The Midlands Graduate School (MGS) in the Foundations of Computing Science provides an intensive course of lectures on the Mathematical Foundations of Computing. It has run annually since 1999, attracts students internationally, and is hosted by the Universities of Birmingham, Leicester, Sheffield and Nottingham in rotation. The lectures are aimed at PhD students, typically in their first or second year of study. However, the school is open to anyone who is interested in learning more about the mathematical foundations of computing, and all such participants are warmly welcomed.
MGS 2016 was held in Birmingham, UK, 11 - 15 April, hosted by the School of Computer Science of the University of Birmingham.
The following courses will be held at the MGS. Abstracts are here.
Introductory Courses:
Advanced Courses:
- Category Theory (CAT)
Venanzio Capretta (University of Nottingham), the handouts are on Venanzio's webpage
- Naive Type Theory (NTT)
Thorsten Altenkirch (University of Nottingham)- Denotational Semantics (DEN)
Achim Jung (University of Birmingham)
- A Denotational Semantics for Weak Memory Concurrency (WMC)
Steve Brookes (Carnegie Mellon University), slides
- Game Semantics (GAME)
Dan Ghica (University of Birmingham)
- Introduction to Coalgebra (COALG)
Alexander Kurz (University of Leicester)- Security Protocol Verification (SPV)
Eike Ritter (University of Birmingham)
- Linear Logic (LIN)
Neelakantan Krishnaswami (University of Birmingham)
- Distributed Systems and Choreographies (DSC)
Emilio Tuosto (University of Leicester), slides
- LL and LR Parsing with Abstract Machines (LLLR)
Hayo Thielecke (University of Birmingham)
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To walk from New Street station to the Ibis Budget hotel, exit the station on the Southside and then follow these directions.
To go from the Ibis Budget hotel to the University, you can either walk all the way, or walk to Five Ways station and take a train, or walk to New Street station and take a train. Every train to Longbridge, Redditch, Cardiff or Hereford stops at the University.
| New Street | Five Ways | University | Final destination |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08:02 | 08:05 | 08:09 | Redditch |
| 08:12 | 08:15 | 08:19 | Longbridge |
| 08:22 | 08:25 | 08:29 | Redditch |
| 08:30 | Doesn't stop | 08:36 | Cardiff |
| 08:32 | 08:35 | 08:39 | Longbridge |
| 08:42 | 08:45 | 08:49 | Redditch |
| 08:49 | Doesn't stop | 08:55 | Hereford |
| 08:52 | 08:55 | 08:59 | Longbridge |
It is strongly recommended to buy tickets in advance, because the machines will be crowded. Go to the National Rail website, and ask for a return ticket from Birmingham to University (Birmingham) on Monday, departing at 08:00 and returning at 19:00. Press "Go" then select an Anytime Day Return ticket for £2.90. (The time you select is irrelevant; the ticket may be used at any time.) Buy the ticket, specifying Birmingham New Street as the collection place, and do the same for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. You will be given codes that you can enter into a machine at New Street on Sunday to collect your tickets. Be sure to have with you the card you used to buy the tickets.
On Monday, a group will leave the hotel at 08:10 sharp to walk to Five Ways station.
To go from the University station to Monday morning lectures, exit the station, turn left, cross the road, enter the Learning Centre, and UG09 is the second room on the right. Coffee breaks are in the School of Computer Science, directly opposite the Learning Centre. Here is a map of all the buildings we are using.
