Call for Presentations

The mission of the High Integrity Software Conference is to share challenges, best practice and experiences between software engineering practitioners. The conference features talks from industrial and academic specialists who will share expertise and knowledge of important techniques and methods applicable across industry sectors.

The Programme Committee would like to invite proposals for technical track talks for HISC 2026 via a CfP (Call for Presentations) system. Further details are provided below.

Types of presentation

The following types of presentations are invited for the HISC 2026 technical tracks:

• Industrial experience: reports based on industrial experience of high-integrity and high-assurance software development
• High-Technology Readiness Level (TRL) Research and Design (R&D): presentations of technologies that support high-integrity software development and are available or close to being available in an industrial setting
• Challenges: talks about fundamental challenges being faced by the high-integrity software industry - technological or otherwise - and potential solutions

Please note: these technical presentations are not for promoting specific vendor products or services; if you want to advertise a product via an exhibition booth, sponsorship or a Vendor Showcase presentation, please see the information provided on the Exhibitors page.

Themes

In recent years, data science and machine learning have enabled the development of powerful applications capable of rapidly recognising and categorising complex data. Generative AI now represents a step-change in software engineering productivity, with large language models (LLMs) increasingly used to generate source code, tests, and documentation.

While there is some emerging good practice around the use of GenAI in application development, achieving the highest levels of dependability remains a significant challenge. This is particularly true in the domain of critical systems and high-integrity software, where failures may pose risks to safety and security and lead to substantial commercial loss.

As a community, we must develop novel approaches to verification, validation, and assurance for systems built using GenAI, ensuring that they meet the stringent reliability standards expected of critical applications. Although established methods for engineering dependable software using deterministic techniques are well understood, equivalent assurance frameworks for GenAI-enabled development are still evolving and remain immature, creating a critical gap between capability and assurance.

The Programme Committee would like to invite presentations on the following themes for HISC 2026:

Assurance of AI-based products and tools for dependable systems:

• Data integrity, provenance, and assurance for ML-based critical applications
• Novel approaches to assurance, qualification, and certification of GenAI-based tools
• Assurance cases for systems developed using AI-assisted engineering workflows
• Verification and validation of AI-generated artefacts (code, tests, models, documentation)
• Opportunities for GenAI in early lifecycle phases: requirements, specification, and system modelling
• Risk analysis, hazard identification, and threat modelling for GenAI-enabled development
• Explainability, traceability, and auditability of AI-assisted engineering processes
• Emerging and evolving standards for ML and GenAI assurance (and gaps therein)
• Combining GenAI with formal methods, symbolic reasoning, and semantic/knowledge models
• Human oversight, trust, and accountability in AI-assisted development
• Impact on skills, training, and SQEP (Suitably Qualified and Experienced Personnel) expectations

Enhancing cybersecurity and safety for critical applications:

• Safety and security co-engineering in complex, software-intensive systems
• Fitness-for-purpose of existing safety and security standards and their evolution
• Advances in formal methods, modelling, and rigorous analysis techniques
• Secure software development practices for high-integrity systems
• Vulnerability identification, mitigation, and secure-by-design approaches
• Supply chain security and assurance of third-party components and tools
• Runtime assurance, monitoring, and anomaly detection in deployed systems

Innovative tools, methods, and engineering practices:

• Advances in verification, validation, and testing techniques
• Static and dynamic analysis methods for improving software quality and dependability
• Programming language design and type systems for safety and reliability
• Hardware-based protection mechanisms and trusted execution technologies
• Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and digital engineering approaches
• Integration of formal methods into industrial toolchains
• Metrics and measurement frameworks for software quality, safety, and productivity

Challenges in global partnerships & large programmes:

• Supply chain management and assurance in large-scale multi-organisational programmes
• Governance, risk management, and compliance in complex system development
• International collaboration: aligning with national regulations and standards
• Data management challenges, including residency, sovereignty, and sharing constraints
• Cloud adoption vs on-premise solutions in regulated or safety-critical contexts
• Contracting models, liability, and accountability in multi-partner programmes
• Knowledge transfer, organisational learning, and skills development at scale

Format of Submissions

Submission requires you to write a short abstract/synopsis of the presentation you wish to propose for the conference. This abstract will be used as a basis for the Programme Committee to assess your proposal, and how well it is aligned with the objective and themes outlined above. If successful, it will also be included in the conference programme.

Submission Process

Key dates in the CfP process are as follows (all in 2026):

• 31st March: CfP Opens
• 31st May: Deadline for submissions
• 30th June: Notifications sent
• 30th September Presentations submitted
• 13th October: Conference

For more details and to submit your proposal please go to the CfP.

Submit your CfP proposal

Programme Committee

Adam, NCSC
Jamie Ayre, Rapita (Chair of Early-Careers Day sub-committee)
Mike Bennett, Rolls-Royce
Paul Butcher, AdaCore (Co-Chair of Programme Committee)
Philippa Broadfoot, Cocotec
Lucia Capogna, SYSTRA UK and Ireland
Stuart Matthews, Capgemini Engineering (Co-Chair of Programme Committee)
Mike Standish, Dstl

Terms & Conditions

By submitting a proposal you agree to the following terms & conditions:

Talks must be presented in person at the conference location. HISC does not support pre-recordings or remote presentations.

Any request to substitute the speaker(s) after submission will be decided at the discretion of the programme committee.