Prof. Lionel Briand, ranked one of the top five software systems engineering researchers in the world by the Journal of Systems and Software (Elsevier), has been recruited by the University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT).

He  will hold a professorship to set up a software verification & validation (V&V) laboratory. The National Research Fund FNR is funding the project over a period of five years with a total of 4.6 million euros.


Prof Lionel Briand is both a Canadian and French citizen, and has worked in France, the US, Germany, Canada and Norway.

“Lionel Briand will now set up a lab at SnT dedicated exclusively to software verification, testing, and dependability,” SnT director Prof. Björn Ottersten adds. Together with industrial and public partners, Ottersten continues, SnT is for example working on highly complex software for controlling satellites or financial transactions in banking. Ensuring acceptable dependability is clearly of existential importance here. “We are very happy to have Lionel Briand, one of the world’s top experts in the field, with us here in Luxembourg.

Prof. Briand is also convinced that SnT provides optimal working conditions to perform research with high impact on society and industry: “There are many scientists at SnT and the University of Luxembourg with whom I’ll be able to establish fruitful collaborations. In addition, the SnT offers a unique infrastructure and an interdisciplinary approach to support collaborative projects with industry, thus increasing the impact of our research.”

(based on press release by SNT)