Seminars
In February 2019, the Software Institute started its SI Seminar Series. Every Thursday afternoon, a researcher of the Institute will publicly give a short talk on a software engineering argument of her choice. Examples include, but are not limited to, novel interesting papers, seminal papers, personal research overview, discussion of preliminary research ideas, tutorials, and small experiments.
On our YouTube playlist you can watch some of the past seminars. Below you can find more details on the next seminar, the upcoming seminars, and an archive of the past speakers.
Everyone is welcome to attend the seminars organized by the Software Institute.
Next Speaker: Shifat Sahariar Bhuiyan
We study whether cluster coverage in embedding space can serve as a low-cost surrogate for a generator’s fault-exposing power. Intuitively, when a generator spreads its outputs across many distinct, it is more likely to encounter fault-dense behaviors. Using grammar-valid programs to ensure comparability, we quantify diversity via cluster occupancy and balance and examine its association with mutation outcomes. Preliminary analyses indicate that higher cluster coverage tends to align with stronger mutant-killing capability, suggesting that embeddings may offer actionable guidance for selecting input generators without incurring mutation costs during selection. Accordingly, we view cluster coverage as a promising, reproducible proxy for fault-discovery potential.
Shifat Sahariar Bhuiyan is a PhD candidate in the TAU research group at the Software Institute, Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI) in Lugano, Switzerland, supervised by Prof. Paolo Tonella and co-supervised by Dr. Nargiz Humbatova. His research focuses on AI-driven software testing, particularly within the SNSF-funded TopoScope project, where he develops automated techniques for partitioning complex input spaces to maximize fault exposure. His work redefines software testing as an exploratory process of navigating a topographical map to identify software vulnerabilities. Before joining USI, Shifat completed his MSc in Computer Science at the University of Passau, Germany, specializing in Automated Program Repair. He also worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Passau and previously spent four years as a software developer after earning his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Northern University Bangladesh.
Program
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October 16, 2025
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October 23, 2025
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October 30, 2025
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November 6, 2025
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November 13, 2025
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November 20, 2025
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November 27, 2025
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December 4, 2025
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Aitor ArrietaDecember 11, 2025