September 2022 - Categories - categories.org.au

Re: "First" use of 'Category theory' to describe our field
by David Roberts 24 Feb '24

24 Feb '24

Dear Ross, no, that's pretty good! It's mildly surprising that it took ~20 years for the name to 'stick', but maybe less so given that the field grew slowly to start. Thanks, David David Roberts Webpage: https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/David+Roberts Blog: https://thehighergeometer.wordpress.com On Thu, 11 Jul 2019 at 08:21, Ross Street <ross.street(a)mq.edu.au> wrote: > > Dear David > > From memory, the Pure Mathematics Honours (USyd) course that Max Kelly taught in 1965 > was called ``Category Theory''. It concentrated on different kinds of morphisms > and factorizations in a category, and finished with adjoint functors. > Also John Gray's (UIllinois) 1968-69 graduate course had that name. > > From Eilenberg I heard that each person using categories should have their own category of expertise. > I told this to John Gray who said that was fine; the time had come for that category to be Cat. > > I would suggest that the first category theorists to think of themselves as such were Eilenberg's students at Columbia. > However, Mac Lane was definitely a category theorist. > > This is probably not the verifiable stuff you were seeking. > > Ross > > > On 10 Jul 2019, at 10:01 PM, David Roberts <droberts.65537(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi all, > > the (idle) question is: when did the phrase 'category theory' catch on > for the field? Clearly it didn't leap from either of the heads of > Eilenberg or Mac Lane full-grown, since they used the phrase 'General > theory of natural equivalences'. There are the old 'Reports of the > Midwest Category Seminar' lecture notes (the first in 1967), which > hints that 'category theory' wasn't quite the name in use. > > Even more interesting: who was the first "category theorist", by that name? > > Answers referring to verifiable sources would be best. > > Thoughts? > > David > > > > David Roberts > Webpage: https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/David+Roberts > Blog: https://thehighergeometer.wordpress.com > [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Fully funded PhD positions in logic, semantics of programs and verification at University of Sheffield, UK (Deadline: 18.10.2022)
by Harsh Beohar 29 Sep '22

29 Sep '22

** Apologies if you receive multiple copies of these open positions ** Up to three fully funded research and teaching assistant positions with the opportunity of undertaking a PhD are available within the Verification Group, Department of Computer Science, at the University of Sheffield: *https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/dcs/research/groups/verification <https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/dcs/research/groups/verification>* The verification group at Sheffield is growing rapidly. These posts provide excellent opportunities for graduate students (UK and overseas) to obtain a PhD in any active research area of the group, including semantics of concurrent and distributed systems, logics and complexity, algebraic and categorical approaches to program semantics, coalgebras, verification of multi-core programs and weak memory models, interactive theorem proving. The posts are fully funded for 6 years with 60% devoted to research and 40% to teaching support. For more detailed information (including roles and responsibilities), please see: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CTM862/teaching-and-research-assistant-in-comput… For details on possible supervisors and research projects, please contact our personal websites from our group webpage. For informal enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact any group member by email. The candidates interested in the interplay of category theory (coalgebras), logic, and semantics can write directly to me at h.beohar(a)sheffield.ac.uk. Current topics include expressive modal logics, behavioural equivalence games, synthesising distinguishing/characteristic formulae all at the level of coalgebras. With kind regards, Harsh Beohar [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Bénabou Colloquium on Friday 18 November 2022
by Isar Stubbe 26 Sep '22

26 Sep '22

Dear colleagues, On Friday 18 November 2022, Anatole Khélif (University of Paris Diderot) organises a colloquium in memory of Jean Bénabou (20 May 1932 - 11 February 2022). This "Bénabou Colloquium" will take place entirely on-line by videoconference. Everybody is invited to participate, and those who wish can propose a talk. To participate in this Bénabou Colloquium, please send a mail to Anatole Khélif, or to one of the co-organisers (see addresses below), mentionning if you wish to give a talk (max. 40 minutes). The registered participants will receive, a few days before the colloquium, a Zoom link for the videoconference. Isar Stubbe (isar.stubbe(a)univ-littoral.fr) Signing also on behalf of Anatole Khélif (khelif(a)imj-prg.fr) Andrée Ehresmann (ehres(a)u-picardie.fr) Stéphane Dugowson, René Guitart. [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Isbell conjugacy
by Posina Venkata Rayudu 26 Sep '22

26 Sep '22

Dear All, I hope and pray you and your families are all well. If I may, Isbell conjugacy (https://conceptualmathematics.wordpress.com/2022/08/30/birkhoffs-theorem-fr…; see p. 17 in http://tac.mta.ca/tac/reprints/articles/8/tr8.pdf; given the current world situation, I thought it is good to have a copy of important papers in multiple locations) is about a category of contravariant functors and the dual category of a category of covariant functors. Is Isbell conjugacy implicit in CO- and CONTRA-VARIANCE and DUALIZATION? Pardon me if this is silly. I eagerly look forward to your corrections and clarifications. Happy Daughters' Day :-) Thanking you, posina [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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RAMiCS 2023 - Deadline extension
by Michael Winter 23 Sep '22

23 Sep '22

(Apologies for multiple posting) RAMICS DEADLINE EXTENDED 20th International Conference on Relational and Algebraic Methods in Computer Science RAMiCS 2023 3 to 6 April 2023, Technologiezentrum Augsburg, Germany https://ramics20.lis-lab.fr/ IMPORTANT DATES: Abstract Submission (extended): October 7, 2022 Paper Submission (extended): October 14, 2022 Author Notification: December 16, 2022 Final Version: January 06, 2023 RAMiCS 2023: April 03-06, 2023 GENERAL INFORMATION: Since 1994, the RAMiCS conference series has been the main venue for research on relation algebras, Kleene algebras and similar algebraic formalisms, and their applications as conceptual and methodological tools in computer science and beyond. RAMiCS 2023 will take place at the Technologiezentrum Augsburg. Depending on the Covid-19 situation, it will take the form of a physical conference, a virtual conference, or a hybrid between the two. TOPICS: We invite submissions in the general fields of algebras relevant to computer science and applications of such algebras. Topics include but are not limited to: * Theory - algebras such as semigroups, residuated lattices, semirings, Kleene algebras, relation algebras and quantales - their connections with program logics and other logics - their use in the theories of automata, concurrency, formal languages, games, networks and programming languages - the development of algebraic, algorithmic, category-theoretic, coalgebraic and proof-theoretic methods for these theories - their formalisation with theorem provers * Applications - tools and techniques for program correctness, specification and verification - quantitative and qualitative models and semantics of computing systems and processes - algorithm design, automated reasoning, network protocol analysis, social choice, optimisation and control - industrial applications INVITED SPEAKERS Alexander Knapp, Augsburg University, Germany John Stell, University of Leeds, UK Valeria Vignudelli, CNRS/ENS Lyon, France SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Submission is via EasyChair at https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ramics2023 All papers will be peer-reviewed by at least three referees. The proceedings will be published in an LNCS volume by Springer, ready at the conference. Submissions must not be published or under review for publication elsewhere. Submissions must be in English using a PDF not exceeding 16 pages in LNCS style. Submissions must provide sufficient information to judge their merits. Additional material may be provided in a clearly marked appendix or by a reference to a manuscript on a web site. Experimental data, software or mathematical components for theorem provers must be available in sufficient detail for referees. Deviation from these requirements may lead to rejection. One author of each accepted paper is expected to present the paper at the conference. Accepted papers must be produced with LaTeX. Formatting instructions and LNCS style files are available at http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html As for earlier RAMiCS conferences, we intend to publish a journal special issue with revised and extended versions of a selection of the best papers. COMMITTEES: Organising Committee -------------------- Conf. & PC Co-Chair: Roland Glück, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Germany Conf. & PC Co-Chair: Luigi Santocanale, LIS, Aix-Marseille University, France Conf. & PC Co-Chair: Michael Winter, Brock University, Canada Programme Committee ------------------- Adriana Balan, University Politechnic of Bucharest, Romania Manuel Bodirsky, Technical University Dresden, Germany Paul Brunet, Paris-East Créteil University, France Miguel Couceiro, Loria, Nancy, France Manfred Droste, Leipzig University, Germany Uli Fahrenberg, Epita, France Hitoshi Furusawa, Kagoshima University, Japan Wesley Fussner, University of Bern, Switzerland Silvio Ghilardi, University of Milan, Italy Roland Glueck, German Aerospace Center, Augsburg, Germany Walter Guttmann, University of Canterbury, New Zealand Robin Hirsch, University College London, UK Peter Höfner, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia Marcel Jackson, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia Ali Jaoua, Qatar University, Qatar Peter Jipsen, Chapman University, Orange, USA Sebastian Joosten, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA Barbara König, University of Duisburg/Essen, Germany Wendy MacCaull, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Canada Roger Maddux, Iowa State University, Ames, USA Nelma Moreira, University of Porto, Portugal Martin Mueller, University of Applied Sciences, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, Germany Damien Pous, CNRS, ENS Lyon, France Luigi Santocanale, Aix-Marseille University, France Ana Sokolova, University of Salzburg, Austria Sara Ugolini, Artificial Intelligence Research Institute of the CSIC, Spain Michael Winter, Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada Sam van Gool, University Paris, France [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Special Issue Of TAC In Honour Of Pieter Hofstra
by Richard Blute 19 Sep '22

19 Sep '22

Earlier this year, our dear friend and colleague Pieter Hofstra (1975-2022) passed away. Pieter obtained his PhD from Utrecht University, under Jaap van Oosten, studying realizability toposes. His research interests included general topos theory, realizability, inverse semigroups and groupoids, abstract computability, and homotopy type theory. Among his recent works, with J. Funk, he introduced the notion of isotropy groups of toposes, which he was actively developing with students and colleagues. While Pieter was a brilliant researcher, a kind teacher and a caring supervisor, we will most remember him as a friend. Today we (RB, Eugenia Cheng, Robin Cockett and Phil Scott) announce that the journal Theory and Applications of Categories, a journal for which Pieter was an editor, will dedicate a special volume in his honor. Authors are invited to submit their manuscripts in electronic form to Richard Blute rblute(a)uottawa.ca, possibly suggesting one of the Guest Editors to be assigned to their paper. All papers will be carefully refereed following the standards of "Theory and Applications of Categories". Prospective authors are requested to: 1. Copy the managing editor of TAC, Geoffrey Cruttwell (at tac(a)mta.ca) when submitting an article. 2. As with ordinary TAC papers, for the final version, authors should follow the instructions on the TAC website and then send their final .tex and .pdf files to Geoff (again at tac(a)mta.ca) The guest editors would much prefer that also the initial submission of a PDF already use the TAC template to simplify the work of reviewing. The deadline for submission of papers is May 31, 2023. The Guest Editors Richard Blute Eugenia Cheng Robin Cockett Philip Scott [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Two tenure-track positions at Western University
by Chris Kapulkin 18 Sep '22

18 Sep '22

Folks, We're hiring (again)! This year, Western is hiring for two positions: --- 1. An open rank (tenure-track or with tenure) position in any area of mathematics restricted to applicants from under-represented and historically excluded groups, including: women, Indigenous scholars, members of racialized communities, and other equity-deserving groups. Please note that all applicants to this position must self-identify as belonging to an under-represented equity-deserving group within their cover letter. https://www.mathjobs.org/jobs?joblist-167-20281 Deadline to apply: November 1. --- 2. Assistant Professor position, with preference given to applicants whose research has connections to Data Science. Please note that all applicants to this position must address in their cover letter how their expertise fits the position. https://www.mathjobs.org/jobs?joblist-167-20280 Deadline to apply: October 24. --- I'd like to encourage all qualified readers of this list to apply for these positions. Western is a great place to be mathematically (and otherwise), with lots of activity in homotopy theory, category theory, and other closely related areas. We will also be hiring postdocs, but this ad will go up later this term. Best, Chris [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Postdoc Position on Hardware Verification via Model Learning, Royal Holloway University of London -- Application deadline 15 Oct 2022
by Sammartino, Matteo 16 Sep '22

16 Sep '22

- Application deadline: Midnight, 15 Oct 2022 - Salary: £37,467 - Duration: until November 2023 Applications are invited for the post of Post-Doctoral Research Assistant in the Computer Science Department at Royal Holloway, University of London. The post holder will have an exciting opportunity to work on the EPSRC-funded "Verification of Hardware Concurrency via Model Learning" (CLeVer) project (EP/S028641/1), led by Prof. Alexandra Silva (UCL/Cornell) and Matteo Sammartino (RHUL), in collaboration with ARM, world-leading designer of multi-core chips. For an informal discussion about the post, please contact Dr. Matteo Sammartino on matteo.sammartino(a)rhul.ac.uk. # Brief description of the project Digital devices are increasingly complex, therefore there is a pressing need to automate the assessment of their correctness. Formal verification provides highly effective techniques to assess the correctness of systems. However, formal models are usually built by humans, and as such can be error-prone and inaccurate. The project aims to develop a novel verification framework for hardware, which combines learning, testing and model-checking. Not all models are suitable for this purpose and hence specific classes of models will need to be developed, depending on the task at hand. Subsequently, learning and verification techniques for these classes need to be devised and tested in realistic case studies. We have an industrial partner, ARM, that will provide valuable guidance on the design and development of the aforementioned tasks. # The ideal candidate We are looking for candidates with a PhD in one of the following areas: model-based testing and verification, model learning, automated analysis of hardware systems. Experience in multiple areas will be valued. Candidates ideally should also have strong programming skills. # Where to apply https://jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk/0922-411 ============================== Matteo Sammartino, Lecturer Royal Holloway University of London Department of Computer Science Tel.: (+44) (0) 1784 44 3690 Office: 2-07, Bedford Building https://matteosammartino.com/ [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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ItaCa Fest - Cigoli & Reggio
by Giuseppe Metere 15 Sep '22

15 Sep '22

Dear all, The next date of the ItaCa Fest will be September 20, 2022 at 3 pm (Italian time): 3:00 - 3:45 pm: A. S. Cigoli - Groupal Pseudofunctors 4:00 - 4:45 pm: L. Reggio - Arboreal categories and homomorphism preservation theorems The zoom link is the following: https://cs-ox-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/97878376376?pwd=QithMyt5NzdOeE1EWGJRcjBxamxnU… While the Fest website is this one: https://progetto-itaca.github.io/pages/fest22.html Join us (and bring a friend)! Cheers, Beppe, Ivan, Edoardo, Fosco, Paolo. ———————————————————————————————————— Alan S. Cigoli Title: Groupal Pseudofunctors Abstract: Let B be an additive category and let Set denote the category of sets. A finite product preserving functor F from B to Set necessarily factors through the category Ab of abelian groups. This simple and important observation has no straightforward generalization when F and Set are replaced by a pseudo-functor and the 2-category Cat of categories, respectively. The latter situation occurs precisely when B is the base category of an opfibration. In this talk, we will focus on pseudo-functors corresponding to cartesian monoidal opfibrations of codomain B. Among such, we will eventually characterize, in terms of oplax and lax monoidal structure, those factorizing through the bicategory of symmetric categorical groups. This is the case, for example, when the starting opfibration has groupoidal fibres. This is joint work with S. Mantovani and G. Metere. Luca Reggio Title: Arboreal categories and homomorphism preservation theorems Abstract: Game comonads, introduced by Abramsky, Dawar et al. in 2017, provide a categorical approach to (finite) model theory. In this framework one can capture, in a purely syntax-free way, various resource-sensitive logic fragments and corresponding combinatorial parameters. After an introduction to game comonads, I shall present an axiomatic framework which captures the essential common features of these constructions. This is based on the notion of arboreal category, in which every object is generated by its `paths’. I will then show how (resource-sensitive) homomorphism preservation theorems in logic can be recast and proved at this axiomatic level. This is joint work with Samson Abramsky. .ƸӜƷ.•°*”˜˜”*°•.ƸӜƷ.•°*”˜˜”*°•.ƸӜƷ. Giuseppe Metere, PhD Professore di Algebra Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica Università degli Studi di Palermo [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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RAMiCS 2023 - Third call for papers
by Michael Winter 09 Sep '22

09 Sep '22

(Apologies for multiple posting) THIRD AND LAST CALL FOR PAPERS 20th International Conference on Relational and Algebraic Methods in Computer Science RAMiCS 2023 3 to 6 April 2023, Technologiezentrum Augsburg, Germany https://ramics20.lis-lab.fr/ IMPORTANT DATES: Abstract Submission: September 23, 2022 Paper Submission: September 30, 2022 Author Notification: December 09, 2022 Final Version: January 06, 2023 RAMiCS 2023: April 03-06, 2023 GENERAL INFORMATION: Since 1994, the RAMiCS conference series has been the main venue for research on relation algebras, Kleene algebras and similar algebraic formalisms, and their applications as conceptual and methodological tools in computer science and beyond. RAMiCS 2023 will take place at the Technologiezentrum Augsburg. Depending on the Covid-19 situation, it will take the form of a physical conference, a virtual conference, or a hybrid between the two. TOPICS: We invite submissions in the general fields of algebras relevant to computer science and applications of such algebras. Topics include but are not limited to: * Theory - algebras such as semigroups, residuated lattices, semirings, Kleene algebras, relation algebras and quantales - their connections with program logics and other logics - their use in the theories of automata, concurrency, formal languages, games, networks and programming languages - the development of algebraic, algorithmic, category-theoretic, coalgebraic and proof-theoretic methods for these theories - their formalisation with theorem provers * Applications - tools and techniques for program correctness, specification and verification - quantitative and qualitative models and semantics of computing systems and processes - algorithm design, automated reasoning, network protocol analysis, social choice, optimisation and control - industrial applications INVITED SPEAKERS Alexander Knapp, Augsburg University, Germany John Stell, University of Leeds, UK Valeria Vignudelli, CNRS/ENS Lyon, France SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Submission is via EasyChair at https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ramics2023 All papers will be peer-reviewed by at least three referees. The proceedings will be published in an LNCS volume by Springer, ready at the conference. Submissions must not be published or under review for publication elsewhere. Submissions must be in English using a PDF not exceeding 16 pages in LNCS style. Submissions must provide sufficient information to judge their merits. Additional material may be provided in a clearly marked appendix or by a reference to a manuscript on a web site. Experimental data, software or mathematical components for theorem provers must be available in sufficient detail for referees. Deviation from these requirements may lead to rejection. One author of each accepted paper is expected to present the paper at the conference. Accepted papers must be produced with LaTeX. Formatting instructions and LNCS style files are available at http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html As for earlier RAMiCS conferences, we intend to publish a journal special issue with revised and extended versions of a selection of the best papers. COMMITTEES: Organising Committee -------------------- Conf. & PC Co-Chair: Roland Glück, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Germany Conf. & PC Co-Chair: Luigi Santocanale, LIS, Aix-Marseille University, France Conf. & PC Co-Chair: Michael Winter, Brock University, Canada Programme Committee ------------------- Adriana Balan, University Politechnic of Bucharest, Romania Manuel Bodirsky, Technical University Dresden, Germany Paul Brunet, Paris-East Créteil University, France Miguel Couceiro, Loria, Nancy, France Manfred Droste, Leipzig University, Germany Uli Fahrenberg, Epita, France Hitoshi Furusawa, Kagoshima University, Japan Wesley Fussner, University of Bern, Switzerland Silvio Ghilardi, University of Milan, Italy Roland Glueck, German Aerospace Center, Augsburg, Germany Walter Guttmann, University of Canterbury, New Zealand Robin Hirsch, University College London, UK Peter Höfner, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia Marcel Jackson, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia Ali Jaoua, Qatar University, Qatar Peter Jipsen, Chapman University, Orange, USA Sebastian Joosten, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA Barbara König, University of Duisburg/Essen, Germany Wendy MacCaull, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Canada Roger Maddux, Iowa State University, Ames, USA Nelma Moreira, University of Porto, Portugal Martin Mueller, University of Applied Sciences, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, Germany Damien Pous, CNRS, ENS Lyon, France Luigi Santocanale, Aix-Marseille University, France Ana Sokolova, University of Salzburg, Austria Sara Ugolini, Artificial Intelligence Research Institute of the CSIC, Spain Michael Winter, Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada Sam van Gool, University Paris, France [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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