Personal profile
Personal Statement
I am a Chancellor's Fellow in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and a member of the Mathematically Structured Programming group.
My goal is to understand the underlying logic and structure behind programming languages, and to use this understanding to make it easier to write correct software. To do so, I use and create techniques and tools from mathematical logic, type theory, and category theory. My research interests include:
- data types in type theory: how can we give semantics of different classes of data types? Is one class more powerful than another? I have developed initial algebra semantics to answer such questions for inductive-inductive definitions, and quotient inductive types from homotopy type theory.
- correct-by-construction programming: how can we get machines to help humans write the correct program? I create programming languages that make it possible to specify the meaning of programs in their type. This creates new challenges, such as extending the equational theory of programs while retaining decidable type checking, strong normalisation, and canonicity.
- constructive mathematics and logic: how can we prove theorems and develop mathematical theories that are suitable for implementation in a computer? I am interested both in mathematical developments themselves, such as the theory of a constructive treatments of ordinals, as well as metamathematical investigations into categorical model theory and nonderivability results.
- applied category theory: how can we describe and build large systems from smaller components? I am working to make this possible in the fields of economic game theory, and for business process languages, by using ideas and techniques from monoidal category theory.
See also my personal web page.
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, Inductive-inductive definitions, Swansea University
Award Date: 1 Jan 2013
Master of Mathematics, Constructive aspects of models for non-standard analysis, Uppsala University
Award Date: 1 Jan 2009
Keywords
- type theory
- constructive mathematics
- programming languages
- logic
- verification
- correct by construction
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 4 Quality Education
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SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
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SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
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SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Correct-by-construction Approach To Approximate Computation
Nordvall Forsberg, F. (Principal Investigator)
EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
1/10/24 → 31/10/27
Project: Research
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Industrial CASE Account - University of Strathclyde 2021 | Braithwaite, Dylan
Hedges, J. (Principal Investigator), Nordvall Forsberg, F. (Co-investigator) & Braithwaite, D. (Research Co-investigator)
EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
1/10/21 → 1/10/26
Project: Research Studentship Case - Internally allocated
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Can we formalise type theory intrinsically without any compromise? A case study in Cubical Agda
Chen, L.-T., Nordvall Forsberg, F. & Tsai, T.-C., 8 Jan 2026, p. 201-215. 15 p.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
LabMate: a prospectus for types for MATLAB
McBride, C., Nakov, G., Nordvall Forsberg, F., Videla, A., Forbes , A. & Lines, K., May 2025, In: Measurement: Sensors. 38, 101460.Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)44 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Cubical Agda formalization of Three equivalent ordinal notation systems
Xu, C. (Creator) & Nordvall Forsberg, F. (Creator), Zenodo, 5 Apr 2023
Dataset
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Data for: "Type-Theoretic Approaches to Ordinals"
Nordvall Forsberg, F. (Creator), Xu, C. (Creator) & Kraus, N. (Creator), Zenodo, 5 Apr 2023
Dataset
Prizes
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APLAS 2023 Best paper award
Nordvall Forsberg, F. (Recipient), Watters, S. (Recipient) & Kupke, C. (Recipient), 20 Oct 2023
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Distinguished Presentation Award
Nordvall Forsberg, F. (Recipient), Capucci, M. (Recipient), Ghani, N. (Recipient) & Ledent, J. (Recipient), 8 Jun 2021
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
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Academia Sinica IIT Seminar: "Generalized Decidability via Brouwer Trees"
Nordvall Forsberg, F. (Speaker)
5 Feb 2026Activity: Talk or Presentation › Invited talk
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Academia Sinica
Nordvall Forsberg, F. (Visiting researcher)
19 Jan 2026 → 11 Feb 2026Activity: Visiting an External Institution › Visiting an external academic institution