BCTCS

The British Colloquium for Theoretical Computer Science (BCTCS) 2009 website is now up. It is good to know that I won’t have to travel because the event is happening at Warwick University. On the other hand I will be expected to help out in the organization. For those of who do not know, BCTCS is an annual UK theoretical computer science conference. However, the BCTCS committee also tries to coordinate other activities apart from the annual colloquium. The following is the official aim of the BCTCS meeting:

The British Colloquium for Theoretical Computer Science (BCTCS) is an annual event for UK-based researchers in theoretical computer science. A central aspect of BCTCS is the training of PhD students, providing an environment for students to gain experience in presenting their work, to broaden their outlook on the subject, and to benefit from contact with established researchers.

BCTCS 2009 is being organised by Artur Czumaj, Sara Kalvala, and Steve Matthews. Having attended two previous BCTCS, I realized that BCTCS is one of the annual meetings to look forward to for theoretical computer scientists in the UK. The speaker list is always excellent with a good representation of both formal methods and algorithmics. The following are some of the invited speakers for the upcoming event:

• Noga Alon, Tel Aviv University
• Paul Goldberg, University of Liverpool
• Andy Gordon, Microsoft Research
• Jane Hillston, University of Edinburgh
• Bill Wadge, University of Victoria

BCTCS is a particularly good chance for research students to get exposure. Every one gets a chance to talk about their current research in a relatively informal setting. BCTCS 2009 has secured funding for up to 45 students. Therefore if you are a PhD student working in theoretical computer science, keep a look out for the call for early registration.