Michael Rawson

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Timeline

2025–
New Frontiers Fellow, University of Southampton, UK
2021–25
Projektassistent, TU Wien, Austria
2020–21
Research Associate, University of Manchester, UK
2017–21
PhD, University of Manchester, UK
2014–17
BA Computer Science, University of Cambridge, UK

Research Interests

I am most interested in the theory and practice of automated theorem proving for classical first-order logic, including machine-learned heuristic methods and proof reconstruction. I have also applied automated reasoning to security, protocol design, verification, and interactive theorem proving.

I develop the world-class automated theorem prover Vampire with an international team. Vampire has seen widespread use in many areas, particularly as automation for interactive systems. Increasingly it is also used standalone in research mathematics, notably algebra.

Awards

2025
Learning to do Math with Vampires and Spiders funded via AI for Math.
Distinguished paper The Vampire Diary at CAV.
2017–20
Doctoral study funded by the School of Computer Science.

Organisation

Program Committees

Doctoral Examination

Gonçalo Araújo
NOVA Lisbon, 2025

Student Supervision

Joe Hall
Automated Finite Model Building for First-Order Logic (part III, 2025–26)

Teaching

2026
Formal Specification and Verification — co-design and delivery of new undergraduate course, ca. 300 students. Nominated by student union for the Most Engaging Lecturer award.
2024
Formal Methods Seminar, a small group reading research papers.
Lecturer at the SAT/SMT/AR summer school.
2017–21
Teaching assistant, various undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
2019
Outreach lectures and activities for sixth form students.
2014–17
STIMULUS volunteer in local schools.
2016
Internship: designed second-year undergraduate computer graphics practical coursework.

Invited Talks

2025
Automated Reasoning for the Working Mathematician. Workshop: AI Transforms Math Research, Augsburg
2023
Deploying Neural Models for Theorem Proving. Joint EuroProofNet Workshops, Prague
2022
Machine Learning for Theorem Proving: What I Wish I had Known 5 Years Ago. Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Theorem Proving, Aussois.

Research Visits

2026
Saclay, France. Frédéric Blanqui, Formal Mathematics and Proof Systems Interoperability.
2022
Scheidegg, Germany. Wolfgang Bibel, Christoph Wernhard, Zsolt Zombori. Use of lemmata in connection systems.
2019
CIIRC Prague, Martin Suda and Josef Urban. Learning-guided automated theorem proving.