with additional material from a recent SAFECOMP 2026 talk on confidence. Faster development cycles, reduced scrutiny, growing software complexity and the spread of AI-generated artefacts all risk producing outputs that look coherent without anyone genuinely understanding them. The talk argues that understanding should become an explicit, assessable and defensible part of decision making about critical socio-technical systems. Drawing on Catherine Elgin’s epistemology of understanding, it uses Assurance 2.0 to put this into practice through two linked artefacts. An Understanding Basis justifies why the available understanding is sufficient for a decision. A Personal Understanding Statement lets participants make their own grasp explicit and open to challenge. Time permitting, the talk will also connect this with related CSR work on a simple, systematic and sound method for assessing probabilistic confidence in assurance case arguments.
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In the News<aside> 📢
Developments in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure highlight the growing importance of dependable and secure systems. This collection brings together selected news and analysis that illustrate the real-world challenges motivating research in software reliability, security and resilience.
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