Michael Foster

Research Assosiate at the Department of Computer Science, at the University of Sheffield.

I am currently an RA working with Neil Walkinshaw working on the CITCoM project. My research focusses on the use of Causal Inference techniques to address the challenges of testing computational models. These challenges include large input spaces, long runtimes, and nondeterminism.

I studied my PhD (2017-2020) at the University of Sheffield under John Derrick and Achim Brucker on the inference of extended finite state machine models from black-box software execution traces. This covered a number of areas including Model Inference, Genetic Programming, Theorem Proving, and Model Checking.

Publications

2024

Do maternal haemodynamics have a causal influence on treatment for gestational diabetes? TO APPEAR Abigail R. Anness, Michael Foster, Mohammed W. Osman, David Webb, Thompson Robinson, Asma Khalil, Neil Walkinshaw, Hatem A. Mousa Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Causal Test Adequacy PDF Michael Foster, Christopher Wild, Robert M. Heirons, Neil Walkinshaw In IEEE Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST), 2024

2023

Active Inference of EFSMs Without Reset PDF Michael Foster, Roland Groz, Catherine Oriat, Adenilso Simao, Germán Vega, Neil Walkinshaw International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, 2023
Active Inference of Extended Finite State Models of Software Systems PDF Roland Groz, Catherine Oriat, Germán Vega, Adenilso Simao, Michael Foster, Neil Walkinshaw International Conference on Grammatical Inference, 2023
Testing Causality in Scientific Modelling Software PDF Andrew G Clark, Michael Foster, Benedikt Prifling, Neil Walkinshaw, Robert M Hierons, Volker Schmidt, Robert D Turner Transactions on Software Engineering Methods, 2023
Metamorphic Testing with Causal Graphs PDF Andrew G. Clark, Michael Foster, Neil Walkinshaw, Robert M. Hierons In IEEE Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST), 2023

2022

An Automated Framework for Verifying or Refuting Trace Properties of Extended Finite State Machines PDF Ramsay Taylor, Michael Foster, Siobhán North In Software Tools for Technology Transfer, 2022

2021

Reverse-Engineering EFSMs with Data Dependencies PDF Michael Foster, John Derrick, Neil Walkinshaw In Testing Software and Systems (ICTSS) 2021

2020

Do sophisticated evolutionary algorithms perform better than simple ones? PDF Michael Foster, Matthew Hughes, George O'Brien, Pietro S. Oliveto, James Pyle, Dirk Sudholt, and James Williams In Proceedings of the 2020 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, 2020
A formal model of extended finite state machines Michael Foster, Achim D. Brucker, Ramsay G. Taylor, John Derrick Archive of Formal Proofs
Inference of extended finite state machines Michael Foster, Achim D. Brucker, Ramsay G. Taylor, John Derrick Archive of Formal Proofs

2019

Incorporating data into EFSM inference PDF Michael Foster, Achim D. Brucker, Ramsay G. Taylor, Siobhán North, John Derrick In Software Engineering and Formal Methods, 2019

2018

Formalising extended finite state machine transition merging PDF Michael Foster, Achim D. Brucker, Ramsay G. Taylor, John Derrick In Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, 2018