We concluded the VeTSS Annual Conference 2026 on 12th May – a one-day meeting packed with long and short talks, lively discussion, and a fantastic mix of perspectives from across our community. The event aimed to:

  • Showcase cutting-edge research

  • Identify key open challenges in the field

  • Foster collaboration across the diverse themes of VeTSS

The day began with a warm welcome and introductions from the VeTSS directors, who reflected on the achievements of the past year. The keynote lecture by Kathleen Fisher (CEO, ARIA), titled “Towards Resilient Systems in an Increasingly Complex World” was the highlight in the morning. She introduce ARIA (the UK’s Advanced Research + Invention Agency) and its mission to tackle these challenges through ambitious, high-risk programmes – spanning areas from climate resilience to next-generation trust infrastructure. This talk explored the urgent shift from reactive security to built-in resilience that address systemic vulnerabilities.

One of the exciting moments of the day was the presentation of the VeTSS Doctoral Dissertation Awards, which celebrate outstanding PhD research in the UK. This award presented two prizes for PhD dissertations published in 2025. Two winners were:

A heartfelt thank you to:

Our speakers – for delivering high-quality talks that showcased state-of-the-art research, highlighted open challenges, and sparked thoughtful debate across verification, testing, security, and beyond.

Our delegates – from academia, industry, and government – for your engagement, questions, and openness to collaboration. Your contributions turned the programme into a genuinely interactive and inspiring event.

Here’s to the connections made, the ideas sparked, and the impact still to come. Thank you once again to everyone who contributed to making this Annual Conference such a success. Stay tuned for further updates, resources, and upcoming events.

Recordings of selected talks and presentation slides will soon be available on the VeTSS website. In the meantime, we invite you to join the VeTSS Zulip channel and Mailing list to stay up to date with news, events, and funding calls.

We look forward to welcoming many of you to future VeTSS events!